Phases of Social–Emotional Development from Birth to School Age

Stages of social–emotional development are the subject of this chapter. Infants and toddlers live in a maelstrom of strong emotions, most of which involve interactions with other people. But the social situations that induce strong emotions, and the cognitive capacities children have for coping with them, change dramatically from one stage to the next. The timetable of cognitive development helps us understand how children interpret emotion-causing situations (such as a parent’s separations and reunions, turn-taking routines, following or violating rules, pleasing or displeasing others, ownership and territory) and how they solve emotional problems. I begin with a theoretical overview of the relation between cognitive-developmental stages and phases of emotional development, and I go on to describe the patterns of social behavior that have been directly observed in parent–child interactions as they change with age. This corpus of knowledge is brought together in a single, coherent framework, creating a timeline from birth to 4 years, divided into 11 distinct phases. Not surprisingly, these phases map directly onto the schedule of mental changes proposed by Robbie Case, thereby putting flesh on the bones of cognitive development.