Emotion Regulation in Infants

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Emotion regulation involves intrinsic and extrinsic processing of monitoring and modifying emotional reactions in both positive or negative situations (Martins, 2012). In order for individuals to have the ability to regulate emotions, they must beware of their emotions. Although infants are unaware and lack the ability to regulate their emotions, it then becomes the role of a primary carer to nurture the infant, thus acting as a model for regulating emotions. Evidently, infants grow to reflect the ways in which their carers control and modify their emotions as well as social boundaries. Furthermore, emotion regulation is considered an important aspect of an individuals life as it 'can moderate emotions and keep them in a manageable range in which individuals can cope' (Leahy, R.L., et al, 2012). Therefore the main focus of this essay will be exploring emotion regulation, however paying close attention to over and under regulations and its functional affects on infants. The role of attachment in infant over-regulation as well as some implications of infants in centre based care will also be explored throughout this essay.

Life without emotions would lack meaning, texture, richness, joy and the connection with others (Leahy, R.L., et al, 2012). Emotion can be defined as various states of feelings, thoughts and verbal interactions that individuals can experience (White el al., 2012). It is from this that individuals are able to create relationships with others, in this case infants are able to create attachments to their parents. For the purpose of this essay, emotions can be categorised into two parts; over-regulation and under-regulation. Over-regulation is one's ability to suppress evidence of emotional distress in various situ...

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... for emotion regulation with fathers and mothers: Associations with emotional expressions and attachment quality. Infancy, 3, 153–174. DOI: 10.1207/ S15327078IN0302_3

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