The dispute concerning the definition, presence and number of basic emotions present at birth is a controversial topic in psychology and numerous definitions and theories exist (Ortony & Turner, 1990). The aim of this essay is to discuss the influence of advances in cognitive development upon the expression of primary and secondary emotions. Most psychologists today suggest that by six months of age the following emotions have appeared: anger, fear, disgust, sadness, joy and happiness (Sroufe, 1996). These are known as the primary emotions which are apparent at birth and within a child’s development during the first few months. However whether these early expressions represent meaningful emotional states or are more indicative of the infant's general arousal level has been questioned (Camras, 1992 cited Bennett, Bendersky & Lewis 2005).
From birth onwards babies start expressing their emotional state which can easily be distinguished between a happy and a distressed infant. It is only with recognition that the infant’s awareness allows a pleasant or unpleasant emotion. Research by Zelazo and Komer (1971) found that up to three months of age a baby will smile at any face. However at around five months of age the baby differentiates between faces and smiles at those it has a facial schema towards. This link between emotions and cognitive advancement was referred as “the smile which appears to be an open window through which we may view one aspect of cognitive functioning in infants” (Zelazo & Komer, 1971, p.1338).
The inception of crawling allows the child to further interact with its environment and broadens the child’s experience to emotions. It was found that those that crawl early develop a fear of heights early and those that cra ...