Dynamical systems approaches to emotional development

The Dynamic Systems Approach as Metatheory for Developmental Psychology

“…As a general, multidisciplinary approach -grounded in the mathematical modeling of complex and nonlinear change over time -the DSP has enjoyed successful application to the study of movement coordination and motor development [Kelso, 1995;Newell, Liu, & Mayer-Kress, 2003;Thelen & Ulrich, 1991] and of late has expanded its range to include cognitive, language, social, emotional and psychopathological development [Camras & Witherington, 2005;Fogel, Nwokah, Dedo, Messinger, Dickson, Matusov, & Holt, 1992;Granic, 2005;Lewis & Granic, 2000;Lewis, 2000a;Martin, Fabes, Hanish, & Hollenstein, 2005;Smith, 2005;van Geert,1998]. …”

Methods and measures in developmental emotions research: Some assembly required

“…Camras (2000) showed, for example, that although infant facial expressions are often not emotionally coherent (e.g., shifting among pain, anger, and sadness during crying bouts) or consistent with presumed subjectivity (e.g., showing surprise while mouthing familiar objects, being inexpressive during an expectancy violation), emotional expressions become progressively better organized and coherent with increasing age (see review by Camras & Witherington, 2005). This may occur over time as infants observe the expressive mirroring of parental facial expressions and experience the contingent responsiveness of adults in social play together with young children's increasingly discriminating attributions of emotion to the expressions they observe and imitate.…”

“…With respect to emotional development, dynamic systems approaches are capable of analyzing moment-by-moment transitions in emotional expressions in mother-infant interaction as well as changes in emotional development over years. Each is understood within a theoretical system that describes the emergence and stabilization of organization through changes in internal and external control parameters, which may include patterns of parental responsiveness, developmental changes in cognitive appraisals, aspects of neurobiological maturation, the entry into group child care, and other factors (see Camras & Witherington, 2005;Lewis & Granic, 2000).…”

Basic Emotions: A Reconstruction

“…Of particular relevance to emotion development are the principles of self-organization, differentiation and integration of functional levels of organization, and emergence of new conceptual entities (Camras & Witherington, 2005; Mascolo & Harkins, 1998). …”