The relation of ANS and HPA activation to infant anger and sadness response to goal blockage

Abstract

This study examined the relation of anger and sadness to heart rate and cortisol in 4-month-old infants' (N = 56) response to a goal blockage. The blockage occurred during a contingency learning procedure where infants' response no longer produced a learned interesting event. Anger and sadness were the major emotional expressions to the blockage. The two emotional expressions were differentially related to heart rate and cortisol. Anger was related to increased heart rate, but not cortisol, whereas sadness was related to increased cortisol, but not heart rate. Along with other work, the present results support the view that infant anger in response to goal blockage involves autonomic as opposed to adrenocortical activation as a consequence of an expectation of control over the event.In contrast, sadness in response to goal blockage involves adrenocortical as opposed to autonomic activation stemming from the absence of an expectation of control.From the first months of life, individual differences have been found in infant response to the blockage of a desired goal

Anger Expression and Persistence in Young Children

“…The findings extend the positive link between anger expression and persistence in adults and children. In previous studies, greater anger accounted for adults' high, persistent focus on outcomes during goal blockage (Lench & Levine, 2008), whereas anger-prone infants showed more instrumental behaviors (arm pulling) than average infants when blocked during a contingency learning task (Lewis & Ramsay, 2005;Lewis et al, 1992Lewis et al, , 2006. Moreover, in a recent study using the same task (LB) in young children, anger, compared with sadness, was more often followed by problem-solving behaviors; angry children tried more ways to open the transparent box (Dennis et al, 2009).…”

“…Concerning early development, previous researchers have indicated that angerprone infants exhibited strong approach behaviors toward the goals of the various tasks (Derryberry & Rothbart, 1997;Fox, 1989;Kochanska, Coy, Tjebkes, & Husarek, 1998;Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Anger during goal blockage in infants was associated with perceived control, increased persistent instrumental activities (e.g., arm pulling) to overcome the obstacle, and increased positive emotions (e.g., interest and joy) once the obstacle was removed (Lewis & Ramsay, 2005;Lewis, Ramsay, & Sullivan, 2006;Lewis et al, 1992). Kearney (2004) found that high anger-prone infants at seven and nine months of age were more likely to complete the frustrating task and were described by their mothers as knowing what he or she wants and getting it.…”

Formidability and the logic of human anger

“…It spontaneously appears in infancy (1,2), is effectively universal in its distribution across cultures and individuals (3,4), and has a species-typical neural basis (5). To understand the evolutionary biology of anger, however, it is also important to characterize its evolved function-that is, what (if anything) was anger engineered by natural selection to accomplish?…”

Infant Expressions in an Approach/Withdrawal Framework

“…Low activity toward goals, increased cortisol response, expressions of sadness or fear, and behavioral signals of helplessness or a need to move away from a stimulus index withdrawal emotion (Buss et al, 2003; Lewis, Ramsay, & Sullivan, 2006). Withdrawal tendencies need not require self-initiated movement away from stimuli in non-locomoting infants, only the ability to vocalize distress and display sadness.…”