Growing emotion regulation: developmental origin of socio-emotional competence in toddlers via an ethological approach

Even though emotion self-regulation has been widely studied over the last several decades, much of the research on this topic has neglected to frame specific regulatory strategies across development, particularly during infancy and toddlerhood. In fact, it is during these stages of life that such behaviors emerge and increase in complexity. Scientific literature has shown that these early emotion regulation abilities are easily shaped by external factors, not only through intimate interactions with primary caregivers but also through progressive exchanges with the broader environment. To address this gap, the current dissertation investigates emotion self-regulation behaviors at two time points in infants’ ontogeny: 12 and 22 months. The research employs experimental tasks designed to elicit increasing frustration, utilizing data from a larger longitudinal study involving mother-child dyads. As part of the study, mothers attended follow-up appointments where their infants participated in structured tasks. These laboratory tasks were coded for infants’ emotion regulation strategies using a novel ethological approach, favoring a bias-free and objective measurement of behaviors over traditional, inference-biased methods. Furthermore, positive emotional expressions were analyzed through cutting-edge software to examine whether and how smiling varies with purpose and context, even at this young age. Results suggest that early social experiences, including childcare attendance, play a pivotal role in shaping emotional responses and regulatory strategies. The implications of these findings, and key directions for future work, are discussed.