Emotion Development in Infancy through the Lens of Culture

TLDR

Parents’ socialization decisions are embedded within cultural structures, beliefs, and practices. The review examines how culture shapes infant emotion socialization, identifies five cultural frames, and proposes testable hypotheses. The authors analyze each cultural frame’s influence on parental practices and infant emotion outcomes, and formulate testable hypotheses.

Abstract

The goal of this review is to consider how culture impacts the socialization of emotion development in infancy, and infants’ and young children’s subsequent outcomes. First, we argue that parents’ socialization decisions are embedded within cultural structures, beliefs, and practices. Second, we identify five broad cultural frames (collectivism/individualism; power distance; children’s place in family and culture; ways children learn; and value of emotional experience and expression) that help to organize current and future research. For each frame, we discuss the impact on parents’ socialization practices and infants’ subsequent outcomes relating to emotion-related experience, expression, and understanding. We also generate testable hypotheses to further our understanding of the relationships between the five frames and emotion development in infancy.