What Feelings Do
Your baby’s emotions have three key purposes.
We have feelings all the time, and so do our babies. Mostly we pay attention only to the real ups and downs or shifts in feelings. But emotions serve three very important functions: biological, communicative, and motivational .
Biological: Emotions help connect inner feelings to external movements, especially facial expressions. When we're happy, we smile. Some aspects of emotional expression appear to be prewired. These show up before a baby fully understands the meaning of the emotion—as with smiling, for example. Other aspects acquire an individuality, giving each baby some special ways of showing feelings.
Communicative: How well we signal what we are feeling, and how well we "read" and respond to others' cues, are central to both emotional and social development. Based on what we see, we adjust our behavior to acknowledge what is occurring and to establish and maintain good relationships. People who are good at picking up cues quickly and responding constructively are likely to fare better in all types of relationships.
Motivational: Emotions, and the brain chemicals they trigger, propel us powerfully toward some situations and people and away from others. Along with memories of our past experience, they lead us to want to extend or end activities, to try or avoid something new, and to make us better or less able to remember what we have learned.
 | From Right from Birth: Building Your Child's Foundation for Life by Craig T. Ramey, Ph.D., and Sharon L. Ramey, Ph.D. Available wherever books are sold. Copyright © 1999 by Goddard Press, Inc. |
