Chapter 5 - AFFECT AND INTELLECT: PIAGET'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF INFANT EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Plaget's contribution to a theory of emotional development is discussed in this chapter. Although he has frequently been criticized for neglecting the emotional aspects of children's development, it can be demonstrated that Piaget has contributed substantially to a discussion of infants' and children's emotions. An extensive, descriptive presentation of Piaget's database of infants' emotions is provided here. Based on this descriptive account, a classification of the contexts in which infants' emotional expressions occur in Piaget's work is derived. It is shown how the theoretical language Piaget developed to refer to infants' cognitive development can be inferred based on this classification of their emotions. Furthermore, the implications of this presentation for a theory of emotional development are discussed, and issues such as the conceptualization of the origins and goals of emotional development and the ways in which “change” and the sequences and stages or organizations can be conceived in the emotional domain are addressed. Epiphenomenalism and parallelism are considered as two possible formulations of the relationship between cognitive and emotional development within a Piagetian perspective. Finally, based on some of the methodological and theoretical problems of Piaget's approach, suggestions are made for future theory and research of the interface between cognitive and emotional development.