Chapter 7 - How appraisal development shapes the development of emotion

Abstract

Appraisal theory is a dominant theoretical perspective in contemporary emotion research. While extensive research has been conducted with adults, far less has examined appraisal processes and their development in infants and children. This chapter seeks to bridge these areas of study. After describing appraisal theory, we review the paucity of appraisal research in the developmental literature. We then pivot to illustrate how research on the development of appraisal processes could elucidate appraisal theory and emotion more generally. Specifically, we describe how (1) developmental populations can provide a context for conducting experiments of nature to test core aspects of appraisal theory and assumptions of emotional development, (2) socialization of appraisal dimensions may account for individual and cross-cultural differences in emotion, (3) utilization of appraisal theory can allow clinicians to better study and understand emotions in atypical populations, (4) developmental methodologies may be utilized to spot infants and children at risk for adverse emotion functioning, and (5) emotions may exist that are unique to developmental and nonneurotypical populations.