The study of the emergence of specific emotions and emotional states such as disgust, fear and sadness, as well as the development of the ability to recognize or appraise emotions in both self and others and to communicate them appropriately. A striking feature of this area of study in developmental psychology is the ongoing attempt to integrate emotional and cognitive development as a means of understanding the development of emotional processes such as awareness and regulation or the cognitive mediation of emotional states. More recently, emotional development has been studied in the context of the growing area of affective or social neuroscience, which endeavors to gain insights into brain-behavior relationships involved, for example, in emotional awareness and the regulation of emotional states, mainly by means of EEG recordings.
See Behavioral state concept, Cognitive development, Electroencephalogram (EEG), Emotion, Emotional awareness, Emotional competence, Emotional regulation, Empathizing/empathy, Hubris, Infantile amnesia, Pride, Self-conscious emotions, Shame, Social development