Emotional Development

What is an emotion?

An emotion is an aroused state of body and mind in response to a stimulus, made up of three parts — physical changes (such as a faster heartbeat or sweating), a mental feeling, and outward behaviour. Fear, anger, joy, sadness and jealousy are common examples of emotions.

Emotions play a central role in a child's overall development — they deeply influence the pace of learning, social relationships and the capacity for self-control. This is why understanding emotional development is just as important for a teacher as teaching academic subjects, because the two are closely connected.

Key characteristics of children's emotions

Intensity

Children's emotions are more intense and forceful than adults'.

Brevity

Emotions arise quickly and generally also settle down quickly.

Frequent shifts

Young children are often seen shifting rapidly from one emotion to another.

Individual differences

Different children can show different emotional reactions to the same situation.

Change with age

As age increases, the ways of expressing and controlling emotions become more socially acceptable.

Bridges' theory of emotional differentiation (1932)

According to psychologist Katherine Bridges, an infant at birth has only a single, general, undifferentiated excitement, with no clear or specific emotion present.

By around 6 months of age, distinct basic emotions — fear, anger, disgust, delight and distress — begin to separate out from this general excitement. By around 1 year of age, most basic emotions have become clearly differentiated, and after age 2, as language develops, more complex emotions such as jealousy and grief also get added. According to Bridges, this process is shaped by both maturation and experience.

Identifying basic emotions

Factors that influence emotions

Why understanding emotional development matters for teachers

A child who is emotionally insecure or under stress can find it hard to concentrate in class, grasp new topics, or interact comfortably with others. Emotional development is therefore not merely a 'personal' matter — it is directly linked to the learning process.

Teachers should also understand that every child may express emotion differently — one child may shout out anger while another goes quiet. Rather than imposing the same reaction on every child, responding with sensitivity that recognises individual differences produces better outcomes, and it creates an emotionally safe classroom where children can share their feelings without fear, strengthening both their confidence and their interest in learning.

In short, a teacher who pays attention to a child's emotional state is not stepping outside their academic role — they are addressing one of the conditions that makes real learning possible in the first place, alongside curriculum and teaching method.

Applying this in the classroom

Rather than suppressing children's emotions, a teacher can help them recognise and express those emotions safely — for example, through open, comfortable discussion of feelings such as fear or anger via storytelling, drawing, or role play.

In young children (infancy and early childhood), emotions change rapidly, so teachers should be patient and give the child time to settle down instead of reacting sharply right away. With older children (later childhood and adolescence), open discussion of emotions and empathetic conversation work better.

It is worth noting that emotional development does not progress at the same pace in every child, even within Bridges' broad sequence — some children differentiate and regulate emotions earlier than others, depending on temperament, environment and opportunities for expression. This is why a teacher's response to a child's emotional outburst should always consider the child's individual pattern rather than a single fixed expectation for the whole class. For REET preparation, the most efficient approach is to treat Bridges' theory as a short timeline with four checkpoints — birth, six months, one year, and two years — and to be able to state, without hesitation, what is present or absent at each checkpoint, since exam questions are usually built around exactly these checkpoints rather than around the broader classroom-application material.

Practice questions

Frequently asked questions

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