Written for researchers and clinicians, this book integrates key perspectives in order to illuminate common beliefs about core processes of emotional development. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 discusses the nature of emotional development. Topics covered here include: (1) questions relevant in a developmental assessment of emotions; (2) conceptual issues in the study of emotion; and (3) emotion and the organization of development. Part 2 discusses the unfolding of emotion. Topics here include: (1) emotions as constructs and "stages" in the development of affect; (2) the development of joy and fear; (3) the interdependence of affect and cognition; and (4) meaning, evaluation, and emotion. Part 3 discusses emotional development and individual adaptation. Topics here include: (1) the social nature of emotional development; (2) attachment; (3) the emergence of the autonomous self; and (4) the growth of self-regulation. (Contains 427 references.) (JW)