It is difficult to make progress in the study of emotions and emotional development if the meanings assigned to central constructs vary widely across investigators. This book clarifies and synthesizes the different ways in which emotion researchers approach fundamental questions about the nature of emotion and emotional development. Theorist and researchers addressed three major questions about emotions and their development: (1) the definition of emotion, focusing on essential components; (2) what about emotions, if anything, undergoes developmental change; and (3) the functions of the changes for the psychological or social life of the child. The chapters are: (1) "On the Nature, Development, and Function of Emotions" (Griffin and Mascolo); (2) "The Development and Structure of Emotions" (Lewis); (3) "Toward a Neuroscience of Emotion: The Epigenetic Foundations of Emotional Development" (Panksepp, Knutson, and Pruitt); (4) "Differential Emotions Theory and Emotional Development: Mindful of Modularity" (Ackerman, Abe, and Izard); (5) " A Functionalist Perspective to the Development of Emotions" (Barrett); (6) "Emotion and the Possibility of Psychologists Entering into Heaven" (Brown and Kozak); (7) "A Dynamic Systems Approach to Cognition-Emotion Interactions in Development" (Lewis and Douglas); (8) "Toward a Component Systems Approach to Emotional Development" (Mascolo and Harkins); (9) "Alternative Trajectories in the Development of Anger-Related Appraisals" (Mascolo and Griffin); (10) "The Development of Emotion from a Social Process View" (Dickson, Fogel, and Messinger); (11) "The Analysis of Emotions: Dimensions of Variation" (Frijda, Mesquita); (12) "The Narrative Construction of Emotional Life: Developmental Aspects" (Mancuso and Sarbin); and (13) "Alternative Conceptions of Emotional Development: Controversy and Consensus" (Mascolo and Griffin). (KB)