How children make meaning of their own social experiences in situations involving moral issues is central to their subsequent affective and cognitive moral learning. Our study of young children's narratives describing their interpersonal conflicts shows that the emotions and judgments constructed in the course of these real-life narratives differ…

This chapter identifies three common pitfalls in the use of the concept of empathy in formal social-emotional learning interventions: (1) not distinguishing between affective and cognitive empathy ("equivocation"); (2) overestimating the role of the imagination in empathizing ("Piaget's fallacy"); and (3) not accommodating the developmental and…

One surprising feature of cognitive and emotional development in the moral domain is the so-called happy victimizer phenomenon, which is commonly explained by a lack of moral motivation. Concerning this general approach, there are two pieces of news in this chapter. The bad news is that moral motivation is a highly problematic concept and its…

Moral intelligence is grounded in emotion and reason. Neuroscientific and clinical research illustrate how early life co-regulation with caregivers influences emotion, cognition, and moral character. Triune ethics theory (Narvaez, 2008) integrates neuroscientific, evolutionary, and developmental findings to explain differences in moral…

In this introductory chapter, guided by developmental psychopathology and developmental science as overarching integrative theoretical frameworks, the authors define three constructs related to social anxiety in childhood (behavioral inhibition, anxious solitude/withdrawal, and social anxiety disorder) and analyze commonalities and differences in…

Fearful temperaments have been identified as a major risk factor for anxiety disorders. However, descriptions of fearful temperament and several forms of anxiety disorder show strong similarities. This raises the question whether these terms may simply refer to different aspects of the same underlying construct. The current review examines…

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament that can be identified early in childhood. Children with BI are socially reticent, withdraw from engaging unfamiliar peers, and often have problems in forming friendships. They are also at risk for developing anxiety disorders as they get older. There is, however, as much discontinuity as continuity in…

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common disorder that can lead to significant impairment. In this chapter, the author provides background on the disorder and reviews hypothesized familial and temperamental risk factors. In particular, it highlights the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Longitudinal Study of Children at Risk for Anxiety, now…

This chapter contains (1) an analysis of commonalities and differences in anxious solitude and social anxiety disorder, and a review of empirical investigations examining (2) correspondence among childhood anxious solitude and anxiety and mood diagnoses and (3) the relation between peer difficulties and temporal stability of anxious solitude and…

In this chapter, the authors review the history of the Waterloo Longitudinal Project (WLP), the first longitudinal study (1980-1992) dedicated to the study of social withdrawal, its correlates, and consequences. Theories underlying the WLP are described, as are its empirical findings. Recent research from other labs that has extended the findings…

Given the omnipresent role of gender in children's and adolescents' development, it seems necessary to better understand how gender affects the process of emotion socialization. In this introductory chapter, the authors discuss the overarching themes and key concepts discussed in this volume, as well as outline the distinct contribution of each…

Low-income children are at elevated risk for emotion-related problems; however, little research has examined gender and emotion socialization in low-income families. The authors describe the ways in which emotion socialization may differ for low-income versus middle-income families. They also present empirical data on low-income caregivers'…

Preschoolers' socialization of emotion and its contribution to emotional competence is likely to be highly gendered. In their work, the authors have found that mothers often take on the role of emotional gatekeeper in the family, and fathers act as loving playmates, but that parents' styles of socialization of emotion do not usually differ for…

In this chapter, the authors examine the differences between mothers and fathers in the socialization of specific emotions in preschool-aged boys and girls. They argue that mothers and fathers play both distinct and complementary roles in the development of children's emotional competence; these roles are influenced both by parents' own gender, as…

This chapter provides conceptual background and empirical evidence that parental emotion socialization continues well into middle childhood and is influenced by the social context. Data are presented to illustrate the influence of parent and child gender on parental socialization of emotion in 113 Caucasian, middle-class children. Mothers and…