ever, it also involves less formal ways in which affect is regulated—those that
are provided by social networks such as parents and peers. Thus the availabil-
ity or unavailability of such social-emotional resources is one important fac-
tor influencing the process of dynamic integration, along with purely cogni-
tive resources.
Growth as Increasing Integration
How do the principles outlined above apply to development? In the first sec-
tion of this chapter, we presented a general overview of Piaget’s (e.g., 1955,
1962, 1965, 1967, 1980, 1981) notions of cognitive-affective development.
Subsequent research in general has extended and elaborated Piaget’s early
notions of the relationship between cognitive and affective development.
Thus relatively primary emotions are present early in development, but even
so, they appear to emerge in concert with evolving cognitive capacities (see
Labouvie-Vief & DeVoe, 1991; Lewis, 2000). For example, at birth emotions
are mainly bipolar and concerned with distress or pleasure. As soon as 3
months of age, however, joy and excitement emerge as infants recognize fa-
miliar faces–events, or sadness when positive events stop. Surprise emerges a
little later and is associated to the violation of an expected event or the ap-
pearance of an unexpected one. Fearfulness emerges a little later; it is thought
to be a somewhat more complex emotion since it requires the comparison of
one image with another one (Lewis, 2000).
- AFFECT OPTIMIZATION AND DIFFERENTIATION 249
FIG. 9.2. Resources moderate the degree to which integration is degraded.