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Emotion in the Mind and Body pp 11–41Cite as

Emotion Concept Development from Childhood to Adulthood

Part of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation book series (NSM,volume 66)

Abstract

Emotion concepts are the internally held representations of what defines any given emotion. Contemporary emotion theories posit that emotion concepts occupy a central role in shaping our perceptions and experiences of emotion. However, like other concepts, emotion concepts actively change over the life course. Here, we review classic and contemporary ideas, and recent empirical research, that concern how emotion concepts develop from childhood to adulthood. Emerging evidence suggests that emotion concepts change in complex ways across early life development, which has a tangible impact on the emotional experiences of children, adolescents, and adults. Charting emotion concept development in this way holds implications for basic theories of emotion and development as well as more clinical theories focused on helping children and adolescents overcome emotion-regulatory challenges.

Keywords

  • Emotion concepts
  • Emotion-regulatory challenges
  • Normative emotional experiences
  • Emotion perception
  • Emotion concept organization from childhood to adulthood
  • Emotion words

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  1. Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Erik C. Nook & Leah H. Somerville

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  1. Department of Psychology Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Maital Neta

  2. Department of Political Science Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Ingrid J. Haas

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Nook, E.C., Somerville, L.H. (2019). Emotion Concept Development from Childhood to Adulthood. In: Neta, M., Haas, I. (eds) Emotion in the Mind and Body. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, vol 66. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27473-3_2

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