ABSTRACT
I believe we stand on the threshold of a new era in our scientific understanding of the emotional life of the infant. Cross-cultural studies of adult facial expression and a renewed emphasis on analyzing patterned emotional responses (Ekman, Friesen, & Ellsworth, 1972; Izard, 1971) have given a dramatic impetus to the psychological study of emotions. At the same time our burgeoning knowledge of the human infant as a biologically active and socially interactive being has increased our awareness of a lag in our knowledge of emotional development. We know much more about the domains of perception and cognition than we do about emotion, as several recent reviews have documented (Charlesworth & Kreutzer, 1973; Haith & Campos, 1977; Lewis & Rosenblum, 1978; Oster & Ekman, 1978; Sroufe, 1979). This lag is especially dramatic for clinicians, for whom emotional expressions are an essential orienting feature of our everyday work with patients of all ages. Even though infants cannot tell us how they feel, they have other ways of communicating emotions; and we should be able to understand more.
