Autism and Emotional Development

                 Norio ANDO:Clinical psychologist
                            Director of Hodoki Office of Mental Escort

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Three different emotions

There are three kinds of emotions.

The first emotion in development which appears around 0-2 months old is "the emotion for concentration", a facilitator of mental concentration and body's rigidness. We can observe it when a young baby is smiling at the caregiver or moving toys with heightened bodily tension.

The second emotion in development which appears around 3-4 months old is "the emotion for activation", a facilitator of mental activation, attention shift and vigorous body activity. We can observe it when a young baby is anticipating the care of the caregiver with laughter and bodily activation.

The third emotion in development which appears around 6-7 months old is "the emotion for relaxation", a facilitator of feeling of satisfaction and bodily relaxation which leads to the intimate(attachment) relation with other people. We can observe it when a baby shows relaxed laughter at the caregiver's playing peek-a-boo.