Many emotion researchers would probably agree that at least some aspects of discrete emotions are evolutionarily conserved (e.g., the sensation/feeling component cannot be learned). Such agreement probably extends to the notion that aspects of emotions emerge in ontogeny as a function of developmental, learning, and cultural processes. Determining when and under what circumstances they emerge seems largely a matter for empirical research, though theories differ in their predictions and in the way they describe the relevant emotional-, cognitive-, and neuro-developmental processes.
Adams, R.B., Gordon, H.L., Baird, A.A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R.E. ( 2003). Effects of gaze on amygdala sensitivity to anger and fear faces. Science, 300, 1,536.
2.
Bowlby, J. ( 1980). Attachment and loss (Vol. 3). New York: Basic Books.
3.
Buss, K.A., & Kiel, E.J. ( 2004). Comparison of sadness, anger, and fear facial expressions when toddlers look at their mother. Child Development, 75, 1,761-1,773.
4.
Campos, J.J., & Stenberg, C. ( 1981). Perception, appraisal, and emotion: The onset of social referencing. In M. E. Lamb & L. R. Sherrod (Eds.), Infant social cognition: Empirical and theoretical considerations (pp. 273-314). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Damasio, A. ( 1999). The feeling of what happens: The body and emotion in the making of consciousness. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company.
7.
de Haan, M., & Nelson, C.A. ( 1998). Discrimination and categorization of facial expressions of emotion during infancy. In A. M. Slater (Ed.), Perceptual development: Visual, auditory, and language perception in infancy (pp. 287-309). London: University College London Press.
8.
Edelman, G.M. ( 2006). Second nature: Brain science and human knowledge. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
9.
Hoehl, S., & Striano, T. ( 2008). Neural processing of eye gaze and threat-related emotional facial expressions in infancy. Child Development, 79, 1752-1760.
10.
Izard, C.E. ( 2007a). Basic emotions, natural kinds, emotion schemas, and a new paradigm. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 260-280.
11.
Izard, C.E. ( 2007b). Emotion feelings stem from evolution and neuro-biological development. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 404-405.
12.
Izard, C.E. ( 2008). The many meanings of "emotion": Emotion definitions, functions, activation, and regulation. Unpublished manuscript.
13.
Izard, C.E. ( 2009). Emotion theory and research: Highlights, unanswered questions, and emerging issues. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 1-25.
14.
Izard, C.E., & Ackerman, B.P. (2000). Motivational, organizational, and regulatory functions of discrete emotions. In M. Lewis & J. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 253-322). New York: Guilford Press.
15.
Izard, C.E., Fantauzzo, C.A., Castle, J.M., Haynes, O.M., Rayias, M.F., & Putnam, P.H. ( 1995). The ontogeny and significance of infants’ facial expressions in the first 9 months of life. Developmental Psychology , 31, 997-1,013.
16.
Izard, C.E., Hembree, E.A., Dougherty, L.M., & Spizzirri, C.C. (1983). Changes in facial expressions of 2- to 19-month-old infants following acute pain. Developmental Psychology, 19(3), 418-426.
17.
Izard, C.E., Hembree, E.A., & Huebner, R.R. ( 1987). Infants’ emotion expressions to acute pain: Developmental change and stability of individual differences. Developmental Psychology, 23, 105-113.
18.
Izard, C.E., King, K.A., & Finlon, K.J. ( 2007). Behavior and emotion expression observation system. Unpublished manuscript, University of Delaware.
19.
Langer, S.K. ( 1967-1982). Mind: An essay on human feeling (Abridged by Gary Van Den Heuvel, Ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
20.
Langsdorf, P., Izard, C.E., Rayias, M., & Hembree, E. ( 1983). Interest expression, visual fixation, and heart rate changes in 2- to 8-month old infants. Developmental Psychology , 19(3), 375-386.
21.
LeDoux, J.E. ( 2009). Emotional coloration of consciousness: How feelings come about. In L. W. Weiskrantz & M. Davies (Eds.), Frontiers of consciousness (pp. 69-130). New York: Oxford University Press.
22.
Lewis, M., Ramsay, D.S., & Kawakami, K. ( 1993). Differences between Japanese infants and Caucasian American infants in behavioral and cortisol response to inoculation. Child Development, 64, 1,722-1,731.
23.
Lewis, M., Ramsay, D.S., & Sullivan, M.W. (2006). The relation of ANS and HPA activation to infant anger and sadness response to goal blockage. Developmental Psychobiology, 48, 397-405.
24.
Ludemann, P.M., & Nelson, C.A. ( 1988). Categorical representation of facial expressions by 7-month-old infants. Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 492-501.
25.
Russell, J.A. ( 1994). Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression? A review of the cross-cultural studies. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 102-141.
26.
Schwartz, G.M., Izard, C.E., & Ansul, S.E. ( 1985). The 5-month-old’s ability to discriminate facial expressions of emotion. Infant Behavior and Development, 8, 65-77.
27.
Shiller, V.M., Izard, C.E., & Hembree, E.A. ( 1986). Patterns of emotion expression during separation in the Strange Situation procedure. Developmental Psychology, 22(3), 378-382.
28.
Shweder, R.A. ( 1993). The cultural psychology of the emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 417-431). New York: Guilford Press.
29.
Silvia, P.J. ( 2006). Exploring the psychology of interest. New York: Oxford University Press.
30.
Walker-Andrews, A.S. ( 1997). Infants’ perception of expressive behaviors: Differentiation of multimodal information. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 437-456.