Thanks to exceptional advances in neurobiological research, scientists are able to understand a great deal about how the human brain develops and functions.

For instance, they know that certain biological changes occur in the brain of humans and other primates when it feels threatened or fearful. At the core of fear conditioning, and relatively other states of emotion, lies the amygdala, an almond-shaped group of nuclei buried deep within the temporal lobes and the hippocampus, which regulates conscious memory. 

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"It is the growth of the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and related areas that represents the main evolutionary development of self consciousness, allowing Homo sapiens to delay responses while comparing them to past experience and self concepts."¹

The emotional subsystems of the brain process various information, including how to relate the state of the world with expectations.  This emotional circuitry is also strongly connected to the brain's region of decision making. According to neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, "Most of the things that make us emotional are learned through experience. So a key part of an emotion system is how it learns and stores information."²

During the early years emotional and social development are closely intertwined, and the process begins with the relationship an infant has with its mother or other primary caregiver.

Next page >>>> Initial Lessons in Socialization, 2, 3
 

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