Some emotions can, although rather conditionally, be attributed to innate ones: an innate reaction of fear of heights, loud sounds, snakes, however, the main volume of emotional life is not they, but acquired, learned, social emotions. These acquired emotions are also quite arbitrary, but can be divided into two very large groups: the emotions of children’s culture and the emotions of adult culture.
Emotions, feelings, and states of children’s culture are those that are invented, adopted from each other and mastered by children themselves, primarily in connection with the task of controlling parents and other adults. At the age of 3 to 7 years, children successfully master the emotions and states of children’s culture, such as shyness, fears, fatigue, boredom, resentment, confusion, frustration, tantrums, despair, horror … Children learn and master those emotions of the state that most effectively protect them from their parents or allow them to be controlled by their parents. It is interesting that, first of all, these are negative emotions — parents are led to them the easiest way. Why, why? Because it is profitable.
Children are not born shy, children become shy. Babies are born brave (hear them cry!) but learn to be shy because it pays off. Children (mostly girls) themselves learn to be afraid, because being afraid is interesting, accepted and profitable. Often children themselves invent fears for themselves and are afraid of them with pleasure. As for boredom, this is a purely learned emotion: initially, children have an interest in everything. Resentment is not an innate emotion. Young children know how to express dissatisfaction, and they need to learn such complex behavior as feeling resentment. However, it turns out to be one of the most beloved emotions. Children are usually collected, but they soon realize that confusion relieves them of responsibility perfectly, and soon they already know how to be confused in time. Being alert all the time is stupid, but being tired once is interesting and useful. Previously, a child, when he was physically tired, either fell asleep or got angry, but now he is “tired”: look! Children are smart, and the smartest of them understand that sometimes it is useful to turn off the brain and not be able to think at all. Children learn not to think and to be dumb. When you stop thinking, it is not difficult to reproduce such adult emotions as frustration, despair and horror. Well, a nightmare, of course! «I’m shocked…»
When it is beneficial for them, children become cops, children learn to get sick …
On the contrary, the emotions and states of adult culture are those that are created in the circle of adults and are passed on to children for pedagogical purposes. Sublime love or a sense of patriotism are examples of the feelings of an adult circle. Also, grief is already an emotion of adult culture, it is an indicator of a high level of culture and is not mastered by all children and not immediately.