vii PREFACE It was 13 years ago that we met for the ?rst time at a German developmental psychology conference. One of us, Wolfgang Friedlmeier (WF), was interested in ontogenetic development from a cross-cultural perspective. He presented a study on the development of empathy and distress in preschool age, dealing with how far children from different cultures respond to comparable demands with different emotions and regulation strategies. The other, Manfred Holodynski (MH), was - terested in ontogenetic development from the perspective of internalization: how processes that are originally socially distributed between persons are transformed into mental processes within the individual. He presented a study on the devel- ment of the emotions pride and shame in preschool age. This led the two of us to discover our common interest in central issues of emotional development: What role do the emotions play in an individuals activity regulation? What is it exactly that is developing when we talk about emotional development? Do emotional processes have a social genesis? And what is the role of the early social interactions between children and their caregivers, along with the obvious fact that individuals grow up and live in completely different cultures? Even at this time, we both already suspected that the social and cultural embedment of the individual would prove to be a key to understanding how the diversity of human emotions and their regulation develop.

Perspectives on Emotional Development.- A Preliminary Summary.- The Design of this Book.- The Structuralist Paradigm: Emotion as a Specific Psychological State.- The Functionalist Paradigm: Emotion as a Psychological Function.- The Dynamic-Systems Paradigm: Emotion as an Evolving System.- The Sociocultural Paradigm: Emotion as a Co-Constructed Psychological Function.- Emotion as a Functional Psychological System.- From Interpersonal to Intrapersonal Regulation.- The Transformation of Expressive Reactions into Signs.- Levels of Action Regulation.- Preadaptation of Infant and Caregiver.- The Emergence of Sign-Mediated Regulation in Infancy.- The Emergence of Intrapersonal Regulation Levels in Toddlers and Preschoolers.- The Internalization of Mental Means of Regulation from Age 6 Onward.- Mental Emotions and Adult Emotion Regulation.- How Far are Emotions Culturally Shaped?- Emotional Development in the Cultural Context.- Summary and Outlook.