The social and emotional development of the child covers two main processes that are closely related: developing the ability to establish various contacts with adults and peers; the gradual transition of the child from complete dependence, requiring the help of an adult, to personal independence. The first social manifestations of a newborn child are associated with physiological needs.

The child has a need for communication due to the initially emotional communication of an adult with him, physiological emotional reactions are gradually transformed into socially significant ones. By the end of the first month, the baby is able to hold his gaze for a moment on a human face, briefly stop moving not only the limbs, but the mouth and eyes. By the end of the second month, the child is able to follow a moving face, while the first positive emotion in the form of a smile appears on the gentle voice of an adult.

By the third month of life, to various pleasant external influences, the child increasingly has components of various positive emotional reactions, which are combined into a “complex of revival”, expressed in the child’s motor revival, accompanied by a smile, vocalizations. At this age, a smile in a baby can be caused by anyone. The scheme of a moving human face is crucial. By the end of the 4th and 5th months, the child develops ideas about the relationship between frequently repeated situations, and cognitive emotions develop.