JOY
!!
Joy means pleasure, happiness
and delight. The stimuli that make a child satisfied, and contented give rise
to the feelings of joy. Joys are expressed by smile, laughter, shouting,
dancing with glee and hugging mother or peers, smiling does not appear till the
boy is two months old. Joy or pleasure is an emotional reaction to the
satisfaction of a motive. It is also as the result of reaching a goal.
Unhindered exploration, patting, stroking, and touching evoke feeling of joy.
Child shows joy when he/she is having close physical contact with the mother.
In the beginning, joy is a generalized and undifferentiated reaction. It comes
from physical comfort. Joy is associated with baby's new activities such as
cooing, babbling, creeping, standing up, walking and running. The chiId becomes
joyous being active on his own accord (Jersild, 1960). When overcomes an
obstacle to reach the goal the joy increases. Babies get pleasure when they
learn a new skill (reaching out, shaking a rattle, opening a box, and when some
body plays hide and seek with newspaper in between). Smiling and laughter are
the expressions of joy in different situations at different ages (Washburn,
1929). Children laugh when there are odd behaviours, fun sight, and funny
stories. Teasing others, playing pranks, putting animals other children in
difficulties give him/her pleasure too. Cartoon scenes in T.V. and movies also
give joy to children. They transfer joy to pet animals, to pet dolls or
pillows. Older children experience joy emotion when they feel superior.
Plutchik's wheel of human emotion reveals that of the eight pairs of primary
emotions joy and sadness is one pair.