Developing kind emotions in caring environments

Kind emotions (e.g. empathy for others, self-compassion and gratitude) motivate kind actions and involve understanding, appreciating or 'feeling with' both one's own and others' emotions. They are an essential capacity for humans' potential to care for fellow humans and non-human entities. How do such emotions evolve, and what type of caring environments and mechanisms are needed for their development? In this review, we provide insights into how children's kind emotions emerge, develop and are nurtured by caring environments. We begin by reviewing the development of kind emotions across the early years and identify consequences of kind emotions on prosociality and well-being. Next, we summarize research on the mechanisms and functions of caring environments in shaping the development of kind emotions, including caring relationships and practices of care across diverse relationships (e.g. with parents and peers) and layers of the ecosystem (e.g. familial, educational, societal and natural). Finally, we provide recommendations for future developmental research in this area. This article is part of the theme issue 'Mechanisms, development, phylogeny and functions of emotional expressions'.