Social emotions are
emotions that require the representation of the mental states of other people. Examples are
embarrassment,
guilt,
shame,
jealousy,
envy,
empathy, and
pride. In contrast, basic emotions such as
happiness and
sadness only require the awareness of one's own somatic state. Therefore, the development of social emotions is tightly linked with the development of
social cognition, the ability to imagine other people's mental states, which generally develops in
adolescence. Studies have found that children as young as 2 to 3 years of age can express emotions resembling guilt and
remorse. However, while five-year-old children are able to imagine situations in which basic emotions would be felt, the ability to describe situations in which social emotions might be experienced does not appear until seven years of age.