Study of children’s emotional and behavioral interactions in nature is crucial in a place such as Alaska where wilderness still remains an ample part of everyday life. Yet the degree in which children are exposed to wilderness environments varies from child to child and situation to situation.

In this project, we study the micro-interactions of children's emotional and behavioral responses to the natural world, recognizing that:

a) Emotions inform behaviors and are intricately linked to cognitive processes

b) Emotional responses develop over time; a situation that triggered an emotional response at one time may trigger a different response at a different time

c) Emotional responses are set in socio-cultural and environmental contexts

d) Emotional responses are individualized; one child’s response to a particular situation might be entirely different than another child’s response