The capacity for emotion regulation undergoes a significant shift across the lifespan, transitioning from primarily extrinsic to intrinsic mechanisms. Infants rely heavily on extrinsic regulation provided by caregivers, with very limited intrinsic strategies such as gaze aversion. As development progresses, children gradually transition to independent, intrinsic regulation. By adolescence, individuals rely almost exclusively on intrinsic emotion regulation and often resist extrinsic regulation from parents or authority figures. Finally, healthy adults dynamically employ a combination of both intrinsic and extrinsic regulation strategies depending on the social and situational context.