CHILDREN’S ATTRIBUTION OF BELIEFS ABOUT SIMULATED EMOTIONS

• Authors: Francesc Sidera , Elisabet Serrat , Carles Rostan , Jéssica Serrano
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This research examined children’s understanding of the effect of hiding or pretending an emotion on the beliefs of the observer of this emotion. A sample of 337 children from 4 to 12 years of age participated in the study. They were divided into two groups; one involving a deception condition and one a pretend play condition. In the deception tasks, the protagonists intended to deceive other people about their feelings, while in the pretend play tasks, the protagonists pretended an emotion to play with another person. The results support previous findings that 4- and even 6-year-olds have difficulty in understanding the misleading consequences of hiding an emotion. On the other hand, when children attributed beliefs to the observer of a pretend emotion, young children mostly considered the pretend scenario, while older children took the real events into account. The paper discusses when children develop their ability to understand simulated emotions and their possible misleading consequences.

Keywords

EN

DECEPTION; PRETEND PLAY; EMOTION; FACIAL EXPRESSION; FALSE BELIEF; CHILDREN

• Publisher: Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Studia Psychologica
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 54
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 67 – 80

Contributors

author

Francesc Sidera

• Facultat d’Educacio i Psicologia, Universitat de Girona Plaça Sant Domenec 3, Edifici les Aligues, 17071 Girona, Spain

author

Elisabet Serrat

author

Carles Rostan

author

Jéssica Serrano