The development of concepts of simultaneity in childrens understanding of emotions.

Reissland, N.

Abstract

The development of children's understanding of simultaneously occurring emotions was investigated. A developmental progression was found in their giving examples of ambivalent situations (e.g. characterised by both happiness and anger); and in their descriptions of situations. The youngest children (mean age = 5.8) gave as examples of ambivalence two unrelated events associated with different emotions. At the next stage children (mean age = 7.0) were able to connect sequentially two events. At a third stage (mean age = 10.1) the children were able to conceive of situations in which two emotions of opposite valence occurred simultaneously.

Citation

Reissland, N. (1985). The development of concepts of simultaneity in childrens understanding of emotions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26(5), 811-824. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1985.tb00594.x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 1985-09
• Journal: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
• Print ISSN: 0021-9630
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-7610
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 811-824
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1985.tb00594.x