Bronwyn O'Brien, Mohamed Ebeid, Cristina M. Atance
{"title":"Who feels happier right now?: The impact of temporal distance on children's judgements of emotional intensity","authors":"Bronwyn O'Brien, Mohamed Ebeid, Cristina M. Atance","doi":"10.1111/bjdp.12505","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Do children consider temporal distance in their reasoning about the world? Using a novel method that relied minimally on verbal ability, we asked <i>N</i> = 106 3- to 6-year-olds to judge which of two characters felt more ‘happy’/‘sad’ <i>right now</i>: one engaging in a pleasant/unpleasant activity <i>tomorrow</i> or another engaging in this same activity when they are <i>a year older</i>. That is, we examined whether children understood that the closer in time a future event, the more intense the currently felt emotion. Starting at age 4, children correctly judged which child was more ‘happy’/‘sad’ <i>right now</i>. However, 4- to 6-year-olds tended not to explain their judgements by referring to temporal distance, per se. Results suggest that children are sensitive to temporal distance early in development, but do not yet verbally express this understanding. Implications for theories about children's future thinking and future areas of research are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":51418,"journal":{"name":"British Journal of Developmental Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/bjdp.12505","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"British Journal of Developmental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjdp.12505","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Do children consider temporal distance in their reasoning about the world? Using a novel method that relied minimally on verbal ability, we asked N = 106 3- to 6-year-olds to judge which of two characters felt more ‘happy’/‘sad’ right now: one engaging in a pleasant/unpleasant activity tomorrow or another engaging in this same activity when they are a year older. That is, we examined whether children understood that the closer in time a future event, the more intense the currently felt emotion. Starting at age 4, children correctly judged which child was more ‘happy’/‘sad’ right now. However, 4- to 6-year-olds tended not to explain their judgements by referring to temporal distance, per se. Results suggest that children are sensitive to temporal distance early in development, but do not yet verbally express this understanding. Implications for theories about children's future thinking and future areas of research are discussed.
期刊介绍:
The British Journal of Developmental Psychology publishes full-length, empirical, conceptual, review and discussion papers, as well as brief reports, in all of the following areas: - motor, perceptual, cognitive, social and emotional development in infancy; - social, emotional and personality development in childhood, adolescence and adulthood; - cognitive and socio-cognitive development in childhood, adolescence and adulthood, including the development of language, mathematics, theory of mind, drawings, spatial cognition, biological and societal understanding; - atypical development, including developmental disorders, learning difficulties/disabilities and sensory impairments;