Motivation to hide emotion and children's understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotions.

Full Abstract

The authors investigated the extent to which children's understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotions varied according to the motivation to hide emotions. Children, aged 6-7 and 10-11 years, were read stories designed to elicit either prosocial or self-protective motivated display rules and were asked to predict the facial expressions the protagonists would make to hide felt emotions. Children were found to understand the distinction between real and apparent emotions very well, independently of the type of motivation. Contrary to predictions, boys understood this distinction better than did girls when the motivation to hide positive emotions was prosocial. Children perceived neutralization as the most appropriate strategy to hide felt emotions, followed by masking.

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Author information

Author/s: Gosselin, Pierre (P); Warren, Madeleine (M); Diotte, Michèle (M);

Affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. pgosseli(-atsign-)uottawa.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of genetic psychology (J Genet Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Dec; vol 163 (issue 4) : pp 479-95

Dates: Created 2002/12/23; Completed 2003/03/26; Revised 2007/03/30;

PMID: 12495232, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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