Preschoolers’ Knowledge of Specific Emotions

Abstract

The current study examined preschoolers’ knowledge of specific emotions (happy, sad, angry, and afraid) as assessed through the Affect Knowledge Test (AKT) and had several goals. The first goal was to determine whether preschoolers’ emotion knowledge varied by emotion type and valence, overall and by age, sex, and preschool type. The second goal was to determine whether preschoolers’ varied in the type of errors that they made on vignettes, overall and by age. The third goal was to determine whether emotion knowledge scores assessed in fall of 2006 (Time 1) were associated with teacher ratings on the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation – The Short Form (SCBE-30) in spring of 2007 (Time 2). The fourth and last goal was to determine whether emotion knowledge scores assessed in fall of 2006 (Time 1) predicted teacher ratings on the SCBE-30 in spring of 2007 (Time 2) above and beyond using a total score for overall emotion knowledge. Results indicated that preschoolers’ emotion knowledge for happiness was significantly greater than emotion knowledge for the three negative emotions (sad, angry, afraid). This finding was significant across vignette-types (stereotypical and non-stereotypical). Results also indicated that for negative emotions, preschoolers were most competent at recognizing sadness, followed by anger and then fear. Emotion knowledge for negative emotions was significantly higher for four yearolds for stereotypical and non-stereotypical vignettes, with emotion knowledge for happiness also being significantly greater for four year-olds, but only for nonstereotypical vignettes. Males were significantly better at correctly identifying anger, but only for stereotypical vignettes, and no significant differences in emotion knowledge were found for preschool type. For errors in emotion knowledge, results indicated that preschooler’s made a significantly greater number of ‘angry’ and ‘sad’ errors compared to ‘afraid’ errors, and these errors were significantly greater for three year-olds. Correlational analyses revealed that emotion knowledge for sadness at Time 1 was significantly correlated with teacher ratings of withdrawal/avoidance at Time 2, and emotion knowledge for happiness, sadness, and anger at Time 1 were significantly correlated with teacher ratings of sensitivity/cooperation at Time 2. Lastly, regression analyses indicated that using a score of overall emotion knowledge at Time 1 significantly predicted teacher ratings of sensitivity/cooperation at Time 2, but scores for knowledge of specific emotions at Time 1 did not predict scores above and beyond using an overall score of emotion knowledge. Future research should focus on incorporating preschoolers’ differences in knowledge of each specific emotion to better understand individual differences in emotion knowledge and to help tailor prevention and intervention programming to individual children.