Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T15:55:02.111Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - The Development of Individual Differences in Understanding Emotion and Mind

Antecedents and Sequelae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Judy Dunn
Edited by
Antony S. R. Manstead ,
Nico Frijda  and
Agneta Fischer
Judy Dunn
Affiliation:
University of London
Antony S. R. Manstead
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Nico Frijda
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Agneta Fischer
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Get access

Summary

ABSTRACT

The chapter examines the relations between children's understanding of others' inner states and their socioemotional experiences and relationships, both concurrently and over time, and the place of talk in these developments. It is framed within a relationship perspective, draws on evidence from longitudinal studies of children, and discusses what we need to know now.

INTRODUCTION

No one who has been around young children can fail to have noticed the emotional drama of their lives – the intensity and frequency of their displays of anger, delight, distress, and humor. If you listen to what they are saying – their questions, jokes, stories, and arguments – their interest in and curiosity about emotions are also strikingly evident. There has of course been a long tradition, since Darwin, of research that charts the developmental changes in children's emotional behavior, and the organization of emotions, a tradition that continues today. There is also flourishing research on the regulation of emotional behavior and its relation to developmental psychopathology, and to close relationships more generally (Eisenberg, 2000; Eisenberg et al., 1995). This chapter however focuses not on these active areas of study, but on another theme that is increasingly prominent in developmental work on emotions. This is the significance, antecedents, and sequelae of individual differences in children's early understanding of emotions. As adults, our understanding of other people's feelings plays a crucial role in our relationships, in our interpretation of people's actions and intentions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Feelings and Emotions
The Amsterdam Symposium
 , pp. 303 - 320
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arsenio, W. F., & Lemerise, E. A. (2001). Varieties of childhood bullying: Values, emotion processes, and social competence. Social Development, 10(1), 59–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astington, J. W. (1993). The child's discovery of the mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Bartsch, K., & Estes, D. (1996). Individual differences in children's developing theory of mind and implications for metacognition. Learning and Individual Differences, 8(4), 281–304CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartsch, K., & Wellman, H. M. (1995). Children talk about the mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bretherton, I.; Fritz, J.; Zahn-Waxler, C.; & Ridgeway, D. (1986). Learning to talk about emotions: A functionalist perspective. Child Development, 57, 529–548CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brophy, M., & Dunn, J. (2002). What did mummy say? Dyadic interactions between young ‘hard-to-manage’ children and their mothers. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 103–112CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, J. R. (1995). What happened?: Emotional experience and children's talk about the past. Unpublished manuscript
Brown, J. R.; Donelan-McCall, N.; & Dunn, J. (1996). Why talk about mental states? The significance of children's conversations with friends, siblings, and mothers. Child Development, 67(3), 836–849CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, J. R., & Dunn, J. (1992). Talk with your mother or your sibling? Developmental changes in early family conversations about feelings. Child Development, 63(2), 336–349CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, S. B. (1994). Hard-to-manage preschool boys: Externalizing behavior, social competence, and family context at two-year follow-up. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22(2), 147–166CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, S. B. (1995). Behavioural problems in preschool children: A review of recent research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 36, 113–149CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, J. C.; Parke, R. D.; Butkovsky, L.; & Braungart, J. M. (1992). Family-peer connections: The roles of emotional expressiveness within the family and children's understanding of emotions. Child Development, 63, 603–618CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cutting, A., & Dunn, J. (2002). The cost of understanding other people: Social cognition predicts young children's sensitivity to criticism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 849–860CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cutting, A. L., & Dunn, J. (1999). Theory of mind, emotion understanding, language and family background: Individual differences and inter-relations. Child Development, 70(4), 853–865CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J. (1988). The beginnings of social understanding (1st ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Dunn, J. (2003). Emotional development in early childhood: A social relationship perspective. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, and H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Dunn, J., & Brown, J. R. (1993). Early conversations about causality: Content, pragmatics and developmental change. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11(2), 107–123CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J., & Brown, J. R. (1994). Affect expression in the family, children's understanding of emotions, and their interactions with others. Special Issue: Children's emotions and social competence. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 40(1), 120–137Google Scholar
Dunn, J.; Brown, J. R.; & Beardsall, L. (1991a). Family talk about feeling states and children's later understanding of others' emotions. Developmental Psychology, 27(3), 448–455CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J.; Brown, J. R.; Slomkowski, C.; Tesla, C.; & Youngblade, L. (1991b). Young children's understanding of other people's feelings and beliefs: Individual differences and their antecedents. Child Development, 62(6), 1352–1366CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J.; Brown, J. R.; & Maguire, M. (1995). The development of children's moral sensibility: Individual differences and emotion understanding. Developmental Psychology, 31(4), 649–659CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J.; Cutting, A.; & Demetriou, H. (2000). Moral sensibility, understanding others, and children's friendship interactions in the preschool period. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18(2), 159–178CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J.; Cutting, A.; & Fisher, N. (2002). Old friends, new friends: Predictors of children's perspectives on their friends at school. Child Development, 73, 621–635CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunn, J., & Herrera, C. (1997). Conflict resolution with friends, siblings, and mothers: A developmental perspective. Aggressive Behavior, 23, 343–3573.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J., & Hughes, C. (1998). Young children's understanding of emotions within close relationships. Cognition and Emotion, 12(2), 171–190Google Scholar
Dunn, J., & Hughes, C. (2001). “I got some swords and you're dead!”: Fantasy and friendship in young “hard to manage” children. Child Development, 72, 491–505CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunn, J., & Kendrick, C. (1982). Siblings: Love, envy and understanding. London: Grant McIntyre, Ltd
Eisenberg, N. (2000). Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 665–697CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N.; Fabes, R. A.; Murphy, M.; Maszk, P.; Smith, M.; & Karbon, M. (1995). The role of emotionality and regulation in children's social functioning: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 66, 1239–1261CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fivush, R. (1991). Gender and emotion in mother-child conversations about the past. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 1, 325–341CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fivush, R.; Gray, J. T.; & Fromhoff, F. A. (1987). Two-year-olds talk about the past. Cognitive Development, 2, 393–409CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldsmith, H. H.; Lemery, K. S.; Buss, K. A.; & Campos, J. (1999). Genetic analyses of focal aspects of infant temperament. Developmental Psychology, 35, 972–985CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Happe, F., & Frith, U. (1996). Theory of mind and social impairment in children with conduct disorder. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 14, 385–398CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinde, R. A. (1987). Individuals, relationships, cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Howe, N.; Petrakos, H.; & Rinaldi, C. (1998). “All the sheeps are dead. He murdered them”: Sibling pretense, negotiation, internal state language and relationship quality. Child Development, 69(1), 182–191Google ScholarPubMed
Hudson, J. A.; Gebelt, J.; Haviland, J.; & Bentivegna, C. (1992). Emotion and narrative structure in young children's personal accounts. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 2, 129–150CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C., & Cutting, A. (1999). Nature, nurture and individual differences in early understanding of mind. Psychological Science, 10(5), 429–432CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C., & Dunn, J. (1998). Understanding mind and emotion: Longitudinal associations with mental-state talk between young friends. Developmental Psychology, 34(5), 1026–1037CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, C., & Dunn, J. (2000). Hedonism or empathy?: Hard-to-manage children's moral awareness, and links with cognitive and maternal characteristics. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18(2), 227–245CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C., & Dunn, J. (2002). “When I say a naughty word.” Children's accounts of anger and sadness in self, mother, and friend: Longitudinal findings from ages four to seven. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20, 515–535CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C.; Cutting, A. L.; & Dunn, J. (2001). Acting nasty in the face of failure: Longitudinal observations of “hard to manage” children playing a rigged competitive game with a friend. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 403–416CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C.; White, A.; Sharpen, J.; & Dunn, J. (2000). Antisocial, angry and unsympathetic: ‘Hard to manage’ preschoolers' peer problems, and possible social and cognitive influences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41(2), 169–179CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lagattuta, K. H., & Wellman, H. M. (2001). Thinking about the past: Early knowledge about links between prior experience, thinking, and emotion. Child Development, 72, 82–102CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lagattuta, K. H.; Wellman, H. M.; & Flavell, J. H. (1997). Preschoolers' understanding of the link between thinking and feeling: Cognitive cuing and emotional change. Child Development, 68(6), 1081–1104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laible, D. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2000). Mother-child discourse, attachment security, shared positive affect, and early conscience development. Child Development, 71, 1424–1440CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lutz, C., & White, G. M. (1986). The anthropology of emotions. Annual Review of Anthropology, 15, 405–436CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meins, A.; Fernyhough, C.; Russell, J. T.; & Clarke-Carter, D. (1998). Security of attachment as a predictor of symbolic and mentalising abilities: A longitudinal study. Social Development, 7, 1–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meins, E. (1997). Security of attachment and the social development of cognition. Hove: Psychology Press
Newton, P. (1994). Preschool prevarication: An investigation of the cognitive prerequisites for deception. Ph.D., diss., Portsmouth University
Newton, P. E., & Reddy, V. (Submitted). Pseudo-constructs in developmental theorising: The case of pseudo-deception
Perner, J. (1991). Understanding the representational mind. Cambridge: MIT Press
Shweder, R. A., & LeVine, R. A. (1984). Culture Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Smiley, P., & Huttenlocher, J. (1989). Young children's acquisition of emotion concepts. In C. Saarni and P. Harris (Eds.), Children's understanding of emotion: Cambridge studies in social and emotional development (Vol. 9, pp. 27–49). New York: Cambridge University Press
Stein, N., & Miller, C. (1993). A theory of argumentative understanding: Relationships among position preference, judgements of goodness, memory and reasoning. Argumentation, 7, 183–204. Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic PublishersCrossRef
Stern, D. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant. New York: Basic Books
Wellman, H.; Harris, P.; Banerjee, M.; & Sinclair, A. (1995). Early understanding of emotion: Evidence from natural language. Cognition and Emotion, 9, 117–149CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×