Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:39:55.218Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Development of facial emotion recognition and empathy test (FERET) for primary school children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Kerem Coskun Open the ORCID record for Kerem Coskun [Opens in a new window]
Kerem Coskun*
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Teaching, Faculty of Education, Artvin Coruh University, Artvin, Turkey
*
Author for correspondence: Kerem Coskun, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article reports on the development of the Facial Emotion Recognition and Empathy Test (FERET) as a reliable and valid tool for assessing facial emotion recognition and empathy skills in primary school-aged children. Pictures of human faces developed by the researcher were used as response options for the children. The range of response options and their associated scores were constructed based on the Two Factorial Consensual Mood Structure, which indicates dimensions of emotions. Four hundred and twenty-two primary school children participated in the research. The children were asked to recognise emotions and display the appropriate empathetic response. Data were analysed through item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Item Response Theory (IRT). As a result of item analysis, FERET has been designed to include 6 items related to facial expressions of key emotions and has been found to have an internal consistency coefficient of .82 and be unidimensional. Results from the IRT indicated that all the items in FERET discriminate better responders from poor responders. It was concluded that FERET can produce reliable and valid results in measuring facial emotion recognition and empathy skills among primary school children.

Keywords

Facial emotion recognitionemotional skillsempathytest developmentprimary school children
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 23 - 31
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019 

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

Ainley, J. (2006). Developing interdependence: An analysis of individual and school influences on a social outcome of schooling. Educational Psychology, 26(2), 209–227.Google Scholar
Bar-On, R., & Parker, J. D. (2008). Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i-YV): Youth version. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Briggs, S. R., & Cheek, J. M. (1986). The role of factor analysis in the development and evaluation of personality scales. Journal of Personality, 54(1), 106–148.Google Scholar
Bryant, B. K. (1982). An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Development, 53(2), 413–425.Google Scholar
Cabanac, M. (2002). What is emotion? Behavioural Processes, 60(2), 69–83.Google ScholarPubMed
Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., Pastorelli, C., Bandura, A., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2000). Prosocial foundations of children’s academic achievement. Psychological Science, 11(4), 302–306.Google ScholarPubMed
Carlo, G., Hausmann, A., Christiansen, S., & Randall, B. A. (2003). Sociocognitive and behavioral correlates of a measure of prosocial tendencies for adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 23(1), 107–134.Google Scholar
Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1995). Constructing validity: Basic issues in objective scale development. Psychological Assessment, 7(3), 309–319.Google Scholar
Cortina, J. M. (1993). What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(1), 98–108.Google Scholar
Costa, A., & Faria, L. (2015). The impact of emotional intelligence on academic achievement: A longitudinal study in Portuguese secondary school. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 38–47.Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297–334.Google Scholar
Crowley, K. (2014). Child development. London, England: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Danielson, C. K., & Phelps, C. R. (2003). The assessment of children’s social skills through self-report: A potential screening instrument for classroom use. Measurement and Evaluation in Counselling and Development, 35(4), 218–229.Google Scholar
Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decety, J. (2010). The neurodevelopment of empathy in humans. Developmental Neuroscience, 32(4), 257–267.Google ScholarPubMed
Decety, J., & Jackson, P. L. (2004). The functional architecture of human empathy. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 3(2), 71–100.Google ScholarPubMed
De Vignemont, F., & Singer, T. (2006). The empathic brain: How, when and why?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(10), 435–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Waal, F. B. M. (2008). Putting back the altruism into altruism: The evolution empathy. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 279–300.Google ScholarPubMed
Dymond, R. F. (1949). A scale for the measurement of empathic ability. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 13, 127–133.Google ScholarPubMed
Dymond, R. F. (1950). Personality and empathy. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 14(5), 343–350.Google ScholarPubMed
Edelen, M. O., & Reeve, B. B. (2007). Applying item response theory (IRT) modelling to questionnaire development, evaluation, and refinement. Quality of Life Research, 16(1), 5–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, N., & Miller, P. A. (1987). The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 101(1), 91–119.Google ScholarPubMed
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17(2), 124–129.Google ScholarPubMed
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1988). Who knows what about contempt: A reply to Izard and Haynes. Motivation and Emotion, 12(1), 17–22.Google Scholar
Faupel, A. (2003). Emotional literacy: Assessment and intervention—Ages 7 to 11. London, England: Nfer Nelson.Google Scholar
Feshbach, N. D., & Feshbach, S. (1987). Affective processes and academic achievement. Child Development, 58(5), 1335–1347.Google ScholarPubMed
Feshbach, N. D., & Roe, K. (1968). Empathy in six-and seven-year-olds. Child Development, 39(1), 133–145.Google ScholarPubMed
Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London, England: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 350–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gini, G. (2006). Brief report: Adaptation of the Italian Version of the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale to the adolescent population. Journal of Adolescence, 29(2), 307–312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldenberg, I., Matheson, K., & Mantler, J. (2006). The assessment of emotional intelligence: A comparison of performance-based and self-report methodologies. Journal of Personality Assessment, 86(1), 33–45.Google ScholarPubMed
Gresham, D. C., & Elliott, S. N. (1990). Social skills rating system: Manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Hambleton, R. K., & Swaminathan, H. (1985). Item response theory: Principles and applications. New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Henson, R. K., & Roberts, J. K. (2006). Use of exploratory factor analysis in published research common errors and some comment on improved practice. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(3), 393–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hightower, A. D., Cowen, E. L., Spinell, A. P., Lotyczewski, B. S., Guare, J. C., Rohrbeck, C. A., & Brown, L. P. (1987). The Child Rating Scale: The development of a socioemotional self-rating scale for elementary school children. School Psychology Review, 16(2), 239–255.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. (2007). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Howe, A., Cate, I. M., Brown, A., & Hadwin, J. A. (2008). Empathy in preschool children: The development of the Southampton Test of Empathy for Preschoolers (STEP). Psychological Assessment, 20(3), 305–390.Google Scholar
Humphrey, N., Kalambouka, A., Wigelsworth, M., Lendrum, A., Deighton, J., & Wolpert, M. (2011). Measures of social and emotional skills for children and young people: A systematic review. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 71(4), 617–637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inderbitzen, H. M., & Foster, S. L. (1992). The teenage inventory of social skills: Development, reliability, and validity. Psychological Assessment, 4(4), 451–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izard, C. E., Dougherty, B. M., Bloxom, B. M., & Kotsch, W. E. (1974). The Differential Emotion Scale: A method of measuring the subjective experience of discrete emotions. Unpublished manuscript. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.Google Scholar
Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Development and validation of the Basic Empathy Scale. Journal of Adolescence, 29(4), 589–611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LaFreniere, P. J., & Dumas, J. E. (1996). Social competence and behavior evaluation in children ages 3 to 6 years: The short form (SCBE-30). Psychological Assessment, 8(4), 369–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loevinger, J. (1957). Objective tests as instruments of psychological theory. Psychological Reports, 3, 635–694.Google Scholar
Lord, F. M. (1980). Applications of item response theory to practical testing problems. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Matson, J. L., Rotatori, A. F., & Helsel, W. J. (1983). Development of a rating scale to measure social skills in children: The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21(4), 335–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsumoto, D., & Ekman, P. (1988). Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion (JACFEE). [Slides]. San Francisco, CA: Intercultural and Emotion Research Laboratory, Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University.Google Scholar
Matsumoto, D., Keltner, D., Shiota, M. N., O’sullivan, M., & Frank, M. (2008). Facial expressions of emotions. In Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, M. & Barrett, L. F. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 211–234). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Matthews, B. (2006). Engaging education: Developing emotional literacy, equity and co-education. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Mayer, J. D. (2001). A field guide to emotional intelligence. In Ciarrochi, J., Forgas, J. P. & Mayer, J. D. (Eds.), Emotional intelligence in everyday life (pp. 3–24). New York, NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2004). Target articles: Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications. Psychological inquiry, 15(3), 197–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehrabian, A., & Epstein, N. (1972). A measure of emotional empathy1. Journal of Personality, 40(4), 525–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merenda, P. F. (1997). A guide to the proper use of factor analysis in the conduct and reporting of research: Pitfalls to avoid. Measurement and Evaluation in Counselling and Development, 30(3), 156–154.Google Scholar
Merrell, K. W. (1996). Social-emotional assessment in early childhood the preschool and kindergarten behavior scales. Journal of Early Intervention, 20(2), 132–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michelsen, L., & Wood, R. (1982). Development and psychometric properties of the Children’s Assertive Scale. Journal of Behavior Assessment, 4, 3–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milgram, N. A. (1960). Cognitive and empathic factors in role-taking by schizophrenic and brain damaged patients. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60(2), 219–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, C. O., & Davidshofer, C. O. (2005). Psychological testing: Principles and applications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.Google Scholar
Northrup, D. A. (1997). The problem of the self-report in survey research: Working paper. Ontario, Canada: York University, Institute for Social Research.Google Scholar
Nowicki, S. Jr., & Duke, M. P. (1989). A measure of nonverbal social processing ability in children between the ages of 6 and 10. In Paper presented as part of a symposium at the American Psychological Society, Alexandria, VA.Google Scholar
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Petrides, K. V., Sangareau, Y., Furnham, A., & Frederickson, N. (2006). Trait emotional intelligence and children’s peer relations at school. Social Development, 15(3), 537–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollak, S. D., & Sinha, P. (2002). Effects of early experience on children’s recognition of facial displays of emotion. Developmental Psychology, 38(5), 784–791.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rieffe, C., Terwogt, M. M., Petrides, K. V., Cowan, R., Miers, A. C., & Tolland, A. (2007). Psychometric properties of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire for children. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(1), 95–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rockhill, C. M., & Greener, S. H. (1999). Development of the Trait Meta Mood Scale for elementary schoolchildren. Paper presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, NM.Google Scholar
Rubin, R. S., Munz, D. C., & Bommer, W. H. (2005). Leading from within: The effects of emotion recognition and personality on transformational leadership behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 48(5), 845–858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rummel, R. J. (1967). Understanding factor analysis. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 11(4), 444–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samejima, F. (1969). Estimation of latent ability using a response pattern of graded scores. Psychometrika Monograph Supplement, 34(4), 100–107.Google Scholar
Schultz, D., Izard, C. E., & Bear, G. (2004). Children’s emotion processing: Relations to emotionality and aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 16(2), 371–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, A., & Cicchetti, D. (1997). Emotion regulation among school-age children: The development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 906–916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strayer, N. (1987). Affective and cognitive perspective on empathy. In Eisenberg, N. & Strayer, J. (Eds.), Empathy and its development (pp. 218–244). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stueber, K. (2010). Rediscovering empathy: Agency, folk psychology, and the human sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Watson, D., & Tellegen, A. (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 219–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wentzel, K. R. (1993). Does being good make the grade? Social behavior and academic competence in middle school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(2), 357–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wigelsworth, M., Humphrey, N., Kalambouka, A., & Lendrum, A. (2010). A review of key issues in the measurement of children’s social and emotional skills. Educational Psychology in Practice, 26(2), 173–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaki, J., Bolger, N., & Ochsner, K. (2009). Unpacking the informational bases of empathic accuracy. Emotion, 9(4), 478.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed