title: Developmental differences in the understanding of and reaction to others' inhibition of emotional expression.
abstract: In Study 1,160 individuals from kindergarten (kd), 3rd, 6th, 9th, and college grades were presented story protagonists who facially expressed or did not express sadness/fear when encountering events that likely caused (relevant-inhibitory cause) or did not cause (irrelevant cause) the inhibition of the expression of emotion. In Study 2, 108 kd, 3rd-, and 6th-grade children viewed peers engaging in real interactions similar to the stories. In both studies, kindergartners judged that relevant-inhibitory causes decreased a peer's emotions. Older individuals displayed an understanding of the inhibition of emotional expression by ascribing greater emotion to the peer under relevant-inhibitory than irrelevant causal conditions. In Study 2, age differences in children's search for social information and prosocial behavior paralleled judgments of emotion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Rotenberg
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010553:Personality Development; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception