title: A hidden cost of happiness in children.
abstract: Happiness is generally considered an emotion with only beneficial effects, particularly in childhood. However, there are some situations where the style of information processing triggered by happiness could be a liability. In particular, happiness seems to motivate a top-down processing style, which could impair performance when attention to detail is required. Indeed, in Experiment 1, 10- to 11-year-old children (N = 30) induced to feel a happy mood were slower to locate a simple shape embedded in a complex figure than those induced to feel a sad mood. In Experiment 2, 6- to 7-year-old children (N = 61) induced to feel a happy mood found fewer embedded shapes than those induced to feel a sad or neutral mood. Happiness may have unintended and possibly undesirable cognitive consequences, even in childhood.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, UK. simone.schnall@plymouth.ac.uk
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schnall
authors.forename: Vikram K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Jaswal
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rowe
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011581:Psychological Tests