title: Understanding ironic criticism and empathic praise: The role of emotive communication.
abstract: Ironic criticism and empathic praise are forms of social communication that influence the affective states of others in a negative or positive way. In a sample of 76 typically developing children and adolescents (mean age = 11 years; 4 months; SD: 2 years; 8 months), we studied how understanding of emotional expression (facial expression of emotion) and emotive communication (affective theory of mind) was related to the ability to understand negatively valenced ironic criticism and positively valenced empathic praise. We modelled comprehension of irony and empathy in school-aged children in relation to age and understanding of emotional expression and emotive communication. As expected, children showed significantly better understanding of emotional expression than emotive communication, which requires understanding why someone might mask their inner emotions. Meditational analyses showed that emotive communication partially mediated the relation between age and understanding ironic criticism and empathic praise. These findings suggest that the development of understanding irony and empathy over the school-age years is associated with affective attributions or affective theory of mind. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Theory of mind has been found to be related to the developmental understanding of social communication. Correct interpretation of facial emotional cues is also important for interpreting social communication. What does this study add? Affective components (i.e., affective theory of mind) also contribute to the development of social communication. Emotive communication, the ability to modulate one's emotional expression according to social display rules may be predictive of social communication competency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Alba
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9674-4968
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agostino
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Nancie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Im-Bolter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Arianna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Stefanatos
authors.affiliation: Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dennis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic
keywords: affective theory of mind; emotional expression; emotive communication; empathic praise; ironic criticism