Perception of Emotional Responses to Social Interactions by Chinese and American Children

Abstract

In the first stage of this study, groups of Chinese and American kindergarten children were asked to describe the kinds of situations that would make them feel happy, sad, afraid, or angry. Situations mentioned in each emotional category by both Chinese and American kindergarten children were written up as short stories and administered to second grade children from each cultural group. The responses of the Chinese and American second grade children to the social interaction situations were generally consistent with the spontaneous answers given by the kindergarten youngsters. The Chinese and American groups differed in that the Chinese second grade children perceived significantly more angry reactions whereas the American second grade children perceived significantly more sad reactions. An explanation was suggested on the basis of probable variations in child rearing practices in the two cultures.