The development of emotion understanding in young Chinese preschoolers was examined. The overall developmental trend, as measured by the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), proved similar to that found among preschoolers in Western Europe. However, Chinese children performed better at understanding the distinction between real and apparent emotion and worse at understanding the connection between reminders and emotion. Children’s theory of mind and verbal ability were significant predictors of their ability to understand emotion.
BenderP.SømhovdM.PonsF.Reinholdt-DunneM.EsbjørnB. (2015). The impact of attachment security and emotion dysregulation on anxiety in children and adolescents. Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties, 20, 189–204.
2.
CastroV. L.ChengY.HalberstadtA. G.GrühnD. (2016). EUReKA! A conceptual model of emotion understanding. Emotion Review, 8, 258–268.
3.
ChenD. (2009). Culture, parent-child conversation, and children’s understanding of emotion. Doctoral dissertation, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
4.
ChenY.CuiY.WangY. (2005). The theory of mind and emotion understanding of preschoolers: Their development and relationship. Psychological Science, 28, 527–532. (Chinese Journal)
5.
DenhamS. A.McKinleyM.CouchoudE. A.HoltR. (1990). Emotional and behavioral predictors of preschool peer ratings. Child Development, 61, 1145–1152.
6.
EggumN. D.EisenbergN.KaoK.SpinradT. L.BolnickR.HoferC.…FabriciusW. V. (2011). Emotion understanding, theory of mind, and prosocial orientation: Relations over time in early childhood. Journal of Positive Psychology, 6, 4–16.
7.
EnsorR.HughesC. (2005). More than talk: Relations between emotion understanding and positive behaviour in toddlers. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23, 343–363.
8.
FangF.WellmanH.LiuY.LiuG.KangR. (2009). Longitudinal perspectives: The sequences of theory-of-mind development in Chinese preschoolers. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 41, 706–714. (Chinese Journal)
9.
FineS. E.IzardC. E.MostowA. J.TrentacostaC. J.AckermanB. P. (2003). First grade emotion knowledge as a predictor of fifth grade self-reported internalizing behaviors in children from economically disadvantaged families. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 331–342.
10.
GardnerD.HarrisP.OhmotoM.HamazakiT. (1988). Japanese children’s understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotion. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 11, 203–218.
11.
GolanO.AshwinE.GranaderY.McClintockS.DayK.LeggettV.Baron-CohenS. (2010). Enhancing emotion recognition in children with autism spectrum conditions: An intervention using animated vehicles with real emotional faces. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40, 269–279.
12.
GreenbergM. T.KuscheC. A.CookE. T.QuammaJ. P. (1995). Promoting emotional competence in school-aged children: The effects of the path curriculum. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 117–136.
13.
GrossD.HarrisP. L. (1988). False beliefs about emotion: Children’s understanding of misleading emotional displays. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 11, 475–488.
14.
HarrisP. L.CorriveauK. H. (2013). Respectful deference: Conformity revisited. In BanajiM. R.GelmanS. A. (Eds.), Navigating the social world: What infants, children, and other species can teach us (pp. 230–234). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
15.
HarrisP. L.DonnellyK.GuzG. R.Pitt-WatsonR. (1986). Children’s understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotion. Child Development, 57, 895–909.
16.
JoshiM. S.MacLeanM. (1994). Indian and English children’s understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotion. Child Development, 65, 1372–1384.
17.
MolinaP.BulgarelliD.HenningA.AscherslebenG. (2014). Emotion understanding: A cross-cultural comparison between Italian and German preschoolers. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11, 592–607.
18.
OysermanD.CoonH. M.KemmelmeierM. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3–72.
19.
PonsF.de RosnayM.BenderP.DoudinP.-A.HarrisP.Gimenez-DasiM. (2014). The impact of abuse and learning difficulties on emotion understanding in late childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 175, 301–307.
20.
PonsF.HarrisP. L.de RosnayM. (2004). Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years: Developmental periods and hierarchical organization. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1, 127–152.
21.
PonsF.LawsonJ.HarrisP.de RosnayM. (2003). Individual differences in children’s emotion understanding: Effects of age and language. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 44, 347–353.
22.
TrentacostaC. J.FineS. E. (2010). Emotion knowledge, social competence, and behavior problems in childhood and adolescence: A meta-analytic review. Social Development, 19, 1–29.
23.
WangQ. (2001). “Did you have fun?” American and Chinese mother-child conversations about shared emotional experiences. Cognitive Development, 16, 693–715.
24.
WangQ. (2004). The emergence of cultural self-constructs: Autobiographical memory and self-description in European American and Chinese children. Developmental Psychology, 40, 3–15.
25.
WangQ. (2008). Emotion knowledge and autobiographical memory across the preschool years: A cross-cultural longitudinal investigation. Cognition, 108, 117–135.
26.
WeimerA. A.SallquistJ.BolnickR. R. (2012). Young children’s emotion comprehension and theory of mind understanding. Early Education and Development, 23, 280–301.
27.
WellmanH. M.FangF.LiuD.ZhuL.LiuG. (2006). Scaling of theory-of-mind understandings in Chinese children. Psychological Science, 17, 1075–1081.
