Children's Understanding and Experience of Mixed Emotions

Authors: Larsen, Jeff T.¹; To, Yen M.¹; Fireman, Gary²

Source: Psychological Science, Volume 18, Number 2, February 2007 , pp. 186-191(6)

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Abstract:

Though some models of emotion contend that happiness and sadness are mutually exclusive in experience, recent findings suggest that adults can feel happy and sad at the same time in emotionally complex situations. Other research has shown that children develop a better conceptual understanding of mixed emotions as they grow older, but no research has examined children's actual experience of mixed emotions. To examine developmental differences in the experience of mixed emotions, we showed children ages 5 to 12 scenes from an animated film that culminated with a father and daughter's bittersweet farewell. In subsequent interviews, older children were more likely than younger children to report experiencing mixed emotions. These results suggest that in addition to having a better conceptual understanding of mixed emotions, older children are more likely than younger children to actually experience mixed emotions in emotionally complex situations.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01870.x

Affiliations: 1: Texas Tech University and 2: Suffolk University

Publication date: 2007-02-01