Children's emotion processing: Relations to emotionality and aggression

We examined the relations between emotionality, emotion processing, and aggression in 182 first- and second-grade children. Consistent with Tomkins' and Izard's theoretical predictions, emotionality correlated with emotion processing. In particular, the happiness component of emotionality...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Development and psychopathology 2004-06, Vol.16 (2), p.371-387
Main Authors: SCHULTZ, DAVID, IZARD, CARROLL E., BEAR, GEORGE
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression - psychology
Aggressiveness
Child
Child psychology
Children & youth
Cognition & reasoning
Emotions
Empathy
Families & family life
Female
Happiness
Humans
Influence
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Peer Group
Personality Assessment
Risk Factors
Social Behavior
Social Environment
Social Perception
Socialization
Sociometric Techniques
Studies
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Summary:We examined the relations between emotionality, emotion processing, and aggression in 182 first- and second-grade children. Consistent with Tomkins' and Izard's theoretical predictions, emotionality correlated with emotion processing. In particular, the happiness component of emotionality correlated with emotion attribution accuracy and empathy, the anger component correlated with anger attribution bias and empathy, and the fear component correlated with fear attribution bias. Multiple emotion processing deficits—including emotion attribution accuracy, anger attribution bias, and self-report of empathy—placed children at risk for heightened levels of teacher-reported aggression. Mediational analyses revealed that an emotion processing risk index fit a model of significant partial mediation between happiness and aggression but not between anger and aggression. The results suggest the multifaceted manner in which children's emotion experiences may influence the development of aggressive tendencies.The authors thank the teachers, staff, parents, and students of the Smyrna, DE, school district for their enthusiastic participation in this project and the dedicated work of Fran Haskins and our many research assistants at the University of Delaware.
ISSN:0954-5794
1469-2198
DOI:10.1017/S0954579404044566