幼児・児童の喜びによる泣き場面での他者感情推測

抄録

This study examined whether children could infer emotions of those crying with joy. Participants (N=121, 5- to 9-year-olds) were shown a short story of a protagonist who cried with joy. Then participants were asked why the protagonist cried and which emotion the protagonist was experiencing. The results showed that 8- and 9-year-olds judged the protagonist’s emotion as happiness more than 5-year-olds. Many 5-year-olds answered, “He/She was sad because he cried,” and “I do not know why he cried.” These results suggested that at 8 to 9 years old, children may begin to understand that positive emotions can cause crying.