Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others
Self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and shame, motivate the adherence to social norms, including to norms for prosociality. The relevance of an observing audience to the expression of negative self-conscious emotions remains poorly understood. Here, in two studies, we investigated the influence o...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9020688/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1818060720327098368 |
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| author | Stella C. Gerdemann Jenny Tippmann Bianca Dietrich Jan M. Engelmann Robert Hepach |
| author_facet | Stella C. Gerdemann Jenny Tippmann Bianca Dietrich Jan M. Engelmann Robert Hepach |
| author_sort | Stella C. Gerdemann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and shame, motivate the adherence to social norms, including to norms for prosociality. The relevance of an observing audience to the expression of negative self-conscious emotions remains poorly understood. Here, in two studies, we investigated the influence of being observed on 4- to 5-year-old children’s (N = 161) emotional response after failing to help someone in need and after failing to complete their own goal. As an index of children’s emotional response, we recorded the change in children’s upper body posture using a motion depth sensor imaging camera. Failing to help others lowered children’s upper body posture regardless of whether children were observed by an audience or not. Children’s emotional response was similar when they failed to help and when they failed to complete their own goal. In Study 2, 5-year-olds showed a greater decrease in upper body posture than 4-year-olds. Our findings suggest that being observed is not a necessary condition for young children to express a negative self-conscious emotion after failing to help or after failing to complete their own goal. We conclude that 5-year-olds, more so that 4-year-olds, show negative emotions when they fail to adhere to social norms for prosociality. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T13:36:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-37a9eda5a0ff4dffb7727b7600d4c972 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T13:36:54Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-37a9eda5a0ff4dffb7727b7600d4c9722022-12-22T01:46:47ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01174Young children show negative emotions after failing to help othersStella C. GerdemannJenny TippmannBianca DietrichJan M. EngelmannRobert HepachSelf-conscious emotions, such as guilt and shame, motivate the adherence to social norms, including to norms for prosociality. The relevance of an observing audience to the expression of negative self-conscious emotions remains poorly understood. Here, in two studies, we investigated the influence of being observed on 4- to 5-year-old children’s (N = 161) emotional response after failing to help someone in need and after failing to complete their own goal. As an index of children’s emotional response, we recorded the change in children’s upper body posture using a motion depth sensor imaging camera. Failing to help others lowered children’s upper body posture regardless of whether children were observed by an audience or not. Children’s emotional response was similar when they failed to help and when they failed to complete their own goal. In Study 2, 5-year-olds showed a greater decrease in upper body posture than 4-year-olds. Our findings suggest that being observed is not a necessary condition for young children to express a negative self-conscious emotion after failing to help or after failing to complete their own goal. We conclude that 5-year-olds, more so that 4-year-olds, show negative emotions when they fail to adhere to social norms for prosociality.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9020688/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Stella C. Gerdemann Jenny Tippmann Bianca Dietrich Jan M. Engelmann Robert Hepach Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others PLoS ONE |
| title | Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others |
| title_full | Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others |
| title_fullStr | Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others |
| title_full_unstemmed | Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others |
| title_short | Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others |
| title_sort | young children show negative emotions after failing to help others |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9020688/?tool=EBI |
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