M Aldridge1, J Wood. 1. School of English and Linguistics, University of Wales, Bangor, UK.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim is to establish which emotion-descriptive language is used by children at different ages. METHOD: Fifty-six children (aged 5 to 11 years) were presented with a set of plastic playpeople. Scenarios were enacted using the toys to elicit emotion descriptive vocabulary in response to the interviewer's question: How do you think s/he feels about that? Eight adult subjects participated as a control. RESULTS: Children under the age of 8 years have a limited repertoire of labels to describe emotions. Even 11-year-olds are unable to produce vocabulary which expresses emotion concepts described by adults. The implications of our findings for child-police interviews are discussed.
OBJECTIVE: The aim is to establish which emotion-descriptive language is used by children at different ages. METHOD: Fifty-six children (aged 5 to 11 years) were presented with a set of plastic playpeople. Scenarios were enacted using the toys to elicit emotion descriptive vocabulary in response to the interviewer's question: How do you think s/he feels about that? Eight adult subjects participated as a control. RESULTS:Children under the age of 8 years have a limited repertoire of labels to describe emotions. Even 11-year-olds are unable to produce vocabulary which expresses emotion concepts described by adults. The implications of our findings for child-police interviews are discussed.