Individual and Socio-environmental Differences in Autobiographical Emotional Appraisal of Preschoolers

RAMÍREZ, VERÓNICA ADRIANA; LIPINA, SEBASTIÁN JAVIER; RUETTI, ELIANA

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Elsevier

Año: 2021 vol. 201

0022-0965

Emotions are essential processes for integrating events into autobiographical memory. Different children react differently to the same event. The process through which these different responses are generated from subjective evaluations of an event is called emotional appraisal. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the variations in the emotional appraisal of autobiographical events of 4- and 5-year-old children from homes with different socio-environmental conditions. We compared preschoolers? emotional appraisal responses with those of their families. The emotional accuracy of the preschoolers was found to differ according to the different socio-environmental conditions of their homes. Greater appraisal accuracy was observed in the favorable condition, and it was greater for emotional than for neutral events. Appraisal accuracy also differed with age; 5-year-olds showing greater appraisal accuracy than 4-year-olds. Therefore, the emotional appraisal of these events may also be affected by age and valence when attributing emotions to personal experiences.