Psychological features of recognition of emotions in preschoolers with different levels of cultural congruence

Abstract

The results of the empirical research of emotion recognition in preschoolers having different levels of compliance of their behavior with invariant cultural rules, typical of the given age, are presented. The study was based on the model of the hierarchical organization of emotional sphere [Pons et al., 2004; Harris, 2008] which is supposed to distinguish between the external, mental and reflexive levels of its consecutive differentiation. Test battery consisted of the methods that allowed to determine different aspects of emotion recognition, including subtests of NEPSY–II. The study was conducted in the kindergartens of Tatarstan in 2017-2018. The participants were preschoolers aged 5-6 (N = 225) and their mothers (N = 225). In the process of research, it was possible to distinguish groups of children having different levels of cultural congruence and to demonstrate the characteristics of emotion recognition in children of these groups. It has been found that a higher accuracy of recognizing emotions from faces (out of the situational context) was more characteristic of children with the “high” and “low” levels of cultural congruence. The same groups of children were characterized by a higher level of anxiety in the social situations. At the same time, the accuracy of recognizing certain emotions by facial expression, as well as the recognition and comprehension of the emotions of others in the context of the situation, did not show a significant connection with the level of cultural congruence. Moreover, the differences in comprehending the social context of situations and the causes of emotions experienced could be observed as trends and depended on the content of the situations offered to children and the way in which specific situations combined the semantic and emotional aspects.