Affective Matching in Nine-Year-Old Girls

Summary

This study examined the use affective matching as a criterion for affective role-taking. Girls (N = 14) nine years of age were asked to judge how happy, sad, angry, and fearful their peers would feel in four situations. Although the peer ratings were reliable—i.e., the girls agreed among themselves on how their peers would feel—their judgments concerning their peers' feelings did not differ from their own self-report. It is possible that children may be projecting or responding in a stereotypical fashion when they are asked to judge the feelings of others. The implications of this finding on affective role-taking research were discussed. The use of sociometrics to assess affect in children was also explored.