Preschoolers' attention and emotion in an achievement and an effect game: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Positive and negative emotional reactions to success and failure in achievement-oriented tasks have a significant function in children's achievement motivation. In order to examine at what age such emotions occur in children's achievement-oriented behaviour, we looked for facial indices of emotional reactions in two different psychomotor games: an effect game, in which children could trigger random light and sound effects without experiencing success and failure; and a similar, but skill-dependent achievement game with success and failure outcomes, that were signalled by comparable light and sound effects.

The emotional reactions to these different events were assessed in a sample of 40 children aged from 3.5 to 5 years by recording and analysing facial movements. The children were observed three or two times at 6 monthly intervals. The cohort of the 5-year-olds was observed only once.

Children from 4 years on discriminated between random effects and “success and failure” feedback, at fist through functional-looking behaviour and, from 4.5 years on, through facial signs of attention (interest) and joy or contentment. In addition, the joy reaction (smiling) to the random effects diminished from observation to observation, whereas this reaction remained at the same level for the success feedback. Signs for different negative emotions were observed as well, especially after failure feedback. Such negative signs were also observed in the effect game, however, only when children played themselves, but not when they watched the experimenter playing. The most prominent single negative emotional reaction was anger.