This paper presents a study of the relationship between emotions and autobiographical narratives by preschoolers (aged three to five years). We designed a laboratory situation in which the children actively participated in a short scenario (the Geneva Emotion-Eliciting Scenario). This scenario's central theme is the separation of two friends, which is an emotionally salient event for children of this age. Two emotional variables were studied: (i) emotions experienced by the child throughout the scenario; and (ii) "affective closeness" between the child and its interviewer, either an experimenter or the child's mother. The coding of children narratives was based on a content analysis. Results showed that: (i) the expression of emotions congruent to the events encountered throughout the scenario is not related to the content of the narrative, apart from in the case of the specific "separation" event; and (ii) narratives are longer and their emotional content more elaborate when the interviewer is the child's mother rather than an experimenter.
Two Studies on Autobiographical Narratives about an Emotional Event by Preschoolers: Influence of the Emotions Experienced and the Affective Closeness with the Interlocutor
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.