Issues related to children's ability to conceal their immediate emotional experiences by displaying alternate socially or personally motivated facial expressions are discussed. Four basic categories of dissimulation of emotional experience are specified, and motives for the use of cultural and personal display rules and direct deception are posed.…

Examined how children come to understand that internally experienced affect need not be behaviorally expressed and that the emotion that is expressed is not necessarily what is being felt internally. Sixty elementary school students were interviewed about four interpersonal conflict situations presented in comic strip style but using photographs…

The first part of this paper discusses presentations by other symposium participants which addressed different facets of the developmental paths involved in understanding one's own emotional states, the emotional states of others, why one feels what one does, and whether or not one shows these feelings expressively to others. It is the premise of…

The focus in the present study was on children's expectancies about how parents would respond to their children's genuine emotional-expressive displays, as sampled across seven different vignettes about parent-child interaction. The vignettes consisted of schematic cartoons and a verbal narrative. They contained "emotional displays" of…

This study examined children's responses to several questions about their use of display rules for expressing emotions--i.e., about the circumstances in which they would (1) mask or hide their feelings, (2) dissimulate their feelings through substituting another affective expression, and (3) express their feelings. A total of 60 children, aged 6,…

The present research examined the developing awareness in children that one's emotional state need not correspond to how one appears expressively to others. Descriptive data were collected on children's own views about emotion management in interpersonal conflict scenarios and in general hypothetical situations. All of the child variables provide…

Regulated expressiveness (the modification of expressive behavior) is a complex phenomenon. Accomplished basically in four ways, regulated expressiveness has developmental dimensions, motivational precursors, and cognitive antecedents, including perspective-taking ability and the growth of self-awareness. Ability to regulate expressiveness appears…

A study found that differences in children's ability to regulate their emotional responses, and in their social and cognitive development, are implicated in developmental differences in children's strategies for influencing others' mood states. (BB)

Children's beliefs about why affective expressive behavior should be dissociated from internal state were elicited via a structured interview and investigated in conjunction with their parents' (1) attitudes toward children's expressive behavior, (2) perceptions of their own self-monitoring, and (3) perceptions of their families'"social…

Defining emotional competence as the demonstration of self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting social transactions, this paper presents a model of emotional competence that explores the factors and skills contributing to the development of a mature emotional response that supports an individual's social goals. The paper first describes the primary…

Highlights the strengths of the Halberstadt et al. contribution to the literature on social-emotional development. Discusses three issues relating to their model: (1) the inseparability of cognitive representation in both emotional and social functioning; (2) the role played by context; and (3) the significance of goals in any construct involving…

Building on previous research indicating that among first, third, and fifth graders, older children expect affective expressive behavior to be regulated, a study was made of children's beliefs about rationales for and consequences of regulated affective expressive behavior. Children's beliefs were examined in conjunction with their parents' (1)…

Forty-eight middle-income children, equally divided as to sex, looked at a sequence of animated films in which a pair of male figures underwent a change in facial affect. Three questions were posed: (1) Could a qualitative-structural analysis be applied to the kinds of explanations given by the children to account for changes in facial affect? (2)…

The Parent Attitude toward Children's Expressiveness Scale (PACES) provides a measure of the degree of acceptance-control the respondent allows toward a child's hypothetical emotional and expressive behavior. PACES is a 20-item scale with a multiple choice format for each item. Emotional and expressive behaviors represented in PACES include anger,…

The concept of emotional competence entails resilience, self-efficacy, and acting in accord with one's sense of moral character. This suggests argues that emotional competence is demonstrated by the self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting encounters and identifies eight key emotional skills that support its acquisition in interpersonal contexts. The…