Emotion in Children's Art

Do Young Children Understand the Emotions Expressed in Other Children's Drawings

Bibliographic Data

ID12724814
AuthorsPlousia Misailidi (0000-0002-2185-3622, University of Ioannina, corresponding author), Fotini Bonoti (0000-0001-9290-4573, University of Thessaly)
Year2008
Volume6
Issue2
Pages189-200
Publication date2008-05-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Early Childhood Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1476-718X • E-ISSN: 1741-2927
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1476718x08088677
OpenAlexW2149163272
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited24

This study examined developmental changes in children's ability to understand the emotions expressed in other children's drawings. Eighty participants, at each of four age groups — three, four, five and six years — were presented with a series of child drawings, each expressing a different emotion (happiness, sadness, anger or fear). All drawings had been previously rated by adult judges on an emotion-intensity scale as being good exemplars of the emotions examined. Next, participants were shown pictures of child artists each expressing one of the designated emotions on her/his face and were instructed to identify the artist who created each drawing. The results showed that: (i) by age three, children demonstrated an understanding of the emotions expressed in drawings; (ii) happiness, sadness and fear were the emotions most easily recognized by participants. Overall, these results provide support for the assertion that the ability to understand the emotional meaning of drawings is present from the preschool years

Anger · Assertion · Developmental psychology · Emotion classification · Emotionality · Happiness · Meaning (existential · Sadness · Art Education and Development · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology · Spatial Cognition and Navigation

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