Emotion situation knowledge in American and Chinese preschool children and adults

Chinese and American 3- to 6-year-old children (N = 154), their mothers, and a second group of adults (N = 95) participated in this study. Children were asked to identify in 20 short stories the emotion of a protagonist of their age, gender, and ethnicity. They selected among faces depicting happy, sad, fearful, or angry emotions and then used a specially designed scale to rate intensity of emotion. Adults answered the same questions as children did by filling out a questionnaire. American children showed an overall greater understanding of emotional situations than their Chinese peers. Both American adults and children gave higher intensity ratings of the protagonist's feeling states than did their Chinese counterparts. Adults and children in the two cultures also perceived different emotions within specific situations. Findings are discussed in terms of different cultural values and family practices pertinent to emotion in the US and China.