幼児期における感情表出の調整に関する理解の発達

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, researchers have demonstrated that children's understanding of mind and emotion develops throughout their childhood. One such ability, the understanding of how to regulate emotional expression, emerges from ages 4 to 6 and has been seen as an important element of social competence. To understand how to control emotional expression in a social context, children need to realize that inner emotional states need not necessarily correspond to outer expressions, and, by extension, that these expressions can lead to an onlooker's false belief about the expresser's inner emotions. This article reviews empirical researches, and shows some social and cognitive factors that may affect understanding of the regulation of emotional expression and its development. Relevant issues are discussed, and promising directions for future research are suggested.