CHILDRENS RELIANCE ON SITUATIONAL AND VOCAL EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS - CONSISTENT AND CONFLICTING CUES

The aim of the present study was to investigate developmental differen ces in reliance on situational versus vocal cues for recognition of em otions. Turkish preschool, second, and fifth grade children participat ed in the study. Children listened to audiotape recordings of situatio ns between a mother and a child where the emotional cues implied by th e context of a vignette and the vocal expression were either consisten t or inconsistent, After listening to each vignette, participants were questioned about the content of the incident and were asked to make a judgment about the emotion of the mother referred to in the recording . Angry, happy, and neutral emotions were utilized. Results revealed t hat 1) recognition of emotions improved with age, and 2) children reli ed more on the channel depicting either anger or happiness than on the channel depicting neutrality.