Department of Psychology, Jacksonville University, 2800 University Blvd N, Jacksonville, FL 32211, USA
Child Dev. 2012 Mar-Apr;83(2):667-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01706.x. Epub 2011 Dec 21.
Five- to 10-year-olds (N = 90) listened to 6 illustrated scenarios featuring 2 characters that jointly experience the same positive event (and feel good), negative event (and feel bad), or ambiguous event (and feel okay). Afterward, one character thinks a positive thought and the other thinks a negative thought. Children predicted and explained each character's emotions. Results showed significant development between 5 and 10 years in children's understanding that thinking positively improves emotions and thinking negatively makes one feel worse, with earliest knowledge demonstrated when reasoning about ambiguous and positive events. Individual differences in child and parental optimism and hope predicted children's knowledge about thought-emotion connections on some measures, including their beliefs about the emotional benefits of thinking positively in negative situations.
5 至 10 岁儿童（N=90）聆听了 6 个有 2 个角色的插图场景，他们共同经历了相同的积极事件（感觉良好）、消极事件（感觉不好）或模棱两可的事件（感觉还好）。之后，一个角色想到了一个积极的想法，另一个角色想到了一个消极的想法。孩子们预测并解释了每个角色的情绪。结果表明，5 岁至 10 岁儿童对积极思考能改善情绪、消极思考会让情绪更糟糕的理解有显著发展，最早的知识表现在对模棱两可和积极事件的推理中。儿童和父母乐观和希望的个体差异预测了儿童对思维-情绪联系的某些方面的了解，包括他们对在消极情况下积极思考带来情绪益处的信念。
