Perceived emotional competence and emotion appraisal skills in middle childhood in typically ...

477 Pages·2016·5.28 MB·English

Middlesex University Research Repository
An open access repository of
Middlesex University research
http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk
Meredith, Jacqueline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1066-6549 (2009)
Perceived emotional competence and emotion appraisal skills in middle childhood in typically
developing and behaviourally challenged children. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. [Thesis]
This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/6213/
Copyright:
MiddlesexUniversityResearchRepositorymakestheUniversity’sresearchavailableelectronically.
Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners
unlessotherwisestated. Theworkissuppliedontheunderstandingthatanyuseforcommercialgain
is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study
without prior permission and without charge.
Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or
extensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtaining
permissioninwritingfromthecopyrightholder(s). Theymaynotbesoldorexploitedcommerciallyin
any format or medium without the prior written permission of the copyright holder(s).
Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the
author’s name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pag-
ination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the
date of the award.
If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the
Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address:
[email protected]
The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated.
See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy
PERCEIVED EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE AND
EMOTION APPRAISAL SKILLS IN MIDDLE
CHILDHOOD IN TYPICALLY DEVELOPING AND
BEHAVIOURALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN

A thesis submitted to Middlesex University
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Jacqueline Meredith

School of Health and Social Sciences

Middlesex University

June 2008
i

ABSTRACT

This thesis addresses whether children with severe behavioural problems lack emotional
competence in key areas and, if so, whether this is reflected in their ability to appraise emotions
in others. Self-rated and objectively rated emotional competence of children in mainstream
schooling was compared with 20 children aged seven to 11 excluded for severe social,
emotional and behavioural difficulties. In Study 1 self-report questionnaires measured affect
perception, empathy and expressivity in typically developing (N=203), special educational
needs (N=36) and socially, emotionally and behaviourally disordered (N=30) children in
mainstream schooling. Younger children were less perceptive of affect than older children and
scored lower for cognitive empathy. Boys scored lower in cognitive and affective empathy than
girls and were less intimate, and more covert, in their expression of emotion. Special
educational needs children appeared less emotionally perceptive than their peers. In Studies 2a
and 2b, affect appraisal and the ability to describe emotional change were examined using a new
measure employing pictorial representations of children in ambiguous postures and facial
representations of emotion. Typical patterns of appraisal of possibly threatening, depressive and
innocuous postures were established (N=242). A developmental progression in reasons given
for emotional change was seen with older children providing more socially based and
mentalising answers than younger children. Study 3 developed an interactive computerised
measure to examine the point at which children recognise the emergence of emotion from an
interpolation of photographic facial expressions. Eighty-five typically developing children
manipulated 26 emotional changes, including emotion/emotion and emotion/neutral transitions
and chose a point of uncertainty in the transformation. A significant effect was found for facial
representations of fear and anger, indicating a threat detection mechanism in response to
emergent emotion. In Study 4 children with severe behavioural problems were compared across
all measures with typically developing children from the first three studies. Behaviourally
challenged children were deficient in cognitive and affective empathy and exhibited a hostile
appraisal bias when assessing ambiguous postures of other children. No deficit was found in the
ability to evaluate emotional change and provide age-appropriate reasons. However, anger was
dominant in the perception even over fear stimuli when assessing emotional transition. Overall,
children excluded from mainstream schooling with severe behavioural problems showed a very
different profile to mainstream children with behavioural problems, suggesting a qualitative
difference in cognitive functioning that could have a predictive function. This thesis not only
supports the premise that severe SEBD children exhibit altered emotional functioning but has
developed a series of tests that will have ongoing value in applied research.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRELIMINARY PAGES:
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... I
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... II
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................... ix
ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................... x
PREFACE ................................................................................................................... XI

MAIN THESIS:
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1
1.1. EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE ................................................................................................... 2
1.1.1. Theoretical Roots ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.1.2. A Competence or an „Intelligence‟ ........................................................................................... 5
1.1.3. Clarifying the Concept for this Thesis ....................................................................................... 7
1.1.4. Measuring Competencies ......................................................................................................... 9
1.1.5. Emotional Competence and Educational Consequences ...........................................................11
1.1.6. Emotional Competence and Behavioural Problems ..................................................................14
1.1.7. Theoretical Model of Emotional Competence ..........................................................................16
1.2. EXPLORING EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE IN CHILDREN................................................19
1.2.2. Emotional Competence and Emotional Development ...............................................................19
1.2.3. Perception as a Key Competency .............................................................................................20
1.2.4. Empathy as a Key Competency ...............................................................................................23
1.2.5. Emotional Expressivity as Key Competency ............................................................................29
1.3. BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS IN SCHOOLS ...........................................................................34
1.3.1. A Rise in Problem Behaviour ..................................................................................................34
1.3.2. Disruptive Behaviour: Different Perceptions ............................................................................35
1.3.3. Perception and Emotion Appraisal ...........................................................................................40
1.4. THE RESEARCH QUESTION OF THIS THESIS ....................................................................43
1.4.1. Hypotheses for the Thesis........................................................................................................44
1.5. ORGANISATION OF THESIS ...................................................................................................50
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES ............................................................. 51
2.1. CHOICE OF SAMPLE ................................................................................................................51
2.2. CLASSIFICATION OF CHILDREN ..........................................................................................53
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS

2.3. PRIMARY PROVISION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS ....................................56

2.3.1. Defining Behavioural Problems ...............................................................................................57
2.3.2. Encouraging Socially Desirable Behaviour Within the School System .....................................59
2.4. CHOICE OF TESTS ....................................................................................................................60
2.4.1. Emotional Competence ...........................................................................................................60
2.4.2. Emotion Appraisal and Appraisal of Transition of Emotion .....................................................61

CHAPTER 3: STUDY 1: SELF-REPORT OF EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE ............. 63
3.1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................63
3.1.1. Perception (Affective Perception Test for Children: APT-C) ....................................................63
3.1.2. Empathy (Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents: IECA) ..........................................64
3.1.3. Expression (Emotional Expressivity Questionnaire for Children: EEQ-C) ................................65
3.1.4. Overall Emotional Competence ...............................................................................................65
3.1.5. Overall Aims of Study 1 ..........................................................................................................66
3.2. METHOD .....................................................................................................................................67
3.2.1. Design and Preparation of Materials ........................................................................................67
3.2.2. Participants .............................................................................................................................75
3.2.3. Procedure ................................................................................................................................77
3.3. RESULTS .....................................................................................................................................82
3.3.1. Investigation of Structure ........................................................................................................82
3.3.2. Sample Statistics .....................................................................................................................90
3.3.3. Correlation of Questionnaires ..................................................................................................92
3.3.4. Inferential Analysis of Questionnaires .....................................................................................95
3.3.5. Testing the Theoretical Model of Emotional Competence ...................................................... 100
3.3.6. Emotional Competence in TD Children ................................................................................. 112
3.4. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS: RELIABILITY OF THE TEST ............................................. 113
CHAPTER 4: STUDY OF EMOTION APPRAISAL: RATIONALE AND
METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 114
4.1. RATIONALE FOR STUDY OF EMOTION APPRAISAL ...................................................... 114
4.1.2. Overall Aims of Studies 2a and 2b ......................................................................................... 115
4.2. METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF EMOTION APPRAISAL ............................................. 116
4.2.1. Design and Preparation of Materials for Two Studies ............................................................. 116
4.2.2. Participants ........................................................................................................................... 117
4.2.3. Procedure .............................................................................................................................. 117
4.3. SAMPLE STATISTICS AND FEEDBACK FOR STUDIES 2A AND 2B ................................ 119
4.3.1. Sample Statistics ................................................................................................................... 119
4.3.2. Feedback on Activity ............................................................................................................ 120
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 5: STUDY 2A: APPRAISAL OF AFFECT IN OTHERS USING WHOLE
BODY PRESENTATIONS ........................................................................................ 121
5.1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 121
5.1.1: Investigation of bias in appraisal of affect .............................................................................. 121

5.1.2. Measuring appraisal of affect using whole body presentations ................................................ 122
5.2. METHOD ................................................................................................................................... 123
5.2.1. Choice of Postures ................................................................................................................ 123
5.2.2. Ambiguity Considerations ..................................................................................................... 124
5.2.3. Forced Choice Appraisal ....................................................................................................... 127
5.2.4. Intentionality: an Action Tendency in Appraisal .................................................................... 129
5.2.5. Body Postures: Scoring and Analysis ..................................................................................... 130
5.3. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................... 133
5.3.1 Raw Categories – Ratings of General Affect ........................................................................... 133
5.3.2 Inferential Analysis: 6 Category Scale .................................................................................... 135
5.3.3. Intentionality – Item Analysis of Intentional Appraisals ......................................................... 138
5.3.4. Confidence in Choice ............................................................................................................ 140
5.4. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS: CHOICE OF POSTURES ..................................................... 141
CHAPTER 6: STUDY 2B: APPRAISAL OF FACIAL EMOTION AND REASONS FOR
EMOTIONAL CHANGE ............................................................................................ 142
6.1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 142
6.1.2. Measuring Appraisal of Facial Emotion and Reasons for Change ........................................... 143
6.2. METHOD ................................................................................................................................... 145
6.2.1. Ascribing Emotion to Faces ................................................................................................... 145
6.2.2. Emotional Reasons: Development of Scoring System ............................................................ 149
6.2.2. Emotional Reasons: Analysis ................................................................................................ 152
6.3. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................... 153
6.3.1. Judging Emotion in Faces...................................................................................................... 153
6.3.2. Attributing Reasons for Emotional Change ............................................................................ 154
6.4. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS: VALIDITY OF THE TEST ................................................... 156
CHAPTER 7: STUDY 3: APPRAISAL OF EMOTIONAL TRANSITION IN FACES .. 157
7.1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 157
7.1.1. The Perception of Emotional Change ..................................................................................... 158
7.1.2. Persistence of Emotion: Consistency and Hysteresis .............................................................. 160
7.1.3 Overall Aims of Study 3 ......................................................................................................... 165
v TABLE OF CONTENTS

7.2. METHOD ................................................................................................................................... 166
7.2.1. Design and Preparation of Materials ...................................................................................... 166
7.2.2. Participants ........................................................................................................................... 171
7.2.3. Procedure .............................................................................................................................. 172
7.2.4. Scoring and Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 175
7.3. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................... 180
7.3.1. Sample Statistics ................................................................................................................... 180
7.3.2. Consistency .......................................................................................................................... 184
7.3.3. Persistence of Different Emotions.......................................................................................... 188
7.3.4. Viewing Angry and Fearful Faces ......................................................................................... 189
7.4. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS: METHODOLOGY OF TEST ................................................ 192
7.4.1. Design of Interface ................................................................................................................ 192
7.4.2. Use of Prompts in Handling the Media .................................................................................. 192

CHAPTER 8: STUDY 4 - EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE AND APPRAISAL ABILITIES
OF CHILDREN WITH SEVERE BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS ................................ 193
8.1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 193
8.1.1. Emotional Competence in Behaviourally Challenged Children ............................................... 193
8.1.2. Emotion Appraisal in Behaviourally Challenged Children: Postures ....................................... 194
8.1.3. Emotion Appraisal in Behaviourally Challenged Children: Faces ........................................... 194
8.1.4. Recognition of Emotional Transition in Behaviourally Challenged Children .......................... 195
8.1.5. Other considerations for Behaviourally Challenged Children ................................................. 196
8.1.6. Overall Aims of Study 4 ........................................................................................................ 197
8.2. METHOD ................................................................................................................................... 199
8.2.1. Design and Preparation of Materials ...................................................................................... 199
8.2.2. Participants ........................................................................................................................... 203
8.2.3. Procedure .............................................................................................................................. 205
8.3. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................... 209
8.3.1. Questionnaire Pack – Study 1: Emotional Competence .......................................................... 209
8.3.2. Picture Pack – Study 2 Emotional Appraisal .......................................................................... 214
8.3.3. MORPHO – Study 3: Emotional Transition ........................................................................... 219
8.3.4. Further Analyses ................................................................................................................... 228

CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 234
9.1. EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE ................................................................................................ 234
9.1.2. Typically Developing Children .............................................................................................. 234
9.1.2. Theoretical Model of Emotional Competence ....................................................................... 239
9.1.3. Behaviourally Challenged Children ....................................................................................... 243
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

9.2. EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL ..................................................................................................... 249
9.2.1. Appraisal of Affect in Postures in TD Children ...................................................................... 249
9.2.2. Appraisal of Affect in Postures in BC Children ...................................................................... 251
9.3. APPRAISAL OF EMOTIONAL FACES AND REASONS FOR EMOTIONAL CHANGE .. 255
9.3.1. Appraisal of Facial Emotion in TD Children .......................................................................... 255
9.3.2. Appraisal of Facial Emotion in BC Children .......................................................................... 259
9.4. APPRAISAL OF EMOTIONAL TRANSITION ...................................................................... 261
9.4.1. Appraisal of Transition in TD Children.................................................................................. 261
9.4.2. Appraisal of Transition in BC Children.................................................................................. 266
9.5. LINKS BETWEEN BEHAVIOUR AND SCORES IN BC CHILDREN .................................. 271
9.6. LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING CURRENT STUDIES ....... 273
9.6.1. Emotional Competence ......................................................................................................... 273
9.6.2. Emotional Appraisal.............................................................................................................. 276
9.6.3. Emotional Transition ............................................................................................................. 279
9.7. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................... 281
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 283
APPENDICES .......................................................................................................... 307
APPENDIX 1: INTRODUCTION AND STUDY 1 ....................................................... 308

1.1. ETHICAL APPROVAL
1.2. CONSENT AND INFORMATION SHEETS
1.3. CLASSIFICATION AND CATEGORISATION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
1.4 NOTES FOR TEACHERS
1.5. STANDARDISED INSTRUCTIONS
1.6. QUESTIONNAIRE PACK
1.7. EEQ SELF-RESPONSE QUESTIONNAIRE – KING 1970
1.8. STANDARDISING FUTURE SCORES USING NORMS FROM STUDY 1
1.9. FACTOR ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE PACK
1.10. SPREAD OF SCORES FOR EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE
1.11 ANALYSIS – STUDY 1
APPENDIX 2: STUDIES 2A AND 2B ....................................................................... 355

2.1. ETHICAL APPROVAL
2.2. CONSENT AND INFORMATION SHEETS
2.3. STANDARDISATION OF EMOTIONAL FACES FOR STUDY 2B
2.4. VIGNETTES OF EMOTIONAL CHANGE FROM TYPICALLY DEVELOPING SAMPLE
2.5. NOTES FOR TEACHERS
2.6. SUPPLEMENT FOR TEACHING STAFF
2.7. STANDARDISED INSTRUCTIONS
2.8. CHILDREN‟S PICTURE PACK
2.9. SAMPLE ANALYSES STUDY 2
2.10. STUDY 2A – DESCRIPTIVE DATA ON CHOICE OF AFFECT ACROSS ALL 8 CATEGORIES
2.11. ANALYSIS OF STUDY 2A - EMOTION IN POSTURES
2.12. ANALYSIS OF STUDY 2B – EMOTIONAL FACES AND REASONS FOR CHANGE
vii TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPENDIX 3: STUDY 3 ........................................................................................... 398

3.1. REQUEST FOR ETHICAL APPROVAL
3.2. CONSENT AND INFORMATION SHEETS
3.3. MORPHO INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHILDREN
3.4. MORPHO TRANSITIONS BY PICTURE
3.5. GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF TRANSITIONS
3.6. ANALYSIS – TRANSITION OF EMOTION
APPENDIX 4: STUDY 4 ........................................................................................... 424

4.1. ETHICAL APPROVAL
4.2. CONSENT AND INFORMATION SHEETS
4.3. TOKEN ECONOMY SYSTEM
4.4. DESCRIPTORS
4.5. MEREDITH BEHAVIOURAL INDICATOR
4.6. ISSUES REGARDING READING AGE OF SAMPLE
4.7. GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF POSTURES
4.8. GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF REASONS FOR EMOTIONAL CHANGE
4.9. ANALYSIS: QUESTIONNAIRE PACK
4.10. ANALYSIS: PICTURE PACK
4.11. ANALYSIS: MORPHO
4.12. ADDITIONAL ANALYSES

APPENDIX 5 (ACCOMPANYING CD OF COMPUTERISED TESTS)

5.1. EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE
5.2. EMOTION APPRAISAL
5.3. EMOTIONAL TRANSITION
5.4. ANXIETY
5.5. DEPRESSION
viii

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Definitions of synonymous terms.............................................................................................. 8
Table 2: Individual differences thought to influence emotional expression ............................................31
Table 3: Special Needs labels used during this research .........................................................................55
Table 4: Revised EEQ items for children ...............................................................................................69
Table 5: Items on the APT-C – reasons for revision ...............................................................................71
Table 6: Factor 1 - Interpersonal Perception ..........................................................................................83
Table 7: Factor 2 – Intrapersonal Perception ..........................................................................................83
Table 8: Final items for Intrapersonal Perception ...................................................................................84
Table 9: Factor One - Affective Empathy ..............................................................................................85
Table 10: Factor Two - Cognitive Empathy ...........................................................................................86
Table 11: Factor 1: Intimate Emotion ....................................................................................................87
Table 12: Overt/Gregarious Emotion .....................................................................................................88
Table 13: Factor 3: Covert/Hidden emotion ...........................................................................................89
Table 14: Participants in the study by sex, ethnicity and behavioural status ............................................90
Table 15: Class group statistics for both schools ....................................................................................91
Table 16: Correlations between questionnaires in Study 1 ......................................................................92
Table 17: Significant Correlations for TD sample ..................................................................................93
Table 18: Correlations for SEN sample .................................................................................................94
Table 19: Correlations for SEBD sample ...............................................................................................94
Table 20: Items loading on EC scale showing factors and reliability statistics. ..................................... 108
Table 21: Items from the three questionnaires not reliably linked to EC. .............................................. 109
Table 22: Links between Key Competencies and Affective Skills and Differences ............................... 111
Table 23: Sample statistics for Study 2 – sex, status and ethnicity ........................................................ 119
Table 24: Sample sizes by sex, status and year at school ...................................................................... 120
Table 25: Forced choice alternatives in emotion attribution task........................................................... 128
Table 26: Category choices for emotion attribution .............................................................................. 131
Table 27: Choices for emotion attribution: raw and ordinal categories and scores ................................. 133
Table 28: Descriptive statistics for each of the four postures ................................................................ 134
Table 29: Percentage of children choosing type of intentionality .......................................................... 139
Table 30: Number of times children chose levels of certainty across all presentations........................... 140
Table 31: Scoring system for emotional faces ...................................................................................... 148
Table 32: Carroll and Steward‟s (1984) developmental stage coding scheme ....................................... 149
Table 33: Response scoring for reasons for emotional change .............................................................. 151
Table 34: Emotional transitions used in MORPHO showing sex of model............................................ 169
Table 35: Ethnicity and sex of MORPHO sample ................................................................................ 181
Table 36: Feedback from participants about the activity ....................................................................... 181
Table 37: Considerations for exclusion of participants from normative sample ..................................... 183
Table 38: Measures of central tendency in consistency ........................................................................ 184
Table 39: Correlations between Questionnaire Scores and Age in the BC Sample ................................ 210
Table 40: Relationship between Affective skills and key competencies in BC children ......................... 213
Table 41: Descriptive statistics for each of the four postures – TD and BC samples .............................. 215
Table 42: Mean occurrences of choice: contrast of status groups .......................................................... 216
Table 43: Percentage of children choosing type of intentionality .......................................................... 216
Table 44: Descriptive statistics for sex and ethnicity of stimulus in BC sample .................................... 217
Table 45: Number of times children chose levels of certainty across all presentations........................... 218
Table 46: Feedback from participants about the activity ....................................................................... 220
Table 47: Correlations between anxiety scores and perceived emotional competence ........................... 230
Table 48: Correlations between depression and perceived emotional competence ................................. 232