EUReKA! A Conceptual Model of Emotion Understanding

Abstract

The field of emotion understanding is replete with measures, yet lacks an integrated conceptual organizing structure. To identify and organize skills associated with the recognition and knowledge of emotions, and to highlight the focus of emotion understanding as localized in the self, in specific others, and in generalized others, we introduce the conceptual framework of Emotion Understanding in Recognition and Knowledge Abilities (EUReKA). We then categorize fifty-six existing methods of emotion understanding within this framework to highlight current gaps and future opportunities in assessing emotion understanding across the lifespan. We hope the EUReKA model provides a systematic and integrated framework for conceptualizing and measuring emotion understanding for future research.

A Three‐factor Structure of Emotion Understanding in Third‐grade Children

“…The first factor, Prototypical Emotion Recognition, included children’s skills in recognizing child and adult prototypical expressions of emotions as displayed by the face and body. Such skills are thought to develop during early childhood (Denham, 1986; Harris, 1989; Pons et al, 2004), and recent theoretical frameworks distinguish the recognition of prototypical emotional expressions from the more advanced skill of recognizing non-prototypical emotional expressions (Castro, Cheng, et al, 2015). …”

“…Emotion understanding is an umbrella term used to capture the many skills associated with the recognition and attribution of emotions in the self and others (Castro, Cheng, Halberstadt, & Gruhn, 2015; Denham, 1986; Halberstadt, Denham, & Dunsmore, 2001). Emotion understanding is thought to predict important socioemotional competencies across childhood, including fewer parent- and teacher-reported behavior problems (see review by Trentacosta & Fine, 2010), greater prosocial adjustment and interpersonal success with peers (Heinze, Miller, Seifer, Dickstein, & Locke, 2015; Miller et al, 2005; Ornaghi, Grazzani, Cherubin, Conte, & Piralli, 2015), and various indicators of academic achievement (Denham, Bassett, Brown, Way, & Steed, 2013; Denham et al, 2012).…”

“…Children’s emotion understanding is thought to be multidimensional, with at least two broad skill sets: emotion recognition , the perceptual recognition and labeling of emotional expressions in the self and others, and emotion knowledge , the attribution of emotions in the self and others using general emotional scripts as well as culturally embedded scripts about emotion-eliciting situations (e.g., Castro, Cheng et al, 2015; Denham, 1986; Halberstadt et al, 2001; Pons, Harris, & de Rosnay, 2004; Widen, 2013). The development of children’s emotion understanding is thought to be sequential, with skills becoming increasingly complex in both level and quality throughout childhood.…”

“…We hypothesized that emotion understanding would demonstrate multidimensionality in third grade. Specifically, we tested the two-factor structure identified in early childhood, and included a third factor related to advanced understanding skills, and a fourth factor related to regulation knowledge skills (Castro, Cheng, et al, 2015; Eisenberg & Morris, 2002; Pons et al, 2004). We also tested model fit between one-, two-, three-, and four-factor structures to determine the best fitting model for the data.…”

The understanding of emotion among young Chinese children

“…These components vary in complexity and emerge between 3 and 11 years (see Castro, Cheng, Halberstadt, & Grühn, 2016 The Chinese version of the TEC was adapted to a Chinese context based on pilot testing that resulted in two minor changes. The text for one of the illustrations to the External Cause component was revised as follows: "This boy/girl is standing at the bus stop, waiting to take a bus to go to school, just like he/she does every day."…”