To the Question of Understanding by Preschoolers the Emotional States of Another Person

The article presents the results of studies during which the authors studied the dynamics of the development of the emotional and social spheres of preschool children. Based on the results, a number of issues related to the diagnosis and various psychological practices aimed at the development of these areas are considered. Also given are the results of a study that identifies the age-related potential of preschool children associated with the ability to focus on the emotional states of another person. The results presented in the article demonstrate that only in the fifth year of life, most children on their own (without the help of an adult) begin to highlight the emotional state of a person as an essential sign. But they do not use their skill when they try to orient in the sense of what is happening. Only at the end of preschool age do some children begin to determine the meaning of what is happening on the basis of the emotional states of another person. Based on the data obtained, an admission is made about the need for developmental (not diagnostic) work with children. The methodology of the forming experiment described in the article allows one to determine the directions of psychological and pedagogical support of the emotional development of preschool children.

1. Zaporozhets A.V. K voprosu o genezise, funktsiyakh i strukture emotsional’nykh protsessov u rebenka [To the question of the genesis, functions and structure of emotional processes in a child]. In Zaporozhets A.V. Izbrannye psikhologicheskie Trudy: V 2 t. Tom 1 [Selected Psychological Works: in 2 vol. Vol. 1]. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1986. 320 p.
2. Zaporozhets A.V. Razvitie emotsional’noi regulyatsii deistvii u rebenka [The development of emotional regulation of actions in a child. In Zaporozhets A.V. Izbrannye psikhologicheskie Trudy: V 2 t. Tom 1 [Selected Psychological Works: in 2 vol. Vol. 1]. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1986. 320 p.
3. Karpova S.N., Lysyuk L.G. Igra i nravstvennoe razvitie doshkol’nikov [Game and moral development of preschoolers]. Moscow: Moscow State University Publ., 1986. 144 p.
4. Lyusin D.V. Sovremennye predstavleniya ob emotsional’nom intellekte [Modern perceptions of emotional intelligence]. In Lyusin D.V., Ushakov D.V. (eds.), Sotsial’nyi intellekt: teoriya, izmerenie, issledovaniya [Social Intelligence: Theory, Measurement, Research]. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN Publ., 2004, pp. 29–36.
5. Masalova V.S. Gendernye osobennosti prosotsial’nogo povedeniya [Gender Features of Prosocial Behavior]. Molodye issledovateli obrazovaniya. ХVI Vserossiiskaya nauchno-prakticheskaya konferentsiya. Tom I [Young researchers of education. ХVI All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference. Vol. I]. Moscow: MGPPU Publ., 2017, pp. 117–119.
6. Zaporozhets A.V., Neverovich Ya.Z. (eds.), Razvitie sotsial’nykh emotsii u detei doshkol’nogo vozrasta [The development of social emotions in preschool children]. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1986. 176 p.
7. Yaglovskaya E.K. Orientatsiya na moral’nuyu normu v deistviyakh i vyskazyvaniyakh detei 5–7 let [Orientation to the moral norm in the actions and statements of children 5–7 years old]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya [Moscow University Psychology Bulletin], 1988, no. 1, p. 69.