Chapter published in:
Narrative, Literacy and Other Skills: Studies in interventionEdited by Edy Veneziano and Ageliki Nicolopoulou
[Studies in Narrative 25] 2019
► pp. 109–128
Chapter 5Enhancing mental state language and emotion understanding of toddlers’ social cognition
The role of narrative and conversation
Ilaria Grazzani | University of Milano-Bicocca
Veronica Ornaghi | University of Milano-Bicocca
Alessia Agliati | University of Milano-Bicocca
Elisa Brazzelli | University of Milano-Bicocca
Maria Lucarelli | University of Milano-Bicocca
This study investigated whether conversing about emotions in day-care center enhanced toddlers’ spontaneous use of mental state language and emotion understanding, both of which are key components of social cognition. In the course of a three-month intervention, the children assigned to the experimental condition (N = 29) participated daily in bookreading sessions of stories with high emotional content. Bookreadings were followed by a conversation, held in small groups, about the emotional states featured in the stories. The children assigned to the control condition (N = 28), after listening to the same stories, engaged in free play. At post-test, children in the experimental condition significantly outperformed the control group on measures of mental state language and emotion understanding, even after controlling for verbal abilities and age. These findings suggest the value of having children as young as 2–3 years participate in conversational activities about emotional experiences and inner states.
Keywords: social cognition, mental state language, emotional lexicon, emotion understanding, intervention study
Article outline
- Introduction
- Mental state language and emotion understanding: Longitudinal and intervention studies
- The present study
- Method
- Participants
- Research phases, instruments and materials
- The Child’s first vocabulary (primo Vocabolario del bambino, PVB)
- The intervention phase
- Fidelity to instructions of teachers’ interventions
- Method
- Results
- Children’s mental state language production
- Emotion understanding
- Discussion
- Limitations and educational implications
-
Acknowledgments -
Notes -
References
Published online: 06 May 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.25.06gra
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.25.06gra
References
Adriàn, J. E., Clemente, R. A., & Villanueva, L.
Aram, D., Dwairy-Jarrous, M., & Khalaily, M.
(2015) The effect of shared reading intervention on social understanding and narrative skills in Arab preschoolers. Paper presented at the International Conference on Narrative and interaction: Promoting and assessing the development of language, literacy and socio-cognitive skills
. Paris, 10–12 June.
Aram, D., Fine, Y., & Ziv, M.
Astington, J. W., & Pelletier, J.
Bartsch, K., & Wellman, H. M.
Bretherton, I., & Beeghly, M.
Buttelmann, D., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M.
Camodeca, M., & Coppola, G.
(2010) C
ompetenza socio-emotiva e difficoltà di relazione in età prescolare: Un approccio multidimensionale [Socioemotional competence and relational difficulties in the preschool years: A multidimensional approach]. In E. Baumgartner (Ed.), Gli esordi della competenza emotiva (pp.51–74). Milano: LED.
Caselli, C., Pasqualetti, P., & Stefanini, S.
Cigala, A., Mori, A., & Fangareggi, F.
de Rosnay, M., & Hughes, C.
Denham, S.
Dunn, J., Brown, J., & Beardsall, L.
Dunn, J., Brown, J., Slomkowsky, C., Tesla, C., & Youngblade, L.
Ensor, R., & Hughes, C.
Fivush, R., Haden, C. A., & Reese, E.
Garner, J. L., Jones, D. C., Gaddy, G., & Rennie, K. M.
Grazzani Gavazzi, I., & Ornaghi, V.
Grazzani, I., Ornaghi, V., Agliati, A., and Brazzelli, E.
Hughes, C.
Hughes, C., & Devine, R. T.
Hughes, C., & Dunn, J.
Izard, C. E., Fine, S. E., Schultz, D., Mostow, A. J., Ackerman, B. P., & Youngstrom, E.
Klinnert, M. D., Emde, R. N., Butterfield, P., & Campos, J. J.
Laible, D.
Misailidi P., Papoudi, D., & Brouzos, A.
Ornaghi, V., Brazzelli, E., Grazzani, I., Agliati, A., and Lucarelli, M.
Ornaghi, V., Brockmeier, J., & Grazzani Gavazzi, I.
Ornaghi, V., Brockmeier, J., & Grazzani, I.
Ornaghi, V., Grazzani, I., Cherubin, E., Conte, E., & Piralli, F.
Poulin-Dubois, D., Chiarella, S. S., & Polonia, A.
Repacholi, B., & Gopnik, A.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Conte, Elisabetta, Veronica Ornaghi, Ilaria Grazzani, Alessandro Pepe & Valeria Cavioni
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 08 may 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.