Children’s Scope of Attention: When Happiness Broadens and When it Narrows

• In Event: Emotional Competence from Infancy to Late Childhood

Abstract

Background: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (PE) suggests that PEs play an important role in broadening attentional processes (Fredrickson, 2013). Criticisms of the broaden-and-build theory have suggested that it is not PEs that broaden attention, but the motivational orientation (i.e., approach broadens and avoidance narrows) associated with an emotion (be it positive or negative; Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2008). In the current study, we investigate if upregulating PE affects children’s scope of attention differently if they are using an approach or avoidance emotion regulation (ER) strategy.
Methods: 181 children (93 f; ages 4-11; Mage=7.70, SDage=2.26) were randomly assigned to one of 3 ER strategy conditions. Children rated their emotions (happy, sad, scared, anger; pictorial rating system; 1-4; T1). They then completed the first global/local shape processing task (GL1) in which they were shown a target figure (e.g., a triangle made of squares) and asked to identify which of 2 comparison figures is most like the target (e.g., a square made of squares [local] or a triangle made of triangles [global]. Children were then told that they would watch a film (negative emotion induction) and instructed to use distraction (avoidance strategy), reappraisal (approach strategy), or no directed strategy (control). Children viewed the film, self-rated emotions (T2), were reminded of their condition’s ER instructions, and then self-rated their emotions again (T3). Children completed unrelated tasks, and again self-rated their emotions (T4), and completed the attention task again (GL2).
Results: ANOVA showed that the ER strategy the child used did not relate to changes in their scope of attention (GL2-GL1). Three multiple regressions were conducted (one for each ER strategy condition). GL1 and children’s age were entered as covariates in step 1 of each regression. To control for PEs immediately preceding GL1 and GL2, T1 and T4 happiness ratings were entered into step 2. Finally, the upregulation of happiness during ER (T3-T2) was entered into step 3. Neither happiness preceding GL1 nor happiness preceding GL2, predicted changes in attention in any of the 3 conditions. However, in the distraction/avoidant ER condition, a greater upregulation of happiness during ER predicted narrowed attention (increased local shape selection; b=.714, p=.021), and in the reappraisal/approach ER condition, the upregulation of happiness predicted broadened attention (increased global shape selection; b=.455, p=.047). For comparison, changes in negative emotions with all respective covariates were examined and were non-significant predictors of broadened or narrowed scope of attention.
Discussion: The present study suggests that it is not solely the approach or avoidant orientation of the ER strategy, nor a static timepoint of the task-preceding PE that accounts for broadened or narrowed attention. Here, we suggest that the broadening process—the upregulation of positivity itself—may relate to broadened attention in approach-related ER contexts and narrowed attention in avoidance-related ER contexts. The current findings support both the broaden-and-build theory and criticisms of the theory, clarifying that the adaptive underpinnings of motivational orientation on attention scope may be differentially facilitated by the upregulation of PEs.

Authors

• Sarah Knapp, University of California, Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth L Davis, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author