Inoculation by emotion: Effects of positive emotional states on children's reactions to social comparison.

Abstract

Our purpose was to determine the influence of positive emotional states on young children's responses to social comparisons and to test the hypothesis that self-focused positive emotional states "inoculate" children against the behavioral consequences of negative social comparisons. Five- and 6-year-old children, equally divided by sex, were assigned randomly to one of three emotion-inducing conditions: self-focused happy, other-focused happy, or neutral. After the emotion induction, the children experienced social comparisons in which they received fewer, the same number of, or more rewards than another child of the same sex. In actuality, subjects always received the same amount of reward, whereas the peer received more, fewer, or an equal number of rewards. Ratings of facial expressions after the emotion inductions confirmed that children in the self- or other-focused conditions were equally happy and significantly happier than children in the neutral condition. Furthermore, all children accurately recalled the reward outcome of the social comparison experience. As predicted, when children received relatively fewer rewards, they displayed reduced generosity toward others except when this negative inequality had followed the induction of a self-focused happy mood. There were no differences across experimental conditions for measures of self-expectancies or attributions for performance. The results are discussed in terms of the cognitive processes initiated by emotional states that may influence tolerance for aversive experiences. Particular attention is given to the role of cognitive loops, selective attention, and tacit comparison processes initiated by emotional states and social comparisons. © 1986 American Psychological Association.