Studies of children's stories shows differences in Russian, US
approaches to emotion

Date:
December 2, 2021
Source:
North Carolina State University
Summary:
Recent research of parents in Russia and the United States, as
well as children's literature in both countries, highlights how
cultural differences in socializing emotions begin before children
even start attending school. Specifically, the research found that
Russian parents are more likely than U.S. parents to read stories
to their children that feature negative emotions, such as fear,
anger and sadness.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Recent research of parents in Russia and the United States, as well
as children's literature in both countries, highlights how cultural
differences in socializing emotions begin before children even start
attending school.

Specifically, the research found that Russian parents are more likely
than U.S.

parents to read stories to their children that feature negative emotions,
such as fear, anger and sadness.


==========================================================================
"In the U.S., there's an emphasis on the value of positive emotions --
such as happiness or pride," says Amy Halberstadt, co-author of a paper describing both studies and a professor of psychology at North Carolina
State University.

"In Russia, there's more nuance," says Yulia Chentsova-Dutton,
corresponding author of the paper and an associate professor of psychology
at Georgetown University. "Russian culture seems to value all emotions
-- including negative emotions -- and it is important to learn from
these emotions.

"Because the stories we read and hear as children often inform which
emotions we value, we wanted to see how those stories might differ
across these two cultures." To that end, the researchers conducted two studies. In the first study, the researchers recruited 322 parents who
had children under the age of 10. The parents belonged to three groups:
72 parents were born in the U.S. and lived there; 72 parents were born
in Russia, but lived in the U.S.; and 178 parents were born in Russia
and lived there.

In this study, the researchers asked parents to describe the extent
to which the books they read to their children depicted 10 different
emotions -- six positive ones and four negative ones.



========================================================================== "There were no differences across groups when it came to the frequency
of positive emotions -- everybody likes a book with some positivity,"
says Anita Adams, a graduate student at the University of Kentucky
who worked on the project as an undergraduate at NC State. "However,
Russian parents chose to read books with more negative emotions than
U.S. parents. Russian-American parents were somewhere in between those
two groups." And, when the researchers looked at parents' beliefs
about the value of sadness, they found that Russian parents valued the experience of sadness more than U.S. parents.

"That value seemed to be part of why they were willing to engage more
with their children about negative emotions in general," Halberstadt says.

The second study evaluated the 40 best-selling fiction books aimed at preschool-age children in the U.S. and Russia. The researchers analyzed
the text and illustrations of all 80 books to assess the range and
frequency of positive and negative emotions.

This study found that a wider range of emotions are represented
in the children's books that are popular in Russia, as compared to
children's books popular in the U.S. Specifically, the text of Russian
books referenced anger and sadness more often than the U.S. books; and illustrations in Russian books depicted happiness, anger and fear more frequently than the U.S. books. The researchers found this even when
they accounted for differences in the length of texts and the number of illustrations featuring facial expressions.

"Taken together, these studies highlight how Russian parents engage
with their children about emotions differently than U.S. parents,"
Halberstadt says.

"Simply put, the study suggests Russian parents are more likely to support opportunities to engage with their young children about challenging
emotions, such as anger and sadness.

"Future studies may want to explore what this might mean in terms of
providing children more tools with which to navigate difficult emotions." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
North_Carolina_State_University. Original written by Matt Shipman. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yulia Chentsova-Dutton, Anna Leontyeva, Amy G. Halberstadt, Anita M.

Adams. And they all lived unhappily ever after: Positive and
negative emotions in American and Russian picture books.. Emotion,
2021; DOI: 10.1037/emo0001021 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211202113435.htm

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