Five- and six-year-olds describe changing thoughts more often than changing goals as a metacognitive strategy¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 In Study 1, children described changing thoughts (M = .58) more often than changing goals (M = .42), a marginal effect. → Davis 2010

Evidence¶

Davis 2010¶

Davis, E. L., Levine, L. J., Lench, H. C., & Quas, J. A. (2010). Metacognitive Emotion Regulation: Children’s Awareness that Changing Thoughts and Goals Can Alleviate Negative Emotions. Emotion, 10(4), 498–510. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018428

q3 · i2 · associational · r1

Mixed ANOVA on metacognitive strategy proportions among the 66 children attributing sadness and anger. Changing thoughts (M = .58) exceeded changing goals (M = .42), F(1, 65) = 3.97, p = .05, η2p = .06 — a small-to-medium effect at the significance threshold.

"The results indicated that children described changing thoughts (M = .58, SD = .44) more often than changing goals (M = .42, SD = .44), F (1, 65) = 3.97, p = .05, η2p = .06."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• In hypothetical scenarios, 5- and 6-year-olds most often suggest goal reinstatement and goal substitution, and their strategies do not differ for sadness versus anger — related
• Children tailor metacognitive strategy type to emotion: changing goals most for sadness, changing thoughts most for fear — related
• A majority of 5- and 6-year-olds can describe metacognitive emotion regulation strategies when asked about familiar hypothetical situations with multiple prompts — related
• Communicating feelings of difficulty is significantly associated with six-year-olds' deployment of metacognition and self-regulation, with the exception of planning — related
• Children's emotion-specific strategy use emerges for autobiographical events but not hypothetical stories, suggesting personal experience supports flexible regulation — related