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¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr1·q3·i3large
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2015: baselines and conditions change
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q3 i3 Goal reinstatement and goal substitution were the most commonly reported strategies, and neither the strategies reported nor their proportions differed by emotion (sadness vs. anger). → 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 · i3 · associational · r1
Mixed ANOVA on proportion scores from 66 children who attributed sadness and anger at least once. A significant main effect of strategy (η2p = .44) but no emotion effect and no interaction. Goal reinstatement (M = .28) and goal substitution (M = .34) were most common, each reported by over 90% of participants.
"The results showed that the proportion of different emotion regulation strategies varied, F(6, 384) = 50.24, p < .001, η2p = .44, but that children’s strategies did not differ by emotion, F(1, 65) = 0.60, n.s."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Children's emotion-specific strategy use emerges for autobiographical events but not hypothetical stories, suggesting personal experience supports flexible regulation — related
- Five- and six-year-olds describe changing thoughts more often than changing goals as a metacognitive strategy — 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
- When recalling their own experiences, 5- and 6-year-olds use metacognitive strategies more to alleviate sadness and fear than anger — related
- Children tailor metacognitive strategy type to emotion: changing goals most for sadness, changing thoughts most for fear — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
study1-goal-strategies-most-common-no-emotion-difference |
title |
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 |
description |
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 |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2010 |
recheck_by |
2015 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — davis-2010 |
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