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Wiley InterScience | ||||||
  Developmental ScienceVolume 11 Issue 5, Pages F25 - F30 Published Online: 23 May 2008 Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 244K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking  FAST-TRACK REPORT A hidden cost of happiness in children Copyright Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd ABSTRACTHappiness is generally considered an emotion with only beneficial effects, particularly in childhood. However, there are some situations where the style of information processing triggered by happiness could be a liability. In particular, happiness seems to motivate a top-down processing style, which could impair performance when attention to detail is required. Indeed, in Experiment 1, 10- to 11-year-old children (N = 30) induced to feel a happy mood were slower to locate a simple shape embedded in a complex figure than those induced to feel a sad mood. In Experiment 2, 6- to 7-year-old children (N = 61) induced to feel a happy mood found fewer embedded shapes than those induced to feel a sad or neutral mood. Happiness may have unintended and possibly undesirable cognitive consequences, even in childhood. Received: 4 March 2008 | 
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