Size and emotion or depth and emotion? Evidence, using Matryoshka (Russian) dolls, of children using physical depth as a proxy for emotional charge

Dunn, AK ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3226-1734, Taylor, N and Baguley, T ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0477-2492, 2013. Size and emotion or depth and emotion? Evidence, using Matryoshka (Russian) dolls, of children using physical depth as a proxy for emotional charge. BMC Psychology, 1. ISSN 2050-7283

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Abstract

Background: The size and emotion effect is the tendency for children to draw people and other objects with a positive emotional charge larger than those with a negative or neutral charge. Here we explored the novel idea that drawing size might be acting as a proxy for depth (proximity).Methods: Forty-two children (aged 3-11 years) chose, from 2 sets of Matryoshka (Russian) dolls, a doll to represent a person with positive, negative or neutral charge, which they placed in front of themselves on a sheet of A3 paper. Results: We found that the children used proximity and doll size, to indicate emotional charge. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with the notion that in drawings, children are using size as a proxy for physical closeness (proximity), as they attempt with varying success to put positive charged items closer to, or negative and neutral charge items further away from, themselves.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	BMC Psychology
Creators:	Dunn, A.K., Taylor, N. and Baguley, T.
Publisher:	Springer
Date:	2013
Volume:	1
ISSN:	2050-7283
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1186/2050-7283-1-21 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:32
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:32
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14417

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