The Effect of Personality on Psychological Responses Induced by Emotional Stimuli for Children

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the relationship between personality and psychological responses induced by emotional stimuli (happiness, sadness, anger, boring and stress) for children.<BR><BR> Background: Many researches are interested in assertion that there is close correlation between personality and emotion. The relationship between personality and emotion needs to be studied in view of the extended integration, not in view of respective property, because personality is deeply ingrained, and the relatively enduring patterns of thought, feeling and behavior and emotion can take advantage of individual differences in sensitivities to situational cues and predispositions to emotional state. In particular, studies on the personality and emotion for children are necessary in that childhood is an important period for formation of their personality and emotion expression and regulation.<BR><BR> Method: Prior to the experiment, we made parents of 94 children rate personalities of their children, based on Korean Personality Inventory for Children (K-PIC). Results of 64 children without missing answers to all questions were analyzed. 64 children were exposed to five emotional stimuli and were asked to report the classification and intensity of their experienced emotion.<BR><BR> Results: Children were classified into two groups of the lower 25% and higher 25% scores in twenty sub-scales of K-PIC, and psychological responses to five emotional stimuli between two groups were compared. Accuracy of emotion experienced by emotional stimuli showed a significant difference between the two groups, the lower and higher scores in Hyperactivity and Adjustment. Also, there was a significant difference in the intensity of experienced emotions between the two groups in Intellectual Screening and Psychosis.<BR><BR> Conclusion: Our result has shown that hyperactivity, adjustment, intellectual screening and psychosis influence the accuracy and intensity of emotional responses. <BR><BR> Application: This study can offer a guideline to overcome methodological limitation of emotion studies for children and help researcher basically understand and recognize human emotion in HCI.