Researchers in the UK found that kids had a much higher emotional intelligence when their mothers (on whom the study focused) discussed “people’s feelings, beliefs, wants and intentions” with them.
In the first part of the study, mothers were asked to talk to their 3-year-old children about a series of pictures depicting scenes such as a child coming out of school looking happy and people waiting in line. Children whose mothers talked about the mental state of characters in the picture tended to perform better on social understanding tasks, the researchers found.
Years later, researchers continued to assess the emotional and social understanding of the kids.
For one test of social understanding, children 8 and older watched clips of the British television series “The Office” and were prompted to answer questions about the situations: for example, the way the main character, David Brent, embarrasses people without realizing it. Children also judged other people’s feelings from pictures and explained what they would do in hypothetical situations involving other people’s feelings.
Now I can feel a little better about watching the NFL with my son, as long as I occasionally explain, “Well, that guy who just forarmed the other guy in the head seems like he could be a little upset.”
