With a view to challenging the initial views on egocentrism this study sought to determine if development has an effect on the ability to recognise emotions. Children aged between eight and eleven inclusive and adults made a forced choice opinion from a paired set of words that described a selection of eleven works of Hockney and Velazquez. To eliminate language barriers the children’s choices were simplified with a comprehension question included if necessary. The results showed no significant variation within the children, which similarly were comparable to the adult findings. This contradicts earlier beliefs by demonstrating firstly, that the ability to distinguish emotions develops prior to the age of eight and secondly, that it does not improve up to the age of eleven and further into adulthood.

Cognition and child development are core aspects of psychological study and various aspects of both are under constant renewal and debate. Two of these are the recognition of mental states and the age at which this ability is developed in children. Jean Piaget (1896-1980), perhaps the most famous child psychologists first published his theor

Some topics in this essay:
Preoperational Child, Question Velazquez, Apparatus Black, Deviation Eight, Hockney Velazquez, Operation Stage, Spaniard Velazquez, Adults Abstract, Task’ Piaget, Robbers Game’, ability recognise, prior age, standard deviation, eight eleven, comprehension question, forced choice, facial expressions, table 2 mean, age increases, shown table, preoperational child, mean standard deviation, cited nairn 2003, aged eight eleven, piaget 1922 cited,