How children narrate happy and sad events: Does affective state count?

The influence of induced affective states on children’s narratives of personal events was investigated. The affective state of 5-to-6-year-old children, 128 in number, was manipulated by way of winning or losing a game. They were then asked to narrate happy or sad personal events. A self-report instrument indicated that a different affective state was indeed induced by the two game conditions. Narratives were coded for agency, affective aspects and structural complexity (antecedents). The negative condition influenced attribution of causality and intention to agent and addressee, according to a self-serving bias and affected number of antecedents. Moreover, in the negative condition, global intensity revealed a congruency effect, in line with the Affect Infusion Model. However, mental states varied with event valence, independent of affect-inducing condition. Results are discussed in terms of the complexity of the relation between emotional event narratives and children’s affective state