Conhecimentos e Metas de Socialização Emocional entre Crianças e seus Pais na Floresta Nacional do Tapajós-Pa

Abstract

This thesis consists of four independent studies, which were conducted in an articulated manner to respond to the general research objective: To understand the role of emotional socialization in child development by investigating (a) the knowledge and (b) socialization goals of children aged 4 to 7 years, (c) from the perspective of both the children themselves and their parents. Additionally, it aims to experimentally assess the relationship between these (d) parental goals and helping behavior in children from communities in the Tapajós National Forest. The research argues that child development can be better understood by considering that parents' knowledge about their children's emotional expression, as well as the goals and strategies they adopt in this socialization process, are directly associated with how children learn to define, express, and regulate their emotions within the eco-cultural context in which they live with their families and communities. The instruments used were: the Parental Conceptions Questionnaire on Children's Emotional Expression, the Emotion Socialization Goals Questionnaire, the Developmental Goals Questionnaire, experimental tasks focusing on spontaneous helping behavior, and forms for participant identification and sociodemographic data recording. The study included 53 mothers (M = 32.9 years, SD = 10.6), 44 fathers (M = 34.1 years, SD = 9.6), their children aged 48 to 95 months (M = 70.4 months, SD = 13.6), and another 10 children (M = 28 months, SD = 3.64). Key findings include: a) In Study 1, mothers classified "psychological state or motivation projected onto others" as the primary category for joy, sadness, anger, fear, and shame, except for pride, which was categorized as "unclassifiable" and associated with both positive (achievements) and negative (superiority) characteristics. Fathers presented similar results, except that fear and shame were generally associated with the category of "causal attribution/origin in oneself or the environment." Joy was the most valued emotion, the only one receiving more than 70% agreement in responses indicating that their children felt this emotion "a lot" or "completely." For most mothers, emotional expression was related to the "situation or causative context." Similarly, fathers shared this view, except for shame, which was more often categorized under "bodily/motor manifestation." b) Regarding parental socialization goals, the focus of Study 2, 52.27% (23 mothers) and 47.82% (11 fathers) valued "self-maximization" characteristics. Concerning the conditions for developing their desired emotional socialization goals, the highest frequencies were found in the "other" category (68.96% of mothers), primarily emphasizing education. Fathers were divided between "caregiver-centered" (38.77%) and "child-centered" (36.73%) approaches. They believed that, in addition to serving as role models and engaging in discussions, it was essential for children to listen to and obey their guidance. The parental role was predominantly perceived as "educating/guiding," with a higher percentage among mothers (87.5% - 49 participants) than fathers (50.3% - 44 participants). Findings related to developmental goals indicated a predominance of a relational model (M = 3.53, SD = 0.22), while still considering autonomous characteristics, such as "developing one's own talents and interests," with 86.5% of participants fully agreeing with this statement. c) In Study 3, children's expectations generally demonstrated that "bodily manifestation" was associated with joy, fear was linked to "causal attribution," and other emotions were classified under "psychological state or motivation projected onto others." More than 80% of children's responses regarding their future expectations included aspirations for specific professions, becoming superheroes, or growing up to be big and beautiful. Their answers demonstrated logical reasoning between questions, outlining the necessary conditions and parental involvement required to achieve their goals. For instance, a child who aspired to become a teacher stated they would need to "study a lot," and their parents should help with schoolwork and "buy materials for classes." d) In Study 4, regarding parental goals and children's prosocial behavior, findings indicated that parents valued emotional socialization goals related to both autonomy and relationships. Independence, skills, and personal talents were valued by parents, provided they were guided by them. Autonomy was seen as a means to become capable of helping and caring for others. Experimental task results showed high performance in both task completion and hesitation time, which ranged from "little hesitation" to "immediate action. "These findings suggest that the concept of emotions permeates other conceptions, relating to socialization goals that determine what should be valued or avoided. As in children's responses, joy emerged as the most valued emotion, while pride was the most contradictory. Most children could not define pride but showed curiosity about the emotion. This difficulty may not only stem from the complexity of the concept but also from the fact that parents do not discuss it with them or even use the word in daily life. Likewise, parental goals were, in their own way, reproduced by children as aspirations to pursue a profession and work in the Tapajós National Forest. The high performance of children in experimental tasks was expected, as they are socialized and live in a context with a high prevalence of interdependent characteristics, aligning with cultural values related to care and concern for the community, particularly for family members. The limitations of this study include the sample size, particularly the number of children. A larger sample would allow for statistical analyses, such as associations and crossreferencing data with different sociodemographic variables, including education level and age at first childbirth. Among the theoretical contributions, this research aims to contribute to Developmental Psychology and discussions on the Eco-Cultural Model of Development, based on research conducted in a riverside community context. This context is characterized not only by intergenerational knowledge transmission but also by goals of independence and academic success, especially among women and mothers who seek higher education. Although "studying" is not explicitly an emotional socialization goal for their children, it represents an opportunity for employment, financial independence, and the ability to support and care for parents in the future. Inspired by this research, future studies are suggested in eco-cultural contexts where natural characteristics (such as living on solid ground or in a floodplain area) shape knowledge and emotional socialization goals across different spheres of these populations.