The relative power of an emotion’s facial expression, label, and behavioral consequence to evoke preschoolers’ knowledge of its cause

Lay people and scientists alike assume that, especially for young children, facial expressions are a strong cue to another’s emotion. We report a study in which children (N = 120; 3–4 years) described events that would cause basic emotions (surprise, fear, anger, disgust, sadness) presented as its facial expression, as its label, or as its behavioral consequence. For no emotion was the facial expression the strongest cue. Performance for fear and disgust was more accurate given its label or its behavioral consequence than given its facial expression; performance for anger was more accurate given the consequence. For 3s, behavioral consequences were the strongest cues to emotion; for 4s, labels were. © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.