Background. The emotional development of preschoolers plays a key role in their mental health and subsequent social adaptation. Despite extensive research on emotional development and social interaction in preschoolers, the targeted study of emotion expression rules and the development of methods for their effective implementation in the educational process remain understudied.
Objective. To identify pedagogical conditions for forming a conscious attitude toward emotion expression rules in older preschool children.
Sample. The study involved 77 older preschool children (M = 73.77 months, SD = 5.6) from two kindergartens in St. Petersburg.
Methods. Emotion comprehension test (Veraksa et al., 2021), conversation about children’s understanding of emotion expression rules, and observation of children’s emotional reactions followed by a conversation (Diaz et al., 2015).
Results. Comparison of the research results before and after the formative experiment, according to the specified methods, showed sufficient effectiveness of the proposed pedagogical influences. Over 60% of participants demonstrated a high level of understanding and application of emotion expression rules after completing the program. An intermediate level was recorded in more than 35% of children. A low level of understanding of the rules for expressing emotions and their use was not recorded after the classes, while before the classes it was about 40%. Control group results confirmed changes associated with preschoolers’ participation in the program.
Conclusions. Thus, to develop a conscious attitude toward emotion expression rules in older preschoolers, it is necessary to: cultivate feelings related to respectful treatment of emotions; develop conceptions about emotions and the ability to identify causes of one’s own emotions; enhance awareness of emotion expression methods as means of communicating emotions to others.