Description
Dance is an aesthetic form that children engage in at high rates, both casually and formally. Connections between dance and social cognitive development have been purported by philosophers, artists, and teachers for millennia. However, connections between childhood dance engagement and the ability to read and understand others’ emotions, a critical social cognitive skill known as affective theory of mind (AToM), has not yet been studied. In this study, we examine connections between childhood dance participation and AToM using longitudinal mixed-methods. In the quasi-experimental quantitative strand, children aged 7-12 years in the dance group (N = 65) participated in one academic year of dance and were compared to a treated control group (N = 47) who participated in one academic year of sports. Children were assessed pre- and post- on quantitative measures of facially-cued, bodily-cued, and contextually-cued AToM. In the qualitative strand, dance teacher interviews (N = 17) and dance group child and parent open ended responses were thematically coded.
Results suggest that overall, childhood dance participation is related to better performance for bodily-cued AToM (body valance: F(1, 110) = 6.48, p = 0.012, η2 = 0.027; discrete body emotion: F(1, 110) = 4.544, p = 0.035, η2 = 0.026) but not for facially-cued or contextually-cued AToM. Qualitative emergent themes triangulated quantitative findings and illuminated the connected pedagogical and phenomenological processes in dance, including repeated practice of embodying emotions, reading embodied emotions, and executive functions. Taken together, findings suggest that children who participate in dance may have augmented AToM because they are better able to infer other’s emotions based on body language, and that dance may be a promising route to support children’s social cognitive development. Based on our findings, a theoretical model of the impacts of aesthetic engagement in dance on body-focused social cognitive development in childhood is proposed.
| Names, affilations and contact information | Megan G. Stutesman, Queen’s University Belfast, m.stutesman@qub.ac.uk; Thalia R. Goldstein, George Mason University, tgoldste@gmu.edu |
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| Bio | Stutesman earned her PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology in 2024 and is a postdoc with the Developing Belief Network at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research includes psychology of the arts, social cognitive development, and contextual influences on development. Stutesman was a professional dancer and has taught dance for more than a decade. Goldstein is an associate professor of Applied Developmental Psychology at George Mason University, directs the PLAY Lab, and co-directs the Mason Arts Research Center. Her research focuses on children’s social and emotional development through pretend play and the arts. She is co-editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, published more than 75 articles, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and John Templeton Foundation. |