Children sometimes show positive emotions in response to seeing others being helped, yet it remains poorly understood whether there is a strategic value to such emotional expressions. Here, we investigated the influence seeing a peer receive deserving help or not on children's emotions, which were assessed while the peer was present or not. To measure children's emotional expression, we used a motion depth sensor imaging camera, which recorded children's body posture. Five-year-old children (N = 122) worked on a task which yielded greater rewards for them compared to their peer, rendering the peer to be in greater need of help. An adult—who was unaware of the different levels of neediness—then either helped the child who had a lesser need for help (less deserving outcome) or helped the needier peer (deserving outcome). Overall, both children showed a lowered body posture, a more negative emotional expression, after not being helped and an elevated body posture, a more positive emotional expression, after being helped. Seeing their peer (less deservedly) not receive help, and to a lesser extent being observed, blunted children's otherwise positive emotions in response to receiving help. These results are discussed in the broader theoretical context of how children's emotions sometimes reflect their commitment to cooperative relationships with peers.

中文翻译：

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被观察如何影响学龄前儿童在（较少）值得帮助后的情绪

孩子们有时会在看到别人得到帮助时表现出积极的情绪，但人们对这种情绪表达是否具有战略价值仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们调查了看到同伴是否得到应得的帮助对儿童情绪的影响，这些情绪是在同伴在场与否的情况下进行评估的。为了测量儿童的情绪表达，我们使用了运动深度传感器成像相机，记录了儿童的身体姿势。五岁儿童（N = 122) 从事的任务比他们的同伴产生了更大的回报，使同伴更需要帮助。一个成年人——他不知道不同程度的需要——然后要么帮助需要帮助较少的孩子（不值得的结果），要么帮助有需要的同伴（值得的结果）。总体而言，两个孩子在没有得到帮助后表现出较低的身体姿势，更消极的情绪表达，而在得到帮助后，身体姿势升高，更积极的情绪表达。看到他们的同龄人（不太应得的）没有得到帮助，并且在较小程度上被观察到，削弱了孩子在接受帮助时原本积极的情绪。在更广泛的理论背景下讨论了这些结果，即儿童如何