The image of happiness among children with different levels of creativity

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1 Available online at ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 233 ( 2016 ) Annual International Scientific Conference Early Childhood Care and Education, ECCE 2016, May 2016, Moscow, Russia The image of happiness among children with different levels of creativity Natalia V. Vinichuk a *, Maria V. Dolgova a a Far Eastern Federal University, Sukhanova st 8, Vladivostok, , Russia Abstract This article investigates the image of happiness among children with different levels of creativity. The results of the investigation led us to clarify the differences in the attitude to happiness expressed in pictures drawn by senior preschool children. Children with a high level of creativity interpret happiness as an emotional phenomenon. Their image of happiness is built up with social interaction and a focus on other people. Children with a low level of creativity associate happiness with material need satisfaction. Their image of happiness is impersonal, concrete, and it is not focused on other people The Authors. The Authors. Published Published by Elsevier by Elsevier Ltd. This Ltd. is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( Peer-review Peer-review under under responsibility responsibility of the organizing of the organizing committee committee of ECCE of ECCE Keywords: positive psychology, image of happiness among children,creativity. * Vinichuk N.V. Tel.: address: vinichuk-natalya@mail.ru The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ECCE doi: /j.sbspro

2 482 Natalia V. Vinichuk and Maria V. Dolgova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 233 ( 2016 ) Introduction Currently psychology provides an insight into the new problem related to the investigation of happiness and subjective well-being. This trend has been actively developing in psychology since the 1990s and is based on the works by V. Frankl, R. May, A. Maslow, C. Rogers, and other well-known authors. The scientific interest is centered on studying the character strengths, satisfaction with life, happiness, meaningful life, optimism, subjective well-being. Most contemporary works in positive psychology concern the subjective well-being of adults, e.g. E. Diener [1], J. Brebner et al. [2], K. DeNeve et al. [3], M. Argyle [4], Z. Mansori Z. [5] and other authors. However, there are not many scientists who study the special characteristics of the image of happiness among children. In this connection, the works by L. Chaplin [6], M. Holder et al. [7] deserve special attention. N. Park et al. [8] explain this research gap by objective reasons, such as the relative novelty of this area and the complexity of application of the questionnaire techniques to children. In Russia, the number of works devoted to this problem is neither big, e.g. U. Kurtanova [9], I. Korepanova [10] and some other authors. There is no doubt that the experience of happiness or unhappiness gained in childhood affects one s personal well-being in adulthood. Therefore, it is important to study factors, determining the image of happiness in children. We consider that the image of happiness relates to early perceptions that become updated as a child grows up. That is why it is essential to investigate special features of happiness in children to see how they correlate with various personality traits. The results of the investigations carried out by Russian scientists, e.g. U. Gippenreiter [11], S. Yakobson et al. [12], L. Obukhova et al. [13] have shown that the age of five years is of great importance for children s consciousness. At this very age, the attitude towards one s own personality traits and the awareness of these traits begin to play a key role in a child s consciousness. Well-developed creative thinking helps a child explore the world of objects, experience the value attitude to the world. Pre-school childhood represents a sensitive period in the formation of creative powers and abilities in a child (D. Bogoyavlenskaya [14], E. Lutova [15], A. Matyushkin et al. [16]). The investigation carried out by I. Kyshtymova [17] has shown correlations between creativity and personality traits, particularly, in the emotional sphere. At the present stage there are investigations that reveal correlations between creativity and the image of happiness among adults (S. Da Costa [18], N. Soleimani [19]). The above correlations have not been studied among children yet. Our general hypothesis is that there are some distinctive characteristics of the image of happiness among children with different levels of creativity. 2. Method The investigation was carried out in August February The sample group included 67 children at the age of 5-6 years. It was conducted at kindergartens in different parts of Vladivostok, Primorskiy Krai, Russia. We used the following techniques: the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), the interview method adapted by M. Egorova and her research team [20], project-oriented pictures Happiness and Unhappiness. To get an image fully investigated we added three more questions to the interview: 1) what do you think happiness is? 2) When do you feel happy? 3) How do you let other people know that you are happy? To achieve the purpose of the investigation all the children were divided into two groups: with high and low levels of creativity respectively. The results of children with an average TTCT score were not analyzed, since we are interested in extreme values of creativity. As a result, there were two groups of children: the 1st group included children with a high level of creativity (26 children), the 2nd group included children with a low level

3 Natalia V. Vinichuk and Maria V. Dolgova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 233 ( 2016 ) of creativity (29 children). In the group with a high level of creativity the index of creativity scores 65.5 points while in the group with a low level it scores 30.6 points. The children s answers were grouped using the classification proposed by N. Zyryanova [21]. The analysis of pictures rests on the classification by G. Reed [22]. The results of the investigation were processed by utilizing. 3. Results and discussion The children s answers were classified according to three baselines: the subject of happiness, happiness focus, and happiness abstractiveness or concreteness. This is the way each statement of the child was analyzed three times. The subject of happiness baseline diverges into four sub baselines. i.e. four categories. The first one happiness in material gains - is represented by statements emphasizing children s need for presents, sweets, etc. The second category - naturalistic happiness embraces statements about nature and the environment. Statements on experiencing particular emotions fit into the third category (e.g. Happiness is a good mood ). The forth category social comprises relationships with close friends or relatives, and with society (e.g. Happiness means having lots of friends ). The happiness focus baseline shows vectors of children s statements. In other words, whether happiness is directed toward the child himself or herself (e.g. Happiness is when I am given presents ), toward other people (e.g. my mom thinks she is happy when I am with her), or statements about happiness are impersonal (e.g. Happiness is joy ). The abstractiveness-concreteness baseline indicates the degree of abstract and concrete ideas about happiness. If children described happiness by illustrating it with situations from their own life or that of their close friends or relatives (e.g. Happiness is visiting my sisters and playing with them ), their statements were regarded as concrete. If children described happiness using abstract concepts (e.g. Happiness is love ), their statements were regarded as abstract. The results are set out in Table 1. Thus, the preschoolers responded differently to the question "Are other children happy? Children with a high level of creativity (Group 1) believe that other children are happy (80%), while 20% of them think that other children are unhappy. Children with a low level of creativity (Group 2) believe that other children are happy (75%), while 25% of them think that other children are unhappy. Summarizing the information, we concluded that, firstly, the children of this age are unable to estimate confidently whether other children are happy or not. Secondly, they assume that there should be a number of conditions to be happy, and not all children are bound to be happy. Table 1. Attitude to happiness among children with different levels of creativity Baselines for analysis Category Frequency (%) Group 1 Frequency (%) Group 2 Statistical deduction 1.Subject of happiness happiness in material gains 0 20 emp (2,93)> cr (2,31) differences where 0.01 naturalistic happiness 0 5 emp (0,95)< cr (1,64) no differences emotional happiness emp (2,95)> cr (2,31) differences where 0.01 social happiness emp (0.66)< cr (1.64) no differences 2. Happiness focus directed at the child no differences no differences directed at other people emp (0,99)< cr (1.64) no differences at none (impersonal) emp (1.49)< cr (1.64) no differences

4 484 Natalia V. Vinichuk and Maria V. Dolgova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 233 ( 2016 ) abstractiveness - concreteness abstractiveness emp (0.69)< cr (1.64) concreteness emp (0.69)< cr (1.64) where p 0.05 no differences no differences Analysis by Fisher s exact test revealed that, according to the criteria happiness in material gains and emotional happiness, there are differences between children with different levels of creativity. According to other criteria, there are no considerable differences between the two groups of children. However, there is inequality in spreading the criteria of happiness. Among children with a high level of creativity, the image of happiness is represented by the following categories: social happiness, focus on other people, abstractiveness. Among children with a low level of creativity, the image of happiness is mostly represented by the categories of naturalistic happiness, impersonal happiness (directed at no one), and concreteness. All the pictures drawn by the children were classified as emphatic, haptic, rhythmic, structured, organic, listing, ornamental, and imaginary. The children in Group 1 drew emphatic pictures 30%, rhythmic pictures - 20%, structured pictures -20%, haptic pictures - 15%, organic pictures 0.5%, and listing pictures 0.5%. They did not draw imaginary or ornamental pictures. The children in Group 2 drew emphatic pictures 40%, haptic pictures - 10%, rhythmic pictures - 15%, structured pictures -10%, organic pictures 1%, listing pictures - 1%, and ornamental pictures 0.5%. The children in this group did not draw imaginary pictures. Thus, basing on the correlations between the psychological types by C. Jung and forms of their artistic expression by H. Read [22] it should be noted that there are more children with introverted feeling and introverted sensing in Group 1 than in Group 2. To sum it up, the analysis of the children s pictures serves to provide a conclusion that creativity among children of the senior preschool age is more related to affection than cognition. It is proved by the investigated peculiarities of the interpretation of happiness as an emotional phenomenon by children with a high level of creativity. 4. Conclusion In this study, we investigated the image of happiness among children with different levels of creativity. The results of the study indicate that the image of happiness among children with different levels of creativity is related with different categories. Children with a high level of creativity interpret happiness as an emotional phenomenon. Their image of happiness is characterized in terms of social interaction and a focus on other people. Children with a low level of creativity correlate happiness with the satisfaction of their material needs. Their image of happiness is less associated with other people, it is impersonal and concrete. Thus, the hypothesis derived from the idea that that there are some distinctive characteristics of the image of happiness among children with different levels of creativity is true. Further investigations in this area suggest expansion of a sample group of children in order to obtain more accurate information. It is also possible for future researchers to focus on finding additional methods that promise to clarify other specific characteristics of the image of happiness in preschool age children. It is also possible to concentrate upon early life experience coloring the image of happiness. References [1] Diener E. Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin 1984; 95 (3): pp [2] Brebner J. U., Donaldson J., Kirby N., Ward L. Relationships between happiness and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 1995; V.19, Iss.2: pp

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