Question

"Kirsty and her twin brother Tom were helping their mom by drying the dishes. Kirsty was very angry because she wanted to go to the park so she threw a dish down to the ground and broke it. Tom tripped on the broken pieces and he fell against the counter and broke six more dishes. Who did the worst thing? Kirsty or Tom?"

Ali answers: "Tom did the worst thing. He broke six dishes!"

Deyon answers: "Kirsty did the worst thing. She broke the dish on purpose!"

Your job is to decide how old Ali and Deyon are (both are younger than 10), and answer these questions.

1. What role did appraisal play in each answer?

2. Which answer belongs to the subordinate level of Fischer, Shaver, & Carnochan's theory?

Answer 1

Ali is below 5 or 6, and Deyon is above it, but below 10.

1. Ali is not able to appraise or evaluate the situation well, whereas Deyon is able to fully understand it and correctly judge the situation.

2. Deyon's answer belongs to the subordinate level of Fischer, Shaver and Carnochan's theory. Subordinate level refers to the complex emotions.