In their study on empathy Sach et al. (2019) offer one of the few examples of how children map their feelings in their bodies. Herein they offer heat maps (see image below) of where children aged 8-11 identified where they felt a physical response to scenes they were shown from film on a provided body-map (Sach et al., 2019). Because this study focused on empathy the children also identified where they believed the character in the film scene to be embodying emotions, the below diagram shows both maps. As reported by Sach et al. (2019), the participants associated happy and fearful experiences of the characters with “widespread activity throughout the body, but particularly in the head and chest” while “sadness was associated with deactivation in the extremities” (p. 1649). Sach et al. (2019) found significant overlap between the children’s reports of how they felt and how they imagined the characters felt indicating empathy and linking how they imagined the characters felt to how they felt. From the provided map we can see that that happiness is attributed to sensations primarily in the head, though the sensations are present throughout the body. Sadness sensations are located primarily in the head and chest, specifically around the heart area. Fear responses were consistently reported as being located in the head, though there was an empathic understanding of a full-body fear response in others. 

 

The body map locales of head and chest are also mentioned by Zhou et al. (2022) who expand the map to include the stomach. Zhou et al. (2022) highlight cultural differences in emotional interoception, positing that cultural foundations like language and philosophy influence how one experiences the feelings (see our page on Empathy for more). In brief, Zhou et al. (2022) found that cultures primarily conceptualizing their felt senses in the abdominal region include those of Southern Asia, Polynesia, and other disparate cultures including Basque. Cultures with their primary localization around the chest area include China, Korea, and Japan. Finally, Greek-based West Asian cultures, European, and North African cultures tend to exhibit “cerebrocentrism” defined as head or brain centralization (Zhou et al., 2022, p. 2). We chose to use these three (head, chest, and stomach) localized areas as the starting points for children to begin developing their interoception of emotions while understanding that research on children’s embodied emotions is still relatively new. As new research becomes available, we plan to update this site.

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As noted by Bartos (2013) children tend to be more somatically engaged than adults who tend to be more intellectual. Given this, it reasons that children have the ability to attune to their felt senses if provided the opportunity and language. Before we are able to speak, we are able to feel; as such our bodies can offer a rich experience and highly tuned feedback. Often the focus for young children’s education is intellectually based: how to read and write, count, and other foundational skills priming for scholastic success. Less attention is given to helping kids learn how to identify and express their emotions, and even less toward helping them understand how what they feel in their bodies can connect to their emotions. Herein, we aim to help kids engage in a bottom-up approach to understanding the connection between their bodies, emotions, and thoughts while also providing caregivers resources to aid in their work.
 

While addressing the paramount task of facilitating children’s emotions, clinicians need to understand multicultural components and competencies. Möller et al. (2002) maintain that ”Children growing up in different cultures experience culture-specific emotion socialization practices”. This process also extends to emotion recognition and expression (Leppänen, J. M., & Hietanen, J. K., 2001). For example, children from Germany or Russia are more sensitive to particular emotions such as anger and fear. Females can recognize disgust more accurately , especially if anxiety is present (Lee et al., 2014, p. 64). Other aspects of multiculturalism such as gender may not have significant differences yet certain emotions can be recognized and labeled by children faster or more accurately (Shlomo et al., 2015, p. 1).