What do I want to feel? Emotion goals in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood

Beliefs about emotion utility can influence context‐sensitive emotion goals (i.e., desired emotional responses). Although key for emotion regulation, emotion goals have been overlooked in children and adolescents. In 2018–2019 results of Studies 1 and 2 showed that children (N = 192, M (age) = 8.65, 47% girls, 96% White) were less motivated by and found anger less useful in confrontation than adolescents (N = 192, M (age) = 12.96, 50% girls, 93% White) and adults (N = 195, M (age) = 29.82, 51% women, 96% White). The link between emotion goals and beliefs about emotion utility was weaker in children. In 2021, Study 3 (N = 60, 8‐year‐olds, 47% girls, 90% White) ruled out expectations as a possible explanation for the previous findings. Context‐sensitive utility of emotions may be acquired during development.