In general the conclusions from the Affective Tigger project are promising. The toy itself qualifies as an emotionally reactive instrument. At the very least, the Affective Tigger captures the interest of the children of the intended age, and at most, might be able to augment their emotional development. To summarize, the three year olds in general don't get it. They don't have the emotional restraint, and are only just beginning to develop the sense of `other' necessary to understand this toy. The four year olds in my observation, are learning the most from the Affective Tigger. As such, they spend their time mostly hurting him. The five year olds, as a group, understood the emotional responses of the Affective Tigger. They figured out what he does, and why, faster than I could have demonstrated it to them.
Could the Affective Tigger assist the development of emotional intelligence within the child? It is not clear. What is apparent is that he provides the child with a safe play space to explore and experiment with feelings and behavior. The Affective Tigger lets the child make social mistakes, yell too loudly or play too roughly, without the permanence or severity of a lost friend or upset parent. There are no instructions, there is no right or wrong way to play with the Affective Tigger, there are only actions and consequences.