Why do children cry when they are told off?

I was thinking about this question today as I found myself 'told off'. I remember walking in the street the other week and a child (about 4) was walking with her dad. She had stopped to pick something up from the street out of curiosity, to be scolded by her dad for doing so. I think this is very similar to 'getting angry'. Basically, she was in the flow of establishing an identity for herself as an 'exploring person' in a strange and interesting world (which no doubt she was busy constructing for herself). Dad weighed-in and in disrupting what she was doing also shattered her identity as she suddenly realised she could not be the person she thought she was. He was insisting she became someone different, but she didn't know who this was. All of the regulating mechanisms of identity, dreams, management and habit had to be reconfigured at short notice; but there was little guide as to how to reconfigure them; all the battles between dreams and reality had to be fought once again. No wonder she cried!
Here is me establishing my identity as a tourist in Greece and writing papers about reflection and activity design...! Until someone tells me off!