Relationally and physically aggressive children's intent attributions and feelings of distress for relational and instrumental peer provocations

Numerous studies have demonstrated that physically aggressive children exhibit hostile attributional biases in response to instrumental peer provocations, a social information-processing pattern that has been recognized as a contributor to peer-directed aggression. The present studies (N = 127 and N = 535) were designed to extend past research by evaluating the intent attributions and feelings of emotional distress of relationally and physically aggressive children in response to instrumental and relational provocation contexts. Results indicated that physically aggressive children exhibited hostile attributional biases and reported relatively greater distress for instrumental provocation situations, whereas relationally aggressive children exhibited hostile attributional biases and reported relatively greater distress for relational provocation contexts. Implications of these findings for the understanding of factors that may contribute to relational as well as physical aggression are discussed.     

Does Parent–Child Discussion of Peer Provocations Reduce Young Children's Hostile Attributional Bias?

Two studies investigated whether parent–child discussion of peer provocations reduces young children's hostile attributional bias. Study 1 (N = 109, age 4–7)—an observational study—showed that parent–child discussion of nonhostile attributions (when reading a picture book) predicted reductions in children's hostile attributional bias from pre‐ to postdiscussion. Study 2 (N = 160, age 4–6)—an experimental study—showed that stimulating parents to discuss either nonhostile attributions or normative beliefs (vs. a control condition) reduced children's hostile attributional bias in response to hypothetical vignettes, but not in response to a staged peer provocation. These findings suggest that by framing social situations, parents may help their children perceive less hostility in their social worlds.     

Toward a Synthesis of Parental Socialization and Child Temperament in Early Development of Conscience

It is argued that, while research on conscience development has emphasized the contribution of parental socialization, the influence of children's temperament has been largely neglected. Two developmental processes that result in the formation of two respective components of conscience are proposed: (1) development of the tendency to experience affective discomfort, guilt, and anxiety associated with wrongdoing; and (2) development of behavioral control—the ability to inhibit a prohibited action, to suppress an antisocial or destructive impulse, and to perform a more prosocial/desirable behavior. Individual differences among children and qualities of parental socialization in relation to both processes are considered as they contribute to conscience development. Relevant evidence from neopsychoanalytic, attributional, social-learning, and temperament models is reviewed. New avenues of research that integrate socialization and temperament perspectives in a developmental framework are proposed. The importance of the study of early developmental periods is emphasized.     

Conflict Resolution Patterns of Preschool Children With and Without Developmental Delays in Heterogeneous Playgroups

The conflict resolution patterns of preschool-age mildly developmentally delayed children were compared to those of older and younger groups of typically developing children matched on the basis of chronological age or developmental level. Children participated in short-term heterogeneous playgroups consisting of representatives from all three developmental status groups. Naturally occurring conflicts with peers in the form of extended directive episodes were assessed in terms of their frequency, purpose, strategies, and the way conflicts were resolved. Results revealed that mildly delayed children exhibit a more negative and less adaptive interaction style, even in comparison to typically developing children similar in developmental level. Special problems were apparent when younger typically developing and mildly delayed children engaged in conflict episodes, whereas typically developing older children were able to adjust and interact appropriately irrespective of their companions' developmental status. In addition, typically developing older children elicited a pattern in which other children were less demanding and negative, but more responsive, positive, and adaptive. The implications of developmental differences between younger and older typically developing children and the unique problems in conflict situations were discussed.     

The mediating role of attribution and self-efficacy variables for treatment effects on achievement outcomes

This experiment explored the mediating functions of attributional and self-efficacy variables on achievement outcomes for skill training treatments offered in conjunction with attributional feedback. Children who were identified as learned helpless and deficient in division skills received training on division operations either through modeling strategies or self-instructional practice. Half of the sample in each treatment received attributional feedback on effort, ability, and task difficulty. All treatments were effective in raising post-test achievement but only the results from the two treatments including attributional feedback and the modeling only treatment demonstrated significant post-test superiority over the achievement of a control group. Treatment effects on the mediating variables were less substantial but path analysis demonstrated the viability of a hypothesized model which suggests that the indirect effect of skill training and attributional feedback on achievement is mediated through the attribution and self-efficacy variables. Future research on how children process attributional information needs to consider ways to measure the generalizability of alleviation of learned helplessness and increased self-efficacy on achievement outcomes.     

Conflict Resolution Patterns of Preschool Children With and Without Developmental Delays in Heterogeneous Playgroups

The conflict resolution patterns of preschool-age mildly developmentally delayed children were compared to those of older and younger groups of typically developing children matched on the basis of chronological age or developmental level. Children participated in short-term heterogeneous playgroups consisting of representatives from all three developmental status groups. Naturally occurring conflicts with peers in the form of extended directive episodes were assessed in terms of their frequency, purpose, strategies, and the way conflicts were resolved. Results revealed that mildly delayed children exhibit a more negative and less adaptive interaction style, even in comparison to typically developing children similar in developmental level. Special problems were apparent when younger typically developing and mildly delayed children engaged in conflict episodes, whereas typically developing older children were able to adjust and interact appropriately irrespective of their companions' developmental status. In addition, typically developing older children elicited a pattern in which other children were less demanding and negative, but more responsive, positive, and adaptive. The implications of developmental differences between younger and older typically developing children and the unique problems in conflict situations were discussed.     

Two-year impacts of a universal school-based social-emotional and literacy intervention: an experiment in translational developmental research

This study contributes to ongoing scholarship at the nexus of translational research, education reform, and the developmental and prevention sciences. It reports 2-year experimental impacts of a universal, integrated school-based intervention in social-emotional learning and literacy development on children's social-emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning. The study employed a school-randomized, experimental design with 1,184 children in 18 elementary schools. Children in the intervention schools showed improvements across several domains: self-reports of hostile attributional bias, aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies, and depression, and teacher reports of attention skills, and aggressive and socially competent behavior. In addition, there were effects of the intervention on children's math and reading achievement for those identified by teachers at baseline at highest behavioral risk. These findings are interpreted in light of developmental cascades theory and lend support to the value of universal, integrated interventions in the elementary school period for promoting children's social-emotional and academic skills.     

‘Is it because I’m a woman?’ Gender-based attributional ambiguity in higher education administration

This study examines gender-based attributional ambiguity among higher education administrators in the US, specifically academic deans. Attributional ambiguity involves situations in which members of underrepresented groups cannot determine whether interactions both negative and positive have occurred because of their minority status or for some unrelated yet plausible reason. A conceptual model of attributional ambiguity in higher education administration is presented highlighting the types of situations that produce this ambiguity, two variants of attributional ambiguity (i.e. cognitive and social), and the psychological and organizational consequences of such ambiguity. Reasons that attributional ambiguity is inherent to higher education administration are examined including the fluidity of gender roles, the culture of academia, and leaders’ minimization of discriminatory experiences. Implications for professional practice are also presented such as the need for curricula, trainings, mentoring, and coaching that addresses attributional ambiguity and greater publicity related to women’s underrepresentation in leadership roles in higher education.     

青少年疏离感与归因方式的关系

通过问卷调查法对54名高中生的疏离感和归因方式进行考察,探讨青少年的疏离感及归因方式的基本特点以及二者之间的关系。结果发现:(1)青少年疏离感中的社会疏离感和自然疏离感均与归因方式有显著的相关,而人际疏离感与归因方式的相关不显著;(2)男女青少年在疏离感的三个分量表以及总分上差异均不显著,但归因方式差异显著,男青少年倾向于外控,女青少年倾向于内控。     

Mediating and moderating role of attributional style in the association between victimisation and wellbeing

This study examined whether attributional style for negative events plays a mediating or moderating role in the association between victimisation by bullying and psychological distress in young adults. A total of 127 undergraduate students completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire, a newly developed Victimisation and Bullying Inventory and the Psychological Distress subscale from the Mental Health Inventory. As expected, the tendency to attribute negative events to internal, stable and global causes predicted higher psychological distress. There was also a positive association between extent of victimisation and psychological distress. Although attributional style did not mediate in this relationship, there was evidence of moderation. Individuals with more negative attributional styles showed a clear association between victimisation and psychological distress, while those with less negative styles showed no association. These results suggest that a tendency towards a negative attributional style may increase the risk of psychological distress in victims of bullying.     

Social cognition in parents: inferential and affective reactions to children of three age levels

The present research proposes and tests an attributional model of parent cognition. Derived from correspondent inference theory, the model emphasizes that parents assess children's behavior primarily by determining whether that behavior reflects children's intentions and dispositions or, instead, constraints on children's control of behavior from situational pressures or developmental limitations in knowledge and ability. In 2 studies, support was obtained for 4 predictions. First, findings show that parents' assessments of children's behavior are closely tied to the developmental level of the child. As children developed, parents thought children's behavior was increasingly caused by personality dispositions and was increasingly intentional, under the child's control, and, for misconduct, understood to be wrong. Second, parents' affective reactions to misconduct were related to their assessments of its cause and, third, became increasingly negative as children developed. Positive affect, in contrast, was unrelated to attributions for children's positive behavior. Fourth, parents' assessments of children's behavior were affected by the behavior's desirability. Parents thought children's altruism was more intentional, dispositional, and under the child's control than children's misconduct. Implications for how parents assess and react to children's behavior are discussed.     

Antecedents and outcomes of joint trajectories of mother-son conflict and warmth during middle childhood and adolescence

This study investigated the development of mother-son relationship quality from ages 5 to 15 in a sample of 265 low-income families. Nonparametric random effects modeling was utilized to uncover distinct and homogeneous developmental trajectories of conflict and warmth; antecedents and outcomes of the trajectory groups also were examined. Four conflict trajectory groups and 3 warmth trajectory groups were identified. Difficult temperament in early childhood discriminated both conflict and warmth trajectory group membership (TGM), and adult relationship quality in early childhood was related to warmth trajectories. In addition, conflict TGM differentiated youth antisocial behavior during adolescence, and warmth trajectories predicted adolescent peer relationship quality and youth moral disengagement. Implications for socialization processes are discussed.     

Transactional associations between mother–child conflict and child externalising and internalising problems

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the existing transactional associations between mother–child conflict and the child’s internalising and externalising problems. To this end, longitudinal data were used, covering ages 7–15. The sample consisted of 1,136 mothers and their children who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development longitudinal study. The current analysis employs the Autoregressive Latent Trajectory (ALT) model that enables the simultaneous investigation of (1) the developmental stability, (2) the developmental change, (3) the longitudinal inter-relations, (4) the time-specific associations and (5) the directionality of the relations among the variables under examination. It was found that mother–child conflict increased across time and externalising problems decreased from childhood to adolescence, while internalising problems showed intra-individual stability. Further, mother–daughter conflict increased at a higher rate than mother–son conflict. The cross-lagged regressions suggested that the association between conflict and externalising problems is bi-directional from age 7 to age 9. However, a child effect was found from age 9 to age 15, in that the child’s externalising problems continually influenced mother–child conflict but not the other way around. In contrast, the association between internalising problems and conflict was limited to cross-sectional and overtime associations suggesting that the association between internalising problems and conflict is mostly due to the co-variation between them.     

Social cognition in context: validating a cartoon-based attributional measure for urban girls

Standard approaches to the development of psychological measures emphasize the role of the research team in identifying constructs, generating and retaining items, and establishing psychometric soundness. Although there are a number of strengths associated with these methods, the resulting measures may not be culturally sensitive to minority cultural groups. In order to address this need, the authors partnered with African American inner-city 3rd- and 4th-grade girls (predominantly 9- and 10-year-olds) to design and validate a cartoon-based hostile attributional bias measure that is developmentally and culturally sensitive. This paper illustrates how a partnership-based research model can be used to design measurement tools sensitive to the ways in which developmental processes are influenced by an urban, low-income, ecological context.     

儿童同伴冲突解决策略发展研究的新进展

同伴冲突解决策略是儿童重要的社会技能之一,也是个体社会化发展水平的重要指标。近年来,国内外研究者对儿童同伴冲突解决策略的发展特点、机制和影响因素等方面进行了大量研究,并日益重视对同伴冲突解决策略的干预与训练。在对以往研究进行梳理的基础上,对同伴冲突解决策略的发展特点研究的三个新特点、影响因素综合化趋势及其干预课程形成趋势进行了述评,并对儿童同伴冲突解决策略这一研究领域所呈现出的一些不足和有待深入之处进行了探讨。提出未来对儿童同伴冲突解决策略的教育问题应更多地考虑儿童自身的特点,并结合教育等后天因素来发展。     

先秦逻辑学家对矛盾律及逻辑矛盾的理解

先秦时期我国逻辑学家对矛盾律及违反其要求而出现的逻辑矛盾做出了自己的理解;这种理解经历了三个阶段:即不准确的理解、对错相杂的理解和准确的理解;这表明先秦逻辑学家对矛盾律及逻辑矛盾的理解经历了由不准确到比较准确,再到准确的发展的历程。     

Children's Increased Emotional Egocentricity Compared to Adults Is Mediated by Age‐Related Differences in Conflict Processing

This study investigated the cognitive mechanisms underlying age‐related differences in emotional egocentricity bias (EEB) between children (aged 7–12 years, n = 30) and adults (aged 20–30 years, n = 30) using a novel paradigm of visuogustatory stimulation to induce pleasant and unpleasant emotions. Both children and adults showed an EBB, but that of children was larger. The EEB did not correlate with other measures of egocentricity. Crucially, the developmental differences in EEB were mediated by age‐related changes in conflict processing and not visual perspective taking, response inhibition, or processing speed. This indicates that different types of egocentricity develop independently of one another and that the increased ability to overcome EEB can be explained by age‐related improvements in conflict processing.     

中小学生学业成败归因特点及归因训练研究述评

中小学生学业成败归因是归因研究领域的一个热点问题。文章对中小学生学业成败归因的特点、归因训练进行述评，分析了目前该领域所存在的问题，提出了未来研究的思路和方向，以期为以后的研究提供借鉴。