Self-other differences in children's perceptions about the causes of important events

Three studies examined differences between children's (ages 8-15) beliefs about the effectiveness of multiple internal and external causes for producing outcomes in their own lives versus in those of their peers. Differences specific to the school domain were found: Starting at age 11 or 12, children perceived internal causes as more important for others than for themselves; and only beliefs about the self related to perceived control. More strikingly, a sample of gifted children, who presumably receive social feedback that they are different from their peers, reported that (a) they exerted more control and possessed more ability than their peers and (b) other children knew less about the causes of school performance and had to rely more on effort and powerful others; only beliefs about the self correlated to cognitive performance. These results suggest that self-other differences are produced by both developmental change and environmental opportunities.     

Individual and Contextual Factors Associated With School Connectedness in the Context of Counseling in Schools

School connectedness refers to students' beliefs that their peers and adults at school care about their learning and themselves as individuals. School connectedness has been widely documented as a significant predictor for positive student outcomes, yet little is known about factors associated with it as an outcome variable. Guided by the advocating student-within-environment framework situated with the social development model, this study explored individual and contextual factors associated with school connectedness among 1,201 students in Grades 4 to 8. Gender, ethnicity, grade level, and social skills were found to be significant individual factors, whereas school support for learning and acceptance of diversity were significant contextual factors. Together, the individual and contextual factors explained 47% of the variance in school connectedness. Our findings also revealed grade-related variability concerning associations between the factors and school connectedness. These findings provide further insights into fostering connectedness in the context of counseling in schools with consideration to students' developmental needs.     

Life values of Finnish adolescents and their beliefs about the values of peers and adults

In the context of a longitudinal developmental study, 182 girls and boys (90 from Helsinki, 92 from North Karelia) were asked, at the ages of 15 and 18, about their life values and their beliefs about the values of their peers and of adults. The pattern of their own values, which were mainly concerned with human relations, self-actualization, and economic matters (at 15) or health (at 18), differed from those they believed to be characteristic of their peers and, especially, of adults. At 15, peers were often seen to value social success and to be comparatively tough; adults were considered to be oriented towards economic values. The differences between own values and beliefs about the values of others are discussed with reference to the pattern of communication between adolescents and their peers and adults; experienced expectations of peer groups; and adolescents' motivation to grow up into an adult world the (judged) values of which they only partly share.     

The influence of sexually explicit Internet material and peers on stereotypical beliefs about women's sexual roles: similarities and differences between adolescents and adults

Previous research on the influence of sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) on adolescents' stereotypical beliefs about women's sexual roles has three shortcomings. First, the role of peers has been neglected; second, stereotypical beliefs have rarely been studied as causing the use of SEIM and the selection of specific peers; and third, it is unclear whether adolescents are more vulnerable to the effects of SEIM than adults. We used data from two nationally representative two-wave panel surveys among 1,445 Dutch adolescents and 833 Dutch adults, focusing on the stereotypical belief that women engage in token resistance to sex (i.e., the notion that women say "no" when they actually intend to have sex). Structural equation modeling showed that peers who supported traditional gender roles elicited, both among adolescents and adults, stronger beliefs that women use token resistance to sex. Further, the belief that women engage in token resistance predicted adolescents' and adults' selection of gender-role traditional peers, but it did not predict adolescents' and adults' use of SEIM. Finally, adults, but not adolescents, were susceptible to the impact of SEIM on beliefs that women engage in token resistance to sex.     

Intuitions about situational correction in self and others

People's attributional phenomenology is likely to be characterized by effortful situational correction. Drawing on this phenomenology and on people's desire to view themselves more favorably than others, the authors hypothesized that people expect others to engage in less situational correction than themselves and to make more extreme dispositional attributions for constrained actors' behavior. In 2 studies, people expected their peers to make more extreme dispositional inferences than they did themselves for a situationally constrained actor's behavior. People's expectation that they engage in more situational correction than their peers was diminished among Japanese participants, who have less desire to view themselves as superior to their peers (Study 3), and among participants who were led to view dispositional attributions more favorably than situational attributions (Study 4).     

When Trust Fails: The Relation Between Children’s Trust Beliefs in Peers and their Peer Interactions in a Natural Setting

One hundred and forty-nine 8–11 year-old children (86 males; M?=?9 years - 4 months and SD?=?7 months) from the UK were administered the Trust Beliefs in Peers scale and were observed in the playground over one school year. Quadratic relations were found between trust beliefs in peers and peer interaction, which varied by gender. Compared to girls with the middle range of trust beliefs, girls with very low beliefs and those with very high beliefs (a) were less accepted/more rejected by the peer group (i.e., lower group interaction, and greater negatively received bids), (b) showed greater indirect aggression (engaged in and received), (c) showed greater non-engagement (i.e., being alone), and (d) showed greater concomitant distress. Compared to children with the middle range of trust beliefs, children with those extreme trust beliefs in peers demonstrated greater direct aggression (engaged in and received) and showed passive behavior (for boys only). The findings supported the conclusion that children, primarily girls, who trust peers too little and those who trust too much are at risk for psychosocial maladjustment.     

Influence of children's emotional states on the recognition of emotion in peers and social motives to change another's emotional state

This experiment addressed the question of whether children's own emotional states influence their accuracy in recognizing emotional states in peers and any motives they may have to intervene in order to change their peers' emotional states. Happiness, sadness, anger, or a neutral state were induced in preschool children, who then viewed slides of other 4-year-old children who were actually experiencing each of those states. Children's own emotional states influenced only their perception of sadness in peers. Sad emotional states promoted systematic inaccuracies in the perception of sadness, causing children to mislabel sadness in peers as anger. Children had high base rates for using the label “happy,” and this significantly enhanced their accuracy in recognizing that state. Low base rates for labeling others as in a neutral state reduced accuracy in recognizing neutrality. Children were generally motivated to change sad, angry, and neutral states in peers, and they were most motivated to change a peer's state if they were to be the agent of such change. The results are discussed in terms of the limited role of children's own emotional states in their recognition of emotion in others or motives to intervene and in terms of factors influencing the perception of emotion, such as base rate preferences for labeling others as experiencing, or not experiencing, particular emotional states.     

Palatability of food as a factor influencing obese and normal-weight children''s eating habits

The type and amount of food leftover from school lunches by normal-weight and obese elementary school children was examined for its similarity to the pattern reported by Krassner et al. (1979) in a study of normal-weight and obese college students. In this study 102 observations of children between the ages of 9–11, were taken over eight lunch periods in their school cafeteria. Overall, the normal-weight children left only slightly more food uneaten than did the obese children. However, when food palatability was examined, it was found that normal-weight children left over twice as much palatable food as did obese children. Children did not differ on the amount of unpalatable food left uneaten.

These results suggest that Krassner et al.'s observation that obese adults leave less food on their plates may be extended to children and, further, that like obese adults, obese children may be more influenced by the palatability of food than their normal-weight peers.     

The Art of Living by Dispositionally Happy People

The cognitive and motivational processes by which happy people are able to artfully sustain their happiness are examined within a subjectivist construal approach. Individuals who perceive themselves as happy respond to ordinary experiences differently than their less happy peers. Research from our laboratory has revealed these differences in a variety of contexts, including people's responses to decisions, their reactions to social comparisons, and their interpretations of life events. Our research has also shown that, after experiencing failure, happy people tend not to engage in negative self-reflection and are able to perform subsequent tasks without dwelling. Although happy people experience negative moods and negative life events similar to those of less happy people, they evaluate these events less negatively and respond to them in more positive, affirming ways. These group differences suggest a number of possible ways to sustainably enhance happiness, and current experimental interventions designed to test the effectiveness of several intentional happiness-increasing strategies are discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Defending victims: What does it take to intervene in bullying and how is it rewarded by peers?

Defending is considered important in reducing bullying and victimization in schools. Yet, the prevalence of defending is quite low and there is little insight into aspects that explain why students intervene in bullying situations. The current study used a longitudinal design to simultaneously examine the antecedents and status outcomes of defending behavior. It was expected that affective and social-cognitive factors explain involvement in defending. Moreover, it was proposed that defending would be rewarded with popularity among peers, but only for defenders who were not victimized themselves. Unconflated multilevel path models were used and data came from students in grades 4–6 of Finnish elementary schools (N = 4209 students from 210 classrooms and 38 schools; M_age 11.25; 50% boys). Affective empathy and students' self-efficacy beliefs were predictive of defending behavior over time, whereas cognitive empathy was not. Additionally, defenders increased their popularity among their peers. No substantial differences between victims and non-victims were found. This pattern of results suggests that, irrespective of victim status, specific children are more likely to defend in bullying situations and are rewarded with increased popularity.     

The child's social network: Sex differences from three to six years

The social networks of 85 young children as they make the transition from a home-centered to a more school-centered existence is examined using longitudinal data. When the children were three and six years of age, their mothers completed a questionnaire of network structure; at six years both the child and mother independently reported the friends that the child would invite to a birthday party. The effects of age and sex of child on the number and daily contact with peers, adults, kin, nonkin, males, and females were found. As expected, as children reached formal school age they had increased contact with peers and decreased contact with kin, while adult contact remained fairly consistent over the three- to six-year age period. Sex differences were also apparent. As predicted, children as early as 3 years, and to an even greater extent at six years, showed more same-sex compared to opposite-sex peer contact. At six years both children and mothers reported more same- as compared to opposite-sex friends who would be invited by the child to a birthday party. The findings suggest how children's social networks, as shaped by their parents and themselves, provide a framework within which experience and interaction is structured to fit cultural norms.     

The relationship between self‐perception of physical attractiveness and sexual bullying in early adolescence

The relationship between self‐perception of physical attractiveness and four measures of sexual bullying behavior (victimization, perpetration, having friends who sexually bully, and observation of sexual bullying among peers at school) was examined in a sample of 396 middle school age students. Students who perceived themselves to be more physically attractive than their peers reported sexually bullying others more, being sexually bullied by others more, observing more sexual bullying, and having more friends who sexually bully others than did students who perceived themselves as average looking. In addition, males who perceived themselves to be less physically attractive than their peers reported being victimized more and reported observing more sexual bullying in the school environment. These findings highlight the importance of physical attractiveness in the early initiation of sexual harassment. Implications for future research and interventions with early adolescents are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 36:271–281, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Children’s Evaluation and Categorization of Transgender Children

Despite extant evidence of negative peer treatment of transgender adolescents and adults, little is known about how young children perceive transgender peers, particularly those who have socially transitioned or are living in line with their gender rather than sex at birth. Whereas children have been shown to be averse to gender nonconformity in peers, because many transgender children appear and behave in ways consistent with their expressed gender (but not their sex at birth), it is unclear how children evaluate these identities. In 2 studies, we investigated 5- to 10-year-old children’s (N_total = 113) preferences for transgender versus gender-“typical” peers who either shared their gender identity or did not. We also examined whether children categorized transgender peers by their sex or expressed gender, as it might inform their evaluations. Children preferred cisgender peers over transgender peers; however, they also liked peers of their own gender rather than the other gender (e.g., female participants preferred girls over boys), demonstrating that the oft-documented own-gender bias plays an important role even when children are reasoning about transgender peers. Children did not reliably categorize transgender peers by sex or gender; yet those who categorized transgender peers by their sex showed greater dislike of transgender peers. The current studies are the first to investigate cisgender children’s attitudes toward transgender children and suggest that perceptions of gender categorization and conformity play a role in children’s evaluations of transgender peers.     

When the alternative would have been better: counterfactual reasoning and the emergence of regret

Counterfactual reasoning about how events could have turned out better is associated with the feeling of regret. However, developmental studies show a discrepancy between the onset of counterfactual reasoning (at 3 years) and the feeling of regret (at 6 years). In four experiments we explored possible reasons. Experiment 1 (3- to 6-year-old children) and Experiment 2 (adult control) show that even when regret is assessed more directly than in previous studies (e.g., Amsel & Smalley, 2000) only adults but not children regret their decision. Experiment 3 (3- to 14-year-old children) suggests that double-questioning--asking children how happy they are with what they got before and after they had seen what they could have got--creates false positive indications of regret in the youngest children and that--when controlling for false positives--regret is not evident before 9 years. However, children before this age make a difference between attractive (three candies) and less attractive (one candy) items (Experiment 4; 6- to 8-year-old children). Taken together, this suggests that before 9 years of age children base their judgements solely on what they got without taking into account what they could have got.     

Children's Moral Emotion Attribution in the Happy Victimizer Task: The Role of Response Format

Previous research in the happy victimizer tradition indicated that preschool and early elementary school children attribute positive emotions to the violator of a moral norm, whereas older children attribute negative (moral) emotions. Cognitive and motivational processes have been suggested to underlie this developmental shift. The current research investigated whether making the happy victimizer task less cognitively demanding by providing children with alternative response formats would increase their attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation. In Study 1, 93 British children aged 4–7 years old responded to the happy victimizer questions either in a normal condition (where they spontaneously pointed with a finger), a wait condition (where they had to wait before giving their answers), or an arrow condition (where they had to point with a paper arrow). In Study 2, 40 Spanish children aged 4 years old responded to the happy victimizer task either in a normal or a wait condition. In both studies, participants' attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation was significantly higher in the conditions with alternative response formats (wait, arrow) than in the normal condition. The role of cognitive abilities for emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task is discussed.     

Social anxiety in children: social skills deficit, or cognitive distortion?

BACKGROUND: Treatments for childhood social anxiety have traditionally employed social skills training, based on the assumption that effected children have social skills deficits. Recent conceptualisations of social anxiety in adults have questioned this assumption, and have suggested that socially anxious individuals merely believe that they have skill deficits. A recent study using children provided preliminary confirmation of this for younger populations, and also suggested that beliefs about appearing nervous are of particular importance. METHODS: Two groups of children, aged 10-11 years (analogue high social anxiety/low social anxiety), participated in a conversation with an unfamiliar adult. They then rated their performance in a number of domains, after which independent observers also rated their performances. RESULTS: Independent observers were unable to distinguish between the low and high social anxiety groups. However, high socially anxious children rated themselves as appearing significantly less skilled than their low socially anxious counterparts. Notably, high socially anxious children rated themselves particularly poorly in terms of how nervous they looked. CONCLUSIONS: Socially anxious children may not necessarily display social skill deficits. However, they may believe that they appear nervous during social encounters. Clinicians should consider using CBT techniques to address these concerns, rather than relying on social skill remediation.     

Children's peer selection: experimental examination of the role of self-perceptions

Although previous studies have examined characteristics of children selected as friends, little research has examined the role played by characteristics of the selecting child. In 2 experimental studies that examined the role of self-perceptions in peer selection, participants (91 seventh graders in Study 1 and 83 third graders in Study 2) viewed various evaluations of themselves. Participants either believed evaluations were written by unfamiliar peers (Study 1) or were asked to imagine that the views of puppets were views of unfamiliar peers (Study 2). Participants were asked to select the peers they wished to meet and interact with. When evaluations were related to specific competence domains, 7th graders preferred positive peers to negative peers, whereas 3rd graders selected peers who viewed them as they viewed themselves. When evaluations were related to global self-worth, children's selections were unrelated to views of their own global worth. Selection of a globally negative peer was associated with attachment-insecurity/maternal-rejection and depressive symptoms.     

How much does physical appearance say about the psychological adjustment of competent and dysfunctional children?

Presents a study in which three sets of photographs of socially competent, aggressive, and anxious preschoolers were rated by college students (n = 150 raters per set), blind to the children's group membership. This was done to assess the extent to which adults are able to make valid and reliable evaluations of children's psychological adjustment on the basis of physical appearance alone. Sets 1 and 2 were photographs of different children taken under the same conditions and providing both facial and nonfacial cues. Sets 2 and 3 were of the same children taken under conditions that varied as to the amount of nonfacial cues they provided. Results showed that (a) socially competent children were judged to be better adjusted than their dysfunctional peers (i.e., more competent, less aggressive, less anxious, and less likely to have emotional or behavioral problems); (b) within the dysfunctional group, aggressive and anxious children were distinguished in ways that correspond closely to what is known about them from behavioral and clinical research; (c) irrespective of group membership, girls and boys were generally distinguished in ways that reflect normative beliefs about gender differences from social and developmental research; (d) group differences in ratings of psychological adjustment were generally comparable across photograph sets and could not be accounted for by differences in the children's perceived physical attractiveness; and (e) raters reported that they relied mainly on the children's expression, eyes, and posture to make their judgments of adjustment. These results replicate and extend earlier findings based on 1 of the 3 photograph sets (Serketich & Dumas, 1997). They suggest that when first impressions matter, competent children are at an advantage and their dysfunctional peers at a disadvantage even before their actual behavior comes to confirm or to invalidate these impressions. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Sad and happy emotion discrimination in music by children with cochlear implants

Children using cochlear implants (CIs) develop speech perception but have difficulty perceiving complex acoustic signals. Mode and tempo are the two components used to recognize emotion in music. Based on CI limitations, we hypothesized children using CIs would have impaired perception of mode cues relative to their normal hearing peers and would rely more heavily on tempo cues to distinguish happy from sad music. Study participants were children with 13 right CIs and 3 left CIs (M = 12.7, SD = 2.6 years) and 16 normal hearing peers. Participants judged 96 brief piano excerpts from the classical genre as happy or sad in a forced-choice task. Music was randomly presented with alterations of transposed mode, tempo, or both. When music was presented in original form, children using CIs discriminated between happy and sad music with accuracy well above chance levels (87.5%) but significantly below those with normal hearing (98%). The CI group primarily used tempo cues, whereas normal hearing children relied more on mode cues. Transposing both mode and tempo cues in the same musical excerpt obliterated cues to emotion for both groups. Children using CIs showed significantly slower response times across all conditions. Children using CIs use tempo cues to discriminate happy versus sad music reflecting a very different hearing strategy than their normal hearing peers. Slower reaction times by children using CIs indicate that they found the task more difficult and support the possibility that they require different strategies to process emotion in music than normal.     

Young children share the spoils after collaboration

Egalitarian behavior is considered to be a species-typical component of human cooperation. Human adults tend to share resources equally, even if they have the opportunity to keep a larger portion for themselves. Recent experiments have suggested that this tendency emerges fairly late in human ontogeny, not before 6 or 7 years of age. Here we show that 3-year-old children share mostly equally with a peer after they have worked together actively to obtain rewards in a collaboration task, even when those rewards could easily be monopolized. These findings contrast with previous findings from a similar experiment with chimpanzees, who tended to monopolize resources whenever they could. The potentially species-unique tendency of humans to share equally emerges early in ontogeny, perhaps originating in collaborative interactions among peers.