Children's understanding of counterfactual emotions: Age differences,individual differences,and the effects of counterfactual‐information salience

The present study investigated developmental trends in the effects of the salience of counterfactual alternatives on judgments of others' counterfactual‐thinking‐based emotions. We also examined possible correlates of individual differences in the understanding of these emotions. Thirty‐four adults and 102 children, 5–8 years of age, were presented scenarios in which characters would be expected to experience regret. In one version of each scenario, the regret‐relevant counterfactual alternative was made more salient than was the case with the other version. Adults consistently judged that a character for whom a counterfactual course of events would have resulted in a better outcome would feel worse than a character for whom an alternative course of events would not have resulted in a more positive outcome. The majority of the children's judgments were not affected by the counterfactual alternatives. However, the judgments of the oldest children (the 8‐year‐olds) were significantly more adult‐like in the high‐salience than in the low‐salience condition. Although the three predictors examined in the present study (verbal ability, working memory capacity, second‐order false belief task performance) together accounted for significant variance in performance on the emotions judgment task, no single predictor alone accounted for significant unique variance in performance. The importance of different social cognitive abilities for understanding people's affective responses is discussed.     

Age differences in collaborative memory: the role of retrieval manipulations

In two experiments, we examined age differences in collaborative inhibition (reduced recall in pairs of people, relative to pooled individuals) across repeated retrieval attempts. Younger and older adults studied categorized word lists and were then given two consecutive recall tests and a recognition test. On the first recall test, the subjects were given free-report cued recall or forced-report cued recall instructions (Experiment 1) or free recall instructions (Experiment 2) and recalled the lists either alone or in collaboration with another subject of the same age group. Free-report cued recall and free recall instructions warned the subjects not to guess, whereas forcedreport cued recall instructions required them to guess. Collaborative inhibition was obtained for both younger and older adults on initial tests of free-report cued recall, forced-report cued recall, and free recall, showing that the effect generalizes across several tests for both younger and older adults. Collaborative inhibition did not persist on subsequent individual recall or recognition tests for list items. Older adults consistently falsely recalled and recognized items more than did younger adults, as had been found in previous studies. In addition, prior collaboration may exaggerate older adults’ tendency toward higher false alarms on a subsequent recognition test, but only after a free recall test. The results provide generality to the phenomenon of collaborative inhibition and can be explained by invoking concepts of strategy disruption and source monitoring.     

Age differences in forgiveness: the role of future time perspective

This study investigated whether the age trend in forgiveness is partly attributable to age differences in time perspective. Eighty-nine younger and 91 older adults were randomized into 3 experimental conditions: time-expanded, time-limited, and neutral. They responded to hypothetical offensive scenarios and rated the degree to which they would forgive the perpetrator. Results showed that older adults were more forgiving than younger adults, but regardless of age, those in the time-limited condition were more forgiving than those in the time-expanded or the neutral condition. An Age x Time perspective interaction showed that only in older adults did a time-expanded manipulation lead to lower forgiveness than the neutral condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Age differences in forgivingness: The role of transgression frequency and intensity

The present study examined age differences in the disposition to forgive others and the role of interpersonal transgression frequency and intensity. Data from a representative cross-sectional sample of Swiss adults (N = 451, age: 20–83 years) were used. Participants completed a self-report measure of forgivingness and indicated whether and how intense they have experienced different types of interpersonal transgressions during the past 12 months. Results indicate that older adults were, on average, more willing to forgive others than younger adults. Frequency and intensity of transgressions were negatively related with age. Moreover, the results show that transgression frequency and intensity explained, in part, age differences in forgivingness. Future directions concerning the meaning of age differences in forgivingness are discussed.     

Age differences in forgivingness: The role of future time perspective

The present study examined age differences in forgivingness, defined as an enduring tendency to forgive others. Building on the theory of socioemotional selectivity, the study aimed at clarifying the role of future time perspective and social proximity on age differences in forgivingness. Older (N = 132) and younger participants (N = 225) were instructed to judge their willingness to forgive as a function of social proximity and future time perspective. Controlling for self-reported future time perspective, results indicate that older adults were more willing to forgive than younger adults. Social proximity did not play a role in older adults, whereas younger adults reported greater forgivingness with respect to a friend as compared to an acquaintance. In addition, results demonstrate that the perception of future time plays an essential role in forgivingness. An age by future time perspective interaction effect was found, suggesting that the effect of limited future time perspective was smaller in older adults than in younger adults. Future directions concerning the meaning and possible implications of age differences in forgivingness are discussed.     

Age related differences in metacognitive control: role of executive functioning

To examine whether aging affects metacognitive control, elderly and young adults carried out a readiness-recall task, in which subjects monitor their own learning procedure, allowing strategy manipulation (study time and rehearsal) to be measured. Age differences were observed in metamemory control performance. Younger adults were found to be better at adjusting study time and rehearsal to the task. Moreover, to determine whether age-related differences in strategy manipulation may mediate age-related differences in memory performance, performance on the readiness-recall task was compared to performance on an experimenter-paced task. Results indicated that younger adults recalled significantly more words in the readiness-recall task than in the experimenter test. This was not the case for older adults. Furthermore, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that age-related differences in strategy manipulation mediate some age-related differences in memory performance. Our aim was also to determine whether metacognitive control is related to executive functions. Thus, all participants were administered standard neuropsychological tests used to assess executive functioning. Significant partial correlation appeared between metamemory control and executive functioning. Finally, a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that age-related decline in metamemory control may be largely the result of executive limitations associated with aging.     

Age differences in temporal discounting: the role of dispositional affect and anticipated emotions

We examined age differences in temporal discounting, the tendency to devalue delayed outcomes relative to immediate ones, with particular emphasis on the role of affective responses. A life-span sample completed an incentive-compatible temporal discounting task involving both monetary gains and losses. Covariates included demographic characteristics, cognitive functioning, personality traits, affective responses, and subjective health. Advanced age was associated with a lower tendency to discount the future, but this effect reached statistical significance only for the discounting of delayed gains. An examination of covariates suggested that age effects were associated with age differences in mental health and affective responses rather than demographic or cognitive variables.     

Age differences in the selection of mental sets: the role of inhibition, stimulus ambiguity, and response-set overlap

Switching between tasks leads to response-time (RT) costs at switch points (local switch costs) and often to RT costs at no-switch transitions that occur in the context of a task-switching block (global set-selection costs). With trial-to-trial cuing of tasks, moderate age effects were obtained for local switch costs, but large age effects were obtained for global selection costs. In Experiment 1, set-specific inhibition was found to be at least as large in old as in young adults, thus ruling out an inhibition deficit as a reason for age differences in global costs. In Experiment 2, large age differences in global costs were limited to conditions of ambiguous stimuli and full response-set overlap. This pattern of results suggests a greater reliance on set-updating processes in old than in young adults. The role of these processes is to ensure unambiguos internal control settings when ambiguity arises from stimuli and response specifications.     

Age differences in understanding precedent-setting decisions and authorities' responses to violations of deontic rules

Oral narrative skills are assumed to develop through parent-child interactive routines. One such routine is shared reading. A causal link between shared reading and narrative knowledge, however, has not been clearly established. The current research tested whether an 8-week shared reading intervention enhanced the fictional narrative skills of children entering formal education. Dialogic reading, a shared reading activity that involves elaborative questioning techniques, was used to engage children in oral interaction during reading and to emphasize elements of story knowledge. Participants were 40 English-speaking 5- and 6-year-olds who were assigned to either the dialogic reading group or an alternative treatment group. Analysis of covariance results found that the dialogic reading children’s posttest narratives were significantly better on structure and context measures than those for the alternative treatment children, but results differed for produced or retold narratives. The dialogic reading children also showed expressive vocabulary gains. Overall, this study concretely determined that aspects of fictional narrative construction knowledge can be learned from interactive book reading.     

Age differences in working memory updating: The role of interference,focus switching and substituting information

Working memory updating (WMU) tasks require different elements in working memory (WM) to be maintained simultaneously, accessing one of these elements, and substituting its content. This study examined possible developmental changes from childhood to adulthood both in focus switching and substituting information in WM. In addition, possible age-related changes in interference due to representational overlap between the different elements simultaneously held in these tasks were examined. Children (8- and 11-year-olds), adolescents (14-year-olds) and younger adults (mean age = 22 years) were administered a numerical updating memory task, in which updating and focus switching were manipulated. As expected, response times decreased and recall performance increased with age. More importantly, the time needed for focus switching was longer in children than in adolescents and younger adults. On the other hand, substitution of information and interference due to representational overlap were not affected by age. These results suggest that age-related changes in focus switching might mediate developmental changes in WMU performance.     

A lost horizon: the experience of an other and school bullying

To date, research on bullying has largely employed empirical methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Through this research we have come to understand bullying as both a dyadic and peer group phenomenon, primarily situated in the heads (thinking) of those involved, or in a lack of skill or expertise, or in the delinquency of a bully who needs to be reformed. This research has largely directed its strategies toward problem students using individual and peer group approaches. And yet school bullying continues to be a crucial educational issue affecting millions of students each year. In this project I introduce a missing philosophical perspective. Analyzing the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer I am led to conclude that typical anti-bullying strategies at times simply train bullies to be better at bullying (i.e., learning to bully more covertly, more expertly so as to inflict the same devastation without adult detection). Gadamer invites us to think about bullying in new ways. While certainly involving the thinking and skills of the bully and the victim, Gadamer contends that bullying does not fundamentally result from a problem within the participants, but is fostered by certain spaces between them; terrains that cultivate specific experiences of an "other". Generally, this project stems from an interest in the ways that domination develops in this "space between". Specifically in this paper I ask: What is the nature of "hermeneutic" experience as conceptualized by Gadamer? What kinds of experiences of an other does bullying exemplify? What kinds of experience of an other do non-bullying relations exemplify and what kinds of relational spaces foster such experience? This paper opens up significant new territory for anti-bullying work, expanding our focus to include the space between students which fosters certain inter-personal experiences - experiences situated in domination and stymied growth or, alternatively, experiences of reciprocity which open the possibility of human growth and transformation.     

Age differences in vocal emotion perception: on the role of speaker age and listener sex

Older adults have greater difficulty than younger adults perceiving vocal emotions. To better characterise this effect, we explored its relation to age differences in sensory, cognitive and emotional functioning. Additionally, we examined the role of speaker age and listener sex. Participants (N?=?163) aged 19–34 years and 60–85 years categorised neutral sentences spoken by ten younger and ten older speakers with a happy, neutral, sad, or angry voice. Acoustic analyses indicated that expressions from younger and older speakers denoted the intended emotion with similar accuracy. As expected, younger participants outperformed older participants and this effect was statistically mediated by an age-related decline in both optimism and working-memory. Additionally, age differences in emotion perception were larger for younger as compared to older speakers and a better perception of younger as compared to older speakers was greater in younger as compared to older participants. Last, a female perception benefit was less pervasive in the older than the younger group. Together, these findings suggest that the role of age for emotion perception is multi-faceted. It is linked to emotional and cognitive change, to processing biases that benefit young and own-age expressions, and to the different aptitudes of women and men.     

Age differences in executive functioning across the lifespan: the role of verbalization in task preparation

Age-related changes in executive functioning across the lifespan were assessed in children (mean age=9.4 years), younger adults (mean age=21.5 years), and older adults (mean age=65.3 years). Executive functioning was investigated with a task-switching paradigm that permits the separation of two control components: to select and to switch between task sets. The specific aims of this study were (a) to determine developmental functions in both control components across the lifespan; and (b) to examine whether age-related changes in these components are influenced by verbal prompts during task preparation. The results revealed an inverted u-shaped developmental function for the ability to select between task sets but not for the ability to switch between task sets. In contrast to younger adults and children, older adults generally benefited from verbalizations during task preparation. Children, but not older adults, showed a facilitation of task execution when verbal prompts were task-compatible. Conversely, older adults, but not children, showed stronger interference when verbal prompts are task-incompatible. Our findings suggest that inner speech in an important modulator of developmental changes in executive functioning across the lifespan.     

Age differences in social preferences among Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese: the role of perceived time

Socioemotional selectivity theory holds that as people recognize the inevitable constraint of time imposed by mortality, their social goals change, motivating them to limit social contacts to those with whom they are emotionally close. This theory was tested among Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese. As predicted, results showed that older adults (aged 60-90 years) in both cultures were more likely than younger adults (aged 18-30 years) to prefer familiar social partners who were most likely to provide emotionally close social interactions. Mainland Chinese, who as a group have shorter actuarial life expectancy, were more likely to prefer familiar social partners than were Taiwanese. These age and cultural differences were eliminated when differences in perceived time were statistically controlled for.     

Explaining sex differences in mental rotation: role of spatial activity experience

Males consistently outperform females on mental rotation tasks, such as the Vandenberg and Kuse (1978) Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47(2), 599–604, mental rotation test (MRT; e.g. Voyer et al. 1995) in Psychological Bulletin, 117, 250–265. The present study investigates whether these sex differences in MRT scores can be explained in part by early spatial activity experience, particularly those spatial activities that have been sex-typed as masculine/male-oriented. Utilizing an online survey, 571 ethnically diverse adult university students completed a brief demographic survey, an 81-item spatial activity survey, and the MRT. Results suggest that the significant relation between sex of the participant and MRT score is partially mediated by the number of masculine spatial activities participants had engaged in as youth. Closing the gap between males and females in spatial ability, a skill linked to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics success, may be accomplished in part by encouraging female youth to engage in more particular kinds of spatial activities.     

Accounts of workplace bullying: The role of the organization

In over a decade of research into bullying at work, the focus has been on defining, measuring, and explaining the essential nature of the bullying phenomenon. This focus has positioned the individual as the main unit of analysis, with the organization acting as a facilitating backdrop. By assuming a critical research position as opposed to the dominant positivist tradition from which most of the bullying research emanates, attention can be drawn to additional and marginalized accounts. Our research does not offer a definition of bullying—rather, we examine the implications of the different ways in which the term bullying is used. This paper uses data from a case study in a large telecommunications company's call centres. We demonstrate that while employees use the pathologized individual and the facilitating environment to account for bullying, in addition they use the notion of the pathologized organization. This additional narrative brings issues of power and politics in organizations to the fore. Taking a critical management approach, we focus on employee accounts of the oppressive impact of power structures. We argue that marginalizing certain accounts functions to maintain the organizational power balance. By using the term bullying to describe their work experience, employees in this study sought to employ an emotive and highly charged term to highlight their discontent at increasingly difficult work situations.     

Coping with bullying in the workplace: the effect of gender, age and type of bullying

A study of bullying, victimisation and the coping strategies employed to tackle it is presented in the first study of bullying in the workplace conducted in Iceland. Participants were 398 members of a union of store and office workers and members of a national organisation of bank-employees. A factor analysis of bullying items identified two factors: general bullying and work-related bullying. Males score higher on both factors, but when asked directly if they have been bullied or not, no significant gender difference appears. A measure of coping strategies when faced with bullying is presented. A factor analysis and multidimensional scaling of these strategies identified four clusters: assertive response, seek help, avoidance and do nothing. These can be arranged on a passive vs. active dimension, which may reflect the severity or duration of the bullying situation. Multiple regressions indicate that males seek help less and use avoidance less than females, and males are more likely to use assertive strategies, confirming gender stereotypes about what constitutes appropriate behaviour. Increased bullying is also associated with the use of avoidance and passive response (do nothing). These results are mainly in accordance with findings from schools. It is suggested that active coping styles are employed during the initial stages of bullying but that victims resort to more passive coping strategies as the bullying becomes more serious. The need for a longitudinal design is proposed to understand the relationship between duration and severity of the bullying experience and the choice of coping strategies.     

Age differences in working memory tasks: The role of secondary memory and the central executive system

Two experiments are reported in which age differences in working memory performance are explored. In the first study, young and older adults held 2, 3, 4, or 5 unrelated words in mind while verifying a single or complex sentence. An age-related decrement was found in subsequent serial recall of the words, and this decrement was larger with longer word lists. Experiment 2 confirmed the interaction between age and list length, using list lengths of 4, 6, and 8 words and a free-recall procedure. There was no interaction between age and divided attention in either experiment. Surprisingly, sentence complexity had a greater detrimental effect on recall in the younger group. The results are discussed in terms of articulatory rehearsal being augmented by using secondary memory in the case of younger subjects.     

Workplace bullying and health complaints: the moderating role of physiological activation

Previous research has shown that workplace bullying is related to several negative outcomes. In this line of research, few studies have focused on possible moderators of the experience of bullying. The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating role of physiological activation, measured as systolic blood pressure, in the relationship between bullying and health problems. The sample was made up of 213 employees, who filled in a questionnaire about health and well being, and participated in a voluntary medical check-up that was carried out by an independent Occupational Health Service. Results revealed that physiological activation strengthened the relationship between bullying and health problems, so that those with high levels of blood pressure reported more health complaints in bullying situations. These results are in line with the allostatic load theory.     

The role of experience and discourse in children's developing understanding of pretend play actions

The present work investigated the development of an explicit understanding of pretend play actions. Study 1 revealed a long décalage between earlier implicit understanding of pretence as an intentional activity and a later more explicit understanding. Study 2 was a training study. It tested for two factors – systematic pretence experience and explicit pretence discourse – that may be important in development from early implicit to later explicit pretence understanding. Two training groups of 3.5‐year‐old children received the same pretence experiences involving systematic contrasts between pretending, really performing and trying to perform actions. In the ‘explicit’ group, these experiences were talked about with explicit ‘pretend to’ and ‘pretend that’ language. In the ‘implicit’ group no such discourse was used, but only implicit discourse in talking about pretence versus real actions. The two training groups were compared with a control group that received functional play experience. After training, only the explicit group showed improvement in their explicit pretence understanding. In none of the groups was there any transfer to tasks tapping mental state understanding, false belief (FB) and appearance‐reality, (A‐R). The findings are discussed in the context of current theories about the developmental relations between pretence, discourse, and mental state understanding.