Executive functions and social information processing in adolescents with severe behavior problems

One tradition in research for explaining aggression and antisocial behavior has focused on social information processing (SIP). Aggression and antisocial behavior have also been studied from the perspective of executive functions (EFs), the higher-order cognitive abilities that affect other cognitive processes, such as social cognitive processes. The main goal of the present study is to provide insight into the relation between EFs and SIP in adolescents with severe behavior problems. Because of the hierarchical relation between EFs and SIP, we examined EFs as predictors of SIP. We hypothesized that, first, focused attention predicts encoding and interpretation, second, inhibition predicts interpretation, response generation, evaluation, and selection, and third, working memory predicts response generation and selection. The participants consisted of 94 respondents living in residential facilities aged 12–20 years, all showing behavior problems in the clinical range according to care staff. EFs were assessed using subtests from the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Test battery. Focused attention was measured by the Flanker task, inhibition by the GoNoGo task, and working memory by the Visual Spatial Sequencing task. SIP was measured by video vignettes and a structured interview. The results indicate that positive evaluation of aggressive responses is predicted by impaired inhibition and selection of aggressive responses by a combination of impaired focused attention and inhibition. It is concluded that different components of EFs as higher-order cognitive abilities affect SIP.     

The development of social information processing and aggressive behaviour: Current issues

The social information processing (SIP) model is an important element in theoretical accounts of the development of aggressive behaviour. Aggressive behaviour is associated with and predicted by specific social information-processing patterns and interventions targeting these patterns are relatively effective. The present article discusses three directions in which further progress can be made. First, the SIP model may be improved to take better account of emotional processes. Second, issues concerning the validity of SIP assessment need to be resolved. Third, differential development of SIP needs to be studied and to be related to development of specific aggressive behaviour patterns. Recent findings concerning these three issues are reviewed and directions for research are discussed.     

Adolescent aggression and social cognition in the context of personality: impulsivity as a moderator of predictions from social information processing

This study asked how individual differences in social cognition and personality interact in predicting later aggressive behavior. It was hypothesized that the relationship between immediate response evaluations in social information processing (SIP) and later aggressive behavior would be moderated by impulsivity. In particular, the immediate positive evaluations of aggressive responses would be more strongly related to later aggressive behavior for high-impulsive than for low-impulsive individuals, because high-impulsive children would be less likely to integrate peripheral information and consider long-term future consequences of their actions. Participants were 585 adolescents (52% male) and their mothers and teachers from the longitudinal Child Development Project. Structural equation modeling indicated that teacher-reported impulsivity at ages 11-13 moderated the association between adolescents' endorsement of aggressive responses in hypothetical, ambiguous situations and subsequent mother-reported aggressive behavior. Specifically, positive endorsement of aggressive responses at age 13 was significantly related to later aggressive behavior (age 14-17) for participants with high and medium levels of impulsivity, but this association was not significant for participants with low levels of impulsivity. This study provides evidence of personality variables as potential moderators of the link between SIP and behavior.     

Multidimensional latent-construct analysis of children's social information processing patterns: correlations with aggressive behavior problems

Social information processing (SIP) patterns were conceptualized in orthogonal domains of process and context and measured through responses to hypothetical vignettes in a stratified sample of 387 children (50% boys; 49% minority) from 4 geographical sites followed from kindergarten through 3rd grade. Multidimensional, latent-construct, confirmatory factor analyses supported the within-construct internal consistency, cross-construct discrimination, and multidimensionality of SIP patterns. Contrasts among nested structural equation models indicated that SIP constructs significantly predicted children's aggressive behavior problems as measured by later teacher reports. The findings support the multidimensional construct validity of children's social cognitive patterns and the relevance of SIP patterns in children's aggressive behavior problems.     

Social Information Processing as a Mediator Between Cognitive Schemas and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents

This longitudinal investigation assessed whether cognitive schemas of justification of violence, mistrust, and narcissism predicted social information processing (SIP), and SIP in turn predicted aggressive behavior in adolescents. A total of 650 adolescents completed measures of cognitive schemas at Time 1, SIP in ambiguous social scenarios at Time 1 and Time 2, and reactive aggression at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3 to determine whether SIP measured at Time 2 mediated between the cognitive schemas measured at Time 1 and the aggressive behavior measured at Time 3. The results showed that each schema predicted different SIP components: Justification of violence predicted aggressive response access, narcissism predicted anger and aggressive response access, and mistrust predicted more hostile attributions and less anger. Only the SIP component of aggressive response access was directly associated with reactive aggression. The mediational model was quite similar for boys and girls although some paths, such as the association between aggressive response access and reactive aggression, were higher for boys.     

The effects of television form and violent content on boys' attention and social behavior

An experiment is reported that examined the independent effects of television content (violence) and television formal features (action level) on children's attention to programs and their postviewing social behavior. Pairs of preschool boys participated in two experimental sessions in which they saw animated and live television programs that varied in violent content (high or low) and formal features (high or low action level). They then played with toys that contained cues for either aggressive or prosocial interaction. Rapid character action facilitated visual attention to the programs; violent tv content did not facilitate attention. On measures of social behavior, strong effects of toy cues were found independently of television treatment effects. Aggressive toys produced aggressive behavior, and prosocial toys produced prosocial behavior; these patterns included some nonspecific, generalized influences in addition to direct demands of the play materials. Violent tv content led to changes in subjects' style of interaction and was also associated with increases in some prosocial behaviors. Television action level had no systematic effects on subjects' behavior. Results are discussed within the theoretical frameworks of observational learning and general arousal. Implications for children's television programming are also discussed.     

亲社会与攻击性儿童在两类假设情境中的社会信息加工特点

采用问卷调查法,分别测查、比较了亲社会儿童、攻击性儿童与一般儿童的社会信息加工(SIP)特点,目的是探讨三类儿童在SIP上是否存在差异。结果表明,在假设分享情境中,攻击性与一般儿童SIP的整体差异不显著,但在对不分享策略的他人情绪预期和关系预期2个变量上差异显著。亲社会与一般儿童、与攻击性儿童SIP的整体差异显著;在假设挑衅情境中,攻击性与一般儿童在对不同策略的自我效能感、选择频率、策略评价等7个变量上差异显著。亲社会与一般儿童在对不同策略的自我效能感、选择频率、策略评价等9个变量上差异显著;亲社会儿童与一般儿童SIP的整体不存在显著差异。     

Exposure to Violence,Social Information Processing,and Problem Behavior in Preschool Children

Understanding the mechanisms by which early risk factors for social maladjustment contribute to disruptive behaviors in social settings is vital to developmental research and practice. A major risk factor for social maladjustment is early exposure to violence, which was examined in this short‐term longitudinal study in relation to social information processing (SIP) patterns and externalizing and internalizing behaviors in a sample of 256 preschool children. Data on exposure to violence were obtained via parent report, data on SIP were obtained via child interview, and data on child problem behavior were obtained via teacher report. Findings supported the hypothesis that, compared to children not exposed to violence, children reported to witness and/or experience violence are more likely to attribute hostile intent to peers, generate aggressive responses, and evaluate socially unaccepted responses (aggressive and inept) as socially suitable. The former were also found to exhibit higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Finally, SIP mediated the link between exposure to violence and problem behavior thus supporting this study's general approach, which argues that the link between exposure to violence and children's problem behaviors are better understood within the context of their perceptions about social relationships. Aggr. Behav. 38:429‐441, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

On the meaning of meaning when being mean: commentary on Berkowitz's "on the consideration of automatic as well as controlled psychological processes in aggression"

Berkowitz (this issue) makes a cogent case for his cognitive neo-associationist (CNA) model that some aggressive behaviors occur automatically, emotionally, and through conditioned association with other stimuli. He also proposes that they can occur without "processing," that is, without meaning. He contrasts his position with that of social information processing (SIP) models, which he casts as positing only controlled processing mechanisms for aggressive behavior. However, both CNA and SIP models posit automatic as well as controlled processes in aggressive behavior. Most aggressive behaviors occur through automatic processes, which are nonetheless rule governed. SIP models differ from the CNA model in asserting the essential role of meaning (often through nonconscious, automatic, and emotional processes) in mediating the link between a stimulus and an angry aggressive behavioral response.     

Let's hang up and try again: Lessons learned from a social support intervention

Conclusion Theorists and researchers have spent some 15 years trying to better understand social support. A great deal of progress has been made in the assessment of support resources, behavior, and appraisals, in conceptualizing the support process, and in understanding how support might influence well-being. Community psychologists, in particular, have sought this knowledge as a basis for social intervention. The point has been reached where research and theory, though still incomplete, can inform intervention. Indeed, intervention programs are likely to make a unique contribution to our understanding.Yet, if anything has been learned, it is that the social support process is far more complex than initially thought, as is its relationship to well-being. It is essential that support interventions reflect that complexity. The greatest threat is not that powerful and effective support interventions will prove impossible to develop and implement, but that we may become disillusioned by misunderstanding our failures.     

攻击性儿童与亲社会儿童社会信息加工特点比较及研究展望

攻击性儿童和亲社会儿童的社会信息加工过程(SIP)存在不同：攻击性儿童具有敌意的归因倾向、破坏关系的目标定向和对攻击性反应做积极评价的特点;而亲社会儿童则表现出友善的归因倾向、加强关系的目标定向和对亲社会行为做积极评价的特点。进一步的研究应该注意分离情绪、人格、年龄、性别等因素的效应;扩展SIP模型的研究领域以探讨儿童社会适应与其社会信息加工过程的关系;提高研究的生态效度。     

Autonomic conditioning to monetary and social stimuli and aggression in children

Poor conditioning to punishment, such as loud tones or electric shock, has been proposed as an important factor involved in the etiology of aggressive and psychopathic behavior. However, it is not known whether the association holds when monetary or social stimulus is used as the unconditioned stimulus, and if aggressive individuals also have impaired conditioning to rewards. In this study, skin conductance responses in a conditioning task involving both monetary/social reward and punishment as unconditioned stimuli were assessed in 340 male and female 8‐ to 9‐year‐old children from the community. Children reported their reactive and proactive aggression using the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ; Raine et al., 2006). Results showed that monetary/social reward and punishment were effective in eliciting physiological classical conditioning in children, and that reduced reward conditioning was associated with high levels of proactive aggression in particular. Findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between reactive and proactive aggression when examining antisocial behavior in children, and suggest that reward‐oriented treatment programs may not be effective for children with more proactive, instrumental aggressive behavior.

     

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) and Elementary School Aged Children’s Aggression: Results from a Cluster Randomized Trial

This study reports on aggressive outcomes from a cluster randomized trial of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum. Fourteen elementary schools were randomly assigned to intervention or control condition and third grade students were followed through the fifth grade. Teacher and self-reports of student aggression, conduct problems, delinquency, acting out problems, and social information processing (SIP) variables were collected. Linear change for each of the SIP variables was noted with control students demonstrating increased normative beliefs about aggression, increased aggressive social problem solving, increased hostile attribution bias, and increased aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies over time while PATHS students remained relatively stable. Teachers reported significant curvilinear change in student aggression, conduct problems, and acting out behavior problems; all favoring PATHS students.     

Enhancing social diffusion theory as a basis for prevention intervention: A conceptual and strategic framework

Social diffusion theory has recently been recognized as a promising approach for large-scale disease prevention and health promotion efforts. This paper describes how principles and tactics from social cognitive theory, operant psychology, social psychology, social marketing, and the overarching stages of change model can be used to further develop the conceptual and strategic (technological) bases of social diffusion theory. Within an integrative framework, we discuss in detail more effective ways to train peer mediators of behavior change as one example of how social diffusion theory can benefit from this conceptual and strategic reformulation. We then further illustrate the use of peer mediators of change in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and cancer prevention intervention studies with both interventions training peer mediators to diffuse information, norms, and risk reduction strategies. Although the results of these studies showed reductions in high-risk behaviors across population segments, more closely following the framework discussed in this article should further increase the behavior change potential of future interventions based on social diffusion theory.     

Development, microevolution, and social behavior

The central questions of social development--from the roots of mother-infant attachment to the plasticity of aggressive behavior--pivot on the relations between genetic and ontogenetic sources of variance. It is proposed that (a) developmental, experiential, and microevolutionary processes typically collaborate, rather than compete, in achieving social adaptation; (b) social behavior patterns are mostly closed to modification in the course of development and across generations, but avenues of vulnerability exist in ontogeny and microevolution for dynamic, rapid, and reversible changes in key features; (c) a general avenue for change is delay or acceleration in the developmental onset of one or more features of the behavior pattern, which in turn modifies the functions and properties of the adaptive configuration; and (d) the features of social behavior that are open to rapid change in ontogeny should be open as well to rapid changes in microevolution, although different underlying processes may be involved. Empirical findings from the investigation of aggressive interactions are used to illustrate this proposal on the dual genesis and coincident adaptation of social behaviors.     

Reactive and proactive aggression in childhood: Relations to peer status and social context dimensions

Although there has been an accumulation of evidence to suggest a link between peer-directed aggression and social rejection, little attention has been given to the relations between specific subtypes of aggressive behavior and social rejection. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relations between two subtypes of aggressive behavior (reactive and proactive aggression) and children's classroom peer status. The reciprocity of each of these subtypes of aggressive behavior and the social contexts in which these behaviors occur were also examined. Assessments of each of these forms of aggression among 70 boys (ages 5 and 6) were conducted using direct observations and teacher ratings. In general, directing reactive aggressive behavior toward peers was associated with social rejection, while utilization of instrumental aggression was positively related to peer status. The findings also indicated that directing proactive forms of aggression toward peers was related to being the target of proactive aggression. Finally, among older boys, both subtypes of aggression were more likely to occur during rough play than during any other type of play activity.     

Preschoolers' social information processing and early school success: The challenging situations task

As part of a larger longitudinal project on the assessment of preschoolers' social‐emotional development, children's social information processing (SIP) responses to unambiguous hypothetical situations of peer provocation were assessed for 298 four‐year‐olds from Head Start and private childcare settings. Measurement focused on emotions children would feel during these situations, and their behaviour response decisions. Participants most often chose sad and angry emotions, and socially competent and passive behaviours. Relations were found between sad emotion and socially competent behaviour choices, as well as between angry emotion and aggressive behaviour choices. Sad emotion and socially competent behaviour responses contributed to variance in contemporaneous and later school adjustment and kindergarten academic readiness. There was evidence that the contributions of sad emotion responses were mediated by those of socially competent behaviour choices. Results bolstered calls to include emotion in SIP measures, supported predictive validity for this SIP measure in a large representative sample of preschoolers, and pointed to fruitful pathways for future research.     

A 12-Year Prospective Study of Patterns of Social Information Processing Problems and Externalizing Behaviors

This study investigated how discrete social information processing (SIP) steps may combine with one another to create distinct groups of youth who are characterized by particular patterns of SIP. SIP assessments were conducted on a community sample of 576 children in kindergarten, with follow-up assessments in grades 3, 8, and 11. At each age, four profiles were created, representing youth with no SIP problems, with early step SIP problems (encoding or making hostile attributions), with later step SIP problems (selecting instrumental goals, generating aggressive responses, or evaluating aggression positively), and with pervasive SIP problems. Although patterns of SIP problems were related to concurrent externalizing during elementary school, the consistency between cognition and future externalizing behavior was not as strong in elementary school as it was between grades 8 and 11. In some cases, youth characterized by the co-occurrence of problems in early and later SIP steps had higher externalizing scores than did youth characterized by problems in just one or the other.     

The role of developmental features,environmental crises,and personal resources (self-control and social support) in adolescents' aggressive behavior

Aggression among adolescents is a social problem that has sharply escalated in recent years, instigating research into related factors. This article outlines the characteristics of adolescents' aggressive behavior in line with Buss and Perry's (1992) theory linking it to the tendency to develop hostile thoughts and angry emotions. Aggressive behavior may be described as a possible outcome of normal development on the one hand, and as a result of exposure to crisis and trauma on the other. Thus, developmental characteristics highlight the role of age and sex in adolescents' aggressive behavior. In addition, possible external crises and distress (e.g., war, divorce) may contribute to adolescents' aggression. This article also identifies two possible resources that may contribute to a reduction in aggressive behavior under normal and crisis conditions: social support as an environmental resource, and self-control as a personal resource. We conclude with suggestions for reducing aggression through a unified intervention setting that integrates developmental features, environmental and family components, as well as personal components.     

Aggression and school social dynamics: The good, the bad, and the ordinary

A social dynamics perspective of aggression in school is presented. This framework focuses on the role of natural social processes in the establishment and maintenance of aggressive behavior in the school context. The five articles in this special issue are briefly reviewed and a synthesis of their contributions for understanding the social dynamics of aggression in school is underscored. Future research and intervention implications are also discussed. The need for examining the role of school social dynamics in conducting social skills interventions, functional behavioral assessments, and the development of positive behavioral support plans is emphasized.