Effects of pairing aggressive and nonaggressive children in strategic peer affiliation

Examined the behavior of 118 second graders who participated in a 6-week summer school program that incorporated strategic peer affiliation (a buddy system). Moderately aggressive children (the targets of the intervention) were paired with nonaggressive peers throughout the program. All participants were observed playing foosball with their buddies and with aggressive and nonaggressive nonbuddies as teammates. Aggressive children had lower levels of disruptive behavior when their teammate was nonaggressive, regardless of whether the teammate was a buddy. Nonaggressive children showed elevated disruptive behavior when playing with an aggressive nonbuddy, but not when playing with an aggressive buddy. The highest level of aggressive behavior was seen in pairs of aggressive teammates who were friends. One year later, no increase in peer-rated aggressive behavior was found in either group. Results suggest that unidirectional peer influence is possible and that strategic peer affiliation can be an effective intervention that does not put nonaggressive children at risk for acquiring undesired behaviors.     

Influence of Interaction: A Study of Zhu Xi’s Reading of the Taijitu Shuo and the Tongshu

Zhu Xi, as a great leader of Neo-Confucianism, established the succession of the Way and raised Zhou Dunyi to the position of successor of Mencius. Zhu Xi drew attention to Zhou’s thought and wrote a commentary on his Taijitu Shuo 太極圖說 (Discussion of the Taiji Diagram) and Tongshu 通書 (Penetrating the Scripture of Change). During the process of annotating these two works, Zhu discussed the texts with scholars such as Li Tong, Lü Zuqian, Zhang Shi, and Lu Jiuyuan to improve his annotation. The suggestions from other scholars affected Zhu’s explanation of Zhou’s works. This essay studies the interaction between Zhu and his friends and attempts to explain how Zhu’s commentaries on the Taijitu Shuo and Tongshu were affected by other scholars’ suggestions.     

Socio-cultural variation in attitudes to adolescents’ decision-making

Little is known about cultural variation in perceptions about the age when youngsters should be regarded as competent to make decisions. This is of particular importance as research has shown the significant effect of parental influence on their children’s decision-making. A public survey of 400 adults from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds in the UK and Spain was carried out. Their attitudes regarding adolescents’ ability with regard to common areas of decision-making were assessed using case vignettes including discontinuing family traditions and religious practice. It was found that White British adults agreed for younger adolescents to make decisions about themselves compared with the other ethnic groups. High religious practice was associated with later age to make decisions. The paper argues that there is socio-cultural variation in adults’ attitudes regarding the age when youngsters should make decisions about themselves and for the need of professionals to take this into account.     

Can harmful intergroup behaviors truly represent the self?: The impact of harmful and prosocial normative behaviors on intra-individual conflict and compartmentalization

This research investigates how group members subjectively feel about their prosocial vs. harmful intergroup behaviors, and whether these behaviors can represent who they are more globally as a person. Three experiments tested how group norms (pro-merit/parity vs. pro-discrimination) and congruence with these norms predicted compartmentalization of these intergroup behaviors in the self and intra-individual conflict. Experiment 1 (N = 122) revealed that participants who conformed to a pro-discrimination norm reported compartmentalizing this behavior to a greater extent than participants who conformed to a pro-merit norm. Experiments 2 (N = 149) and 3 (N = 222) replicated and extended these findings in real and conflictual intergroup settings, also over and above the effect of relevant superordinate norms. Mediated moderation analyses also revealed that following discriminatory norms was associated with more intra-individual conflict, and that this conflict in turn predicted higher compartmentalization.