Method for examining children's beliefs about the functional role played by defensive interpersonal behaviour

The goal of this study was to develop a method for examining children's expectations about the short‐term consequences of defensive interpersonal behaviour. We employed the theory of interpersonal defence (Dahmen & Westerman, in press; Westerman, 1998, 2005 ; Westerman & Prieto, 2006 ), an interpersonal reconceptualization of defence processes, as the framework for this method. We developed a two‐part procedure for eliciting children's responses to closed‐ended and open‐ended questions about interpersonal vignettes presented in storyboard format, and we employed this method in a preliminary investigation with a sample of 62 intellectually gifted boys and girls aged 7–8 and 10–11. The results showed that the participants understood that defensive interpersonal behaviours affect the likelihood that feared and wished‐for short‐term outcomes will occur. Participants demonstrated that they understood that people behave defensively in order to avoid feared consequences and nondefensively in order to pursue wished‐for outcomes. Findings also indicated that older participants understood that a person is more likely to behave defensively in highly conflict‐ridden situations. The results suggest that our method provides the basis for research that complements previous studies of children's understanding of how intrapsychic defence mechanisms regulate a person's affective experience. Future research using this method could investigate the role of beliefs about defensive behaviour in the development of behaviour problems.