A concepção infantil da emoção

Inexistent

The assignment of moral status: Age-related differences in the use of three mental capacity criteria

This study examined children's and young adults' use of three mental capacity criteria for treating an entity as one to which moral subjects have moral obligations, that is, as having moral status. In line with philosophical theorizing, these criteria were the capacity to (1) perceive; (2) suffer; and (3) think. In this study, 116 respondents aged 9 to 18 years old gave moral judgments and guilt and shame attributions in response to stories about perpetrators whose behaviour negatively affected entities with different mental capacities. The moral judgments revealed that 9-year-old children assigned moral status primarily on the basis of the victimized entity's ability to suffer. Eleven-year-old children also used the ability to suffer, but they assigned additional moral status when the victimized entity was able to perceive. Young adults also used perception as a criterion, but they assigned additional moral status when the victimized entity was simultaneously able to suffer and able to think. When compared to their moral judgments, the moral emotion attributions of respondents of all age groups were more strongly affected by the victimized entity's ability to think. © 2008 The British Psychological Society

Las transgresiones como elicitadoras de la emoción de vergüenza en niños españoles y holandeses

La emoción de vergüenza implica una evaluación negativa por parte del yo. Tradicionalmente, la mayoría de estudios sobre la vergüenza han partido de la base de que el yo evaluado coincide plenamente con el yo que evalúa. Pero esta asunción no tiene en cuenta la posibilidad de que el yo individual sea lo suficientemente interdependiente (Markus y Kitayama, 1991) para interpretar las transgresiones de los familiares o amigos como un reflejo negativo en el propio yo, y que por lo tanto, aparezca la vergüenza. Si tenemos en cuenta que las culturas difieren en la construcción independiente o interdependiente del yo, podríamos pensar que las culturas también se diferenciarán en el grado de vergüenza experimentado por el comportamiento de los sujetos con los que se asocia. Con el objetivo de explorar esta cuestión, se entrevistó a 35 adolescentes españoles y a 42 adolescentes holandeses de 12-13 años de edad, sobre sus sentimientos de vergüenza ante las transgresiones sociales y morales cometidas por (a) un compañero de clase, (b) un primo, (c) el mejor amigo, (d) un hermano o hermana, y (e) el participante mismo. Los resultados indican que las transgresiones de los demás elicitan un sentimiento de vergüenza considerable en ambos grupos, aunque mientras los sujetos españoles informan de una mayor experiencia de vergüenza ante las transgresiones de un hermano/a frente a las de un amigo, los sujetos holandeses experimentan el patrón inverso. Estos resultados se comentan en términos de diferencias culturales en cuanto a la importancia del ¿yo extendido¿: familiares versus amigos

Differences in adolescents’ motivations for indirect, direct, and hybrid peer defending

Adolescents’ defending of peers who are being bullied—or peer defending—was recently found to be a heterogeneous behavioral construct. The present study investigated individual differences in adolescents’ motivations for executing these indirect, direct, and hybrid defending behaviors. In line with the literature on bullying as goal-directed strategic behavior, we adopted a social evolution theory framework to investigate whether these peer-defending behaviors could qualify as goal-directed strategic prosocial behaviors. A sample of 549 Dutch adolescents (49.4% boys; Mage = 12.5 years, SD = 0.6 years) participated in this study. Their peer reported defending behaviors (including bullying behavior as a control variable) and the following behavioral motivations were assessed: (a) agentic and communal goals (self-report), (b) prosocial and coercive social strategies (peer report), and (c) altruistic and egocentric motivations for prosocial behavior (self-report). The outcomes of hierarchical linear regression analyses suggest that adolescents’ motivations for executing the different subtypes of peer defending partially overlap but are also different. While indirect defending was fostered by genuine concerns for victims’ well-being, direct defending was more motivated by personal gains. Hybrid defending combined favorable aspects of both indirect and direct defending as a goal-directed, strategic, and altruistically motivated prosocial behavior. The implications of these findings are discussed

Predicting aggression in adolescence:The interrelation between (a lack of) empathy and social goals

In an attempt to explain the inconsistent findings and overall weak relation between empathy and aggression, we focused on the role of emotional empathy (emotions of concern, compassion or sympathy toward a (potential) victim), agentic goals (the desire to be dominant during social interaction with peers) and their interplay (mediation or moderation) in the prediction of proactive aggression (learned instrumental behavior) in adolescence. Data were collected from 550 young Dutch adolescents, who filled out multiple questionnaires. Findings showed that the link between a lack of empathic concern and proactive aggression is partly mediated and moderated by agentic goals. The moderation analyses showed that the predictive value of a lack of empathic concern with regard to proactive aggression was greater when adolescents reported a stronger desire to be dominant in social situations with peers. In addition, the findings supported the assumption that the relation between empathic concern and reactive aggression (a hostile and angry response to perceived provocation) is not mediated or moderated by agentic goals. Findings were discussed in terms of their implications for future research. Aggr. Behav. 43:204–214, 2017

Turning shame inside-out: “humiliated fury” in young adolescents

The term "humiliated fury" refers to the anger people can experience when they are shamed. In Study 1, participants were randomly exposed to a prototypical shameful event or control event, and their self-reported feelings of anger were measured. In Study 2, participants reported each school day, for 2 weeks, the shameful events they experienced. They also nominated classmates who got angry each day. Narcissism was treated as a potential moderator in both studies. As predicted, shameful events made children angry, especially more narcissistic children. Boys with high narcissism scores were especially likely to express their anger after being shamed. These results corroborate clinical theory holding that shameful events can initiate instances of humiliated fury. © 2011 American Psychological Association

Getting Along and/or Getting Ahead:Differential HEXACO Personality Correlates of Likeability and Popularity among Adolescents

Getting along (i.e. to be liked) and getting ahead (i.e. to be popular) are two fundamental psychological motives that have important consequences for adolescents' well-being. Especially antisocial behavioural tendencies, which are less well covered by the Big Five than by the HEXACO model, have been shown to differentially predict likeability and popularity. In this study, possible differential relations between personality and likeability and popularity were investigated using the HEXACO Simplified Personality Inventory and sociometric measures of likeability and popularity among 552 (12 to 14 years old) adolescents. Results showed that agreeableness was the most important likeability predictor, whereas extraversion (positive), openness to experience, honesty-humility, and agreeableness (all three negative) were the most important popularity predictors. Facet-level analyses revealed that selected HEXACO facets (greed avoidance, fearfulness, social boldness, gentleness, prudence, perfectionism, aesthetic appreciation, and altruism) most strongly—and in opposite directions—differentiated in the prediction of likeability and popularity. Furthermore, none of the expected interactions but several masking and cancellation effects were observed. The results, which are also discussed in light of interpersonal circumplex, resource control strategies, hierarchical differentiation, and socioanalytic frameworks, suggest that—among early adolescents—differential personality predictors may make it difficult to both get along and get ahead

HEXACO personality correlates of adolescents' involvement in bullying situations

Adolescents' involvement in bullying situations is—at least partially—personality trait-activated. Although some studies investigated personality correlates of bullying and being victimized, little is known about personality correlates of bystander responses (i.e., reinforcing, outsider behavior, indirect defending, and direct defending). The present study investigated whether Dutch adolescents' self-reported HEXACO personality traits could explain their peer-reported involvement in bullying (N = 552; Mage = 13.4 years, SD = 0.8 years). The results show that bullying was negatively related to honesty-humility, emotionality, agreeableness (for boys specifically), and openness, whereas reinforcing was only negatively related to honesty-humility and openness. Conversely, direct defending and outsider behavior were positively related to honesty-humility, emotionality, and openness, whereas indirect defending was only positively related to emotionality and openness. Furthermore, reinforcing was positively related to extraversion (for boys only), whereas outsider behavior was negatively related extraversion and positively to conscientiousness. Finally, being victimized was positively related to emotionality and negatively to extraversion. These findings contribute to our understanding of the heterogeneity in adolescents' involvement in bullying and fit the view of bullying and defending as strategic and goal-directed behavior. Implications for bullying prevention programs are discussed