Brief Report: Additive and Subtractive Counterfactual Reasoning of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

The development of additive (‘If only I had done…’) and subtractive (‘If only I had not done….’) counterfactual reasoning was examined in children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (HFASD) (n = 72) and typically developing controls (n = 71), aged 6–12 years. Children were presented four stories where they could generate counterfactuals based on a given consequent (e.g., ‘you left muddy footprints in the kitchen. How could that have been prevented?’). Children with HFASD increasingly used subtractive counterfactuals as they got older, but controls showed an increase in additive counterfactuals, which may be linked to their growing adaptive and flexible skills. Children with HFASD likely develop different strategies for their counterfactual reasoning. The role of IQ and ideational fluency will be discussed

Children's understanding of inherited resemblance: The case of two parents. [IF 1.0]

Four-, 6-, and 10-year-old children were tested in a forced-choice procedure about their beliefs on the inheritance of physical characteristics. They were presented with pictures of two biological parents, and then asked to select the most likely descendant out of three alternatives: a father look-alike, a mother look-alike, and an alternative representing the combined influence of both parents. In several question pairs, additional information was given about the parent-child relationship that was clearly irrelevant to the principles of heredity to examine the extent to which domain confusions were likely to occur. The majority of the 10-year-olds consistently preferred the alternative in which the combined influence of both parents was shown and domain confusions hardly ever occurred. Four- and 6-year-olds, in contrast, were still influenced by information from alien domains, although even their reasoning about inheritance seemed to be theory-like. Overall, the results suggest that with age, children develop a more restricted and better-defined conception of the principles of heredity, in which the combined influence of both parents is acknowledged

Children’s depressive symptoms and their regulation of negative affect in response to vignette-depicted emotion-eliciting events

The present study examined the relationship between sub-clinical depressive symptoms and children's anticipated cognitive and behavioral reactions to two written vignettes depicting emotion-eliciting stressors (i.e., fight with one's best friend and failure at a roller blade contest). Participants (N = 244) ranging in age between 10 and 13 were presented each vignette and then asked to rate their anticipated utilization of each of seven emotion-regulation strategies (ERs), along with the anticipated mood enhancement effects of each strategy. In addition, ratings of participants' perceived coping efficacy to manage the stressful situation were collected. Results indicated that participants were more likely to endorse ERs for which they have greater confidence in their mood enhancement effects. Moreover, marked differences were observed between ratings for conceptually distinct cognitive ERs. Consistent with expectations, results revealed that participants displaying higher levels of depressive symptoms were more likely to endorse cognitive and behavioral ERs that are negative, passive, and/or avoidant in nature. Children's ratings of the anticipated mood enhancement effects of several ERs were inversely related to their level of depressive symptoms, as was their perceived self-efficacy to manage the stressor. © 2007 The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development

Do children with autism acknowledge the influence of mood on behaviour?

We tested whether children with and without high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) differ in their understanding of the influence of mood states on behaviour. A total of 122 children with HFASD or typical development were asked to predict and explain the behaviour of story characters during hypothetical social interactions. HFASD and typically developing children predicted at equal rates that mood states likely result in similar valenced behaviour. 'Explicit' descriptions were used to explain predictions more often by children with HFASD than by typically developing children. However, 'implicit' and 'irrelevant' descriptions elicited fewer mood references among HFASD children. Furthermore, they less often referred to the uncertainty of the influence of mood on behaviour, and less often used mood-related explanations, in particular when they had to rely on implicit information. This may indicate a rote- rather than self-generated understanding of emotions in children with HFASD. © SAGE Publications, Inc. 2007

Children’s coping with in vivo peer rejection: An experimental investigation

We examined children's behavioral coping in response to an in vivo peer rejection manipulation. Participants (N=186) ranging between 10 and 13 years of age, played a computer game based on the television show Survivor and were randomized to either peer rejection (i.e., being voted out of the game) or non-rejection control. During a five-min. post-feedback waiting period children's use of several behavioral coping strategies was assessed. Rejection elicited a marked shift toward more negative affect, but higher levels of perceived social competence attenuated the negative mood shift. Children higher in depressive symptoms were more likely to engage in passive and avoidant coping behavior. Types of coping were largely unaffected by gender and perceived social competence. Implications are discussed. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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

Additive and Subtractive Counterfactual Reasoning of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

The development of additive (`If only I had done...') and subtractive (`If only I had not done...') counterfactual reasoning was examined in children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (HFASD) (n = 72) and typically developing controls (n = 71), aged 6-12 years. Children were presented four stories where they could generate counterfactuals based on a given consequent (e. g., `you left muddy footprints in the kitchen. How could that have been prevented?'). Children with HFASD increasingly used subtractive counterfactuals as they got older, but controls showed an increase in additive counterfactuals, which may be linked to their growing adaptive and flexible skills. Children with HFASD likely develop different strategies for their counterfactual reasoning. The role of IQ and ideational fluency will be discussed

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