Date of Award

2003

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Psychology

Keywords

Psychology, Developmental.

Supervisor

Menna, Rosanne,

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

This study compared aggressive and non-aggressive boys' attributions of emotions and intentions in social situations. Forty males aged 9--12 years of age participated in this study. The aggressive group (n = 20) was referred from three different children's mental health centers. The non-aggressive group (n = 20) consisted of boys recruited from the community. Participant's parents completed two measures assessing behaviour problems in childhood. Participants were presented with 12 vignettes in which one child was involved in behaviour, which resulted in a negative outcome for another child. For half of the stories participants were asked to imagine themselves as the story victim and for the other half they were asked to imagine themselves as the story victimizer. Participants were then questioned regarding the characters' intentions and emotions. In addition participants were administered tasks assessing intelligence and a self-report assessing behaviour problems. Results revealed differences between groups with respect to their intent attributions when they were asked to imagine themselves as the story victimizer. With respect to emotion attributions, compared to non-aggressive boys, aggressive boys were less likely to attribute mixed emotions to story victimizers. Although non-aggressive participants attributed both inappropriate and appropriate emotions simultaneously to story victimizers, aggressive participants attributed either inappropriate or appropriate emotions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for social and emotional information processing research.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2003 .M36. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 42-02, page: 0692. Adviser: Rosanne Menna. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2003.

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