Elizabeth A. Lemerise

An integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing.

Literature on the contributions of social cognitive and emotion processes to childrens social competence is reviewed and interpreted in the context of an integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing. Neurophysiological and functional evidence for the centrality of emotion processes in personal-social decision making is reviewed. Crick and Dodges model is presented as a cognitive model of social decision making, and a revised model is proposed into which emotion processes are integrated. Hypotheses derived from the proposed model are described.

Social-Cognitive and Behavioral Correlates of Aggression and Victimization in Boys' Play Groups

A contrived play group procedure was utilized to examine the behavioral and social-cognitive correlates of reactive aggression, proactive aggression, and victimization via peers. Eleven play groups, each of which consisted of six familiar African-American 8-year-old boys, met for 45-min sessions on five consecutive days. Social-cognitive interviews were conducted following the second and fourth sessions. Play group interactions were videotaped and examined by trained observers. High rates of proactive aggression were associated with positive outcome expectancies for aggression/assertion, frequent displays of assertive social behavior, and low rates of submissive behavior. Reactive aggression was associated with hostile attributional tendencies and frequent victimization by peers. Victimization was associated with submissive behavior, hostile attributional bias, reactive aggression, and negative outcome expectations for aggression/assertion. These results demonstrate that there is a theoretically coherent and empirically distinct set of correlates associated with each of the examined aggression subtypes, and with victimization by peers.

Varieties of Childhood Bullying: Values, Emotion Processes and Social Competence.

Understanding the nature of bullies and bullying is of considerable theoretical and practical importance. We offer a commentary on a recent debate on this topic between Sutton, Smith, and Swettenham (1999a, 1999b) and Crick and Dodge (1999). In this commentary, we first summarize the main points of the debate, including alternative views of bullies as social inadequates versus Machiavellian schemers. Then we clarify some unresolved issues concerning the nature and limits of social competence and the roles of values in both social competence and in bullying. Finally, it is argued that variations in children’s emotion processes, such as emotionality and emotion regulation, also may underlie some of the individual differences that have been found in empathy, social information processing, and in reactive (‘hot-headed’) and proactive (‘cold-blooded’) aggressive and bullying patterns.

Characteristics of saccades in human infants

Infants (14-151 days) and adults were shown two-dimensional geometric forms or stimuli from a set of highly textured patterns. Their eye movements were recorded by an infrared corneal reflection eye movement recorder as they freely scanned the stimuli. For both infants and adults, linear relationships were found between the peak velocities of fast eye movements and their amplitudes (main sequences). Infants viewing texture stimuli had main sequences with slopes comparable to those of adults. Infants viewing simple geometric forms made slower saccades. They also showed more eye movement oscillations which analyses showed were probably back-to-back saccades. Both the slower saccades and saccadic oscillations were attributed to factors related to the attentional value of the stimuli.

The distribution of fixation durations in infants and naive adults

The distributions of durations of fixations from infants and free-viewing adults are shown to be basically exponential for different stimulus conditions. It is found that fixation duration can be divided into two periods. One, the alpha-period, is a refractory period during which a saccade does not occur and fluctuates across fixations. The other, the beta-period, is a random variable intrinsic to each fixation and constitutes a waiting-time for a saccade that occurs with constant probability per unit time. It is shown that mean duration decreases when stimulus size increases. These results suggest that fixations are terminated by saccades triggered by non-foveal stimulation.

Peer Relations and School Adjustment in Ungraded Primary Children.

Researchers have reported a significant relationship between peer relations and school adjustment in same-age classrooms, but little is known about the contribution of peer relations to school adjustment in mixed-age classrooms. The present study investigated the contributions of peer acceptance, friendship, social status, and age relative to mixed-age classmates to childrens attitudes toward school and to achievement in ungraded primary. Childrens attitudes toward school were positively related to composite achievement scores. Achievement was predicted from demographic variables, childrens attitudes, peer acceptance, and friendship status. With the effects of gender and race controlled, differences in school adjustment were related to both childrens social status and whether they had friends.

Emotions, aggression, and morality in children : bridging development and psychopathology

Why do some childrens emerging affective tendencies and abilities make them more aggressive over time, while similar processes make most children less aggressive and more morally mature? Furthermore, what kinds of interventions are effective for altering these pathways? To answer these critical questions, this book takes a unique, integrative approach in two important ways. First, it integrates the psychopathology perspective with the developmental perspective, arguing that aggression and morality are two sides of the same basic developmental story. Second, it integrates research on cognitive processes with research on emotional processes. Drawing largely from social information processing and moral domain theories, the chapters demonstrate how early affective experiences and relationships provide a foundation for childrens subsequent social cognitive understanding of victimization, harm, and moral intentionality. The book consists of three parts. Part I provides theoretical foundations, including the role of emotion in early conscience, empathic tendencies, and how principles of fairness and concern emerge from early parent-child and peer-peer interactions. Part II discusses factors influencing aggression and morality, from neuroscience to culture. Part III discusses implications for assessment and intervention. Bringing together a number of international scholars, this book will appeal to all researchers, clinicians, educators, and policy experts interested in understanding how emotions affect the development of childrens morality and aggression.

The Effect of Induced Mood on Children’s Social Information Processing: Goal Clarification and Response Decision

We investigated whether induced mood influenced the social information processing steps of goal clarification and response decision in 480 1st–3rd graders, and in more selected groups of low accepted-aggressive (n = 39), average accepted-nonaggressive (n = 103), and high accepted-nonaggressive children (n = 68). Children participated in two sessions; in the first session peer assessments were administered. In the second session children were randomly assigned to receive either a happy, angry, or neutral mood induction prior to participating in a social cognitive interview assessing goals, outcome expectancies, and self efficacy for competent, hostile, and passive responses in the context of ambiguous provocations. Results revealed that an angry mood increased focus on instrumental goals. Low accepted-aggressive children were more susceptible to the effects of mood than were high accepted- and average-nonaggressive children. In addition, children’s predominant goal orientation was related to children’s response decisions; children with predominantly instrumental goals evaluated nonhostile responses to provocation more negatively and had higher self efficacy for hostile responses. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The Development of Anger from Preschool to Middle Childhood: Expressing, Understanding, and Regulating Anger

A review is provided of the developmental course of anger during the preschool years (3–5 years) and middle childhood (6 –12 years). In addition, individual differences in anger during these developmental periods are reviewed. Three main aspects of anger are the focus of this chapter: (a) expression of anger, (b) perception and understanding of anger, and (c) regulation of anger. From the preschool years through middle childhood and beyond, children make great strides in the perception and understanding of anger and in regulating the anger they feel and express. These developmental changes are supported by advances in children’s perceptual and cognitive development and by sensitive and responsive caregiving. The preschool years are a key time in the socialization of anger as perceptual, cognitive, and language development provide important tools for identifying, understanding, and regulating anger. Converging evidence demonstrates that, by the time of school entry, those children who have not mastered these skills are at risk for peer relations problems, poor adjustment to school, and a variety of externalizing problems.

Emotional Competence and Social Relations

Models of emotional competence are briefly reviewed and a working definition of emotional competence is offered. We address how emotional competence is related to social relations in two ways. First,