William F. Arsenio

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.

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.

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.

Young Children's Emotionally-Charged Moral Narratives: Relations with Attachment and Behavior Problems.

Participants were 45 mostly African-American or Latino young children (25 boys, 20 girls, mean age = 56.4 months), with about half recruited from a mental health facility and half from preschool settings. Children were administered two separate interviews examining their affectively-charged moral narratives regarding acts of victimization (Moral MSSB) and their attachment-related narratives (SAT). In addition, childrens teachers or therapists completed assessments of the attachment-like aspects of their relationships with children (STRS), and a measure of childrens behavior problems and competencies (C-TRF). Overall, after controlling for child age, gender, SES, and expressive language ability, children with more externalizing problems were more likely to describe aggressive themes, and less likely to mention adult aid or taking responsibility for transgressions in their moral narratives. In addition, more positive attachments (both the SAT and STRS) were associated with fewer externalizing problems. More than half of the total variance in childrens externalizing scores could be predicted from a combination of the attachment and Moral MSSB variables. These findings have implications for understanding the affective origins of young childrens externalizing behavior problems involving both peers and adults.

Adolescents' Conceptions of National Wealth Distribution: Connections with Perceived Societal Fairness and Academic Plans.

This study examined mostly lower-middle–income Latino (37%) and African American (33%) adolescents’ (N = 90, Mage = 15.90) conceptions of how U.S. wealth is and ought to be distributed, and whether these judgments are related to adolescents’ views about societal and legal fairness and their immediate academic plans. Individually administered multipart interviews assessed conceptions regarding (a) actual and ideal U.S. wealth distribution and related “Rawlsian” judgments, (b) social system and legal fairness, and (c) adolescents’ near-term life goals. Overall, adolescents underestimated actual levels of U.S. wealth inequality while also preferring a more egalitarian distribution than was believed to exist. Adolescents’ wealth-related reasoning was mostly unrelated to other societal or personal judgments, whereas societal and legal fairness judgments were related to personal academic plans. Although adolescents had generally negative views of societal and legal fairness, having more positive fairness conceptions was related to a greater emphasis on academic plans. Compared with their younger peers, older adolescents preferred somewhat more wealth inequality for motivational and economic reasons and preferred living in a society with some inequality.

Coping with Negative Emotions: Connections with Adolescents’ Academic Performance and Stress

ABSTRACT The authors assessed connections among adolescents’ emotional dispositions, negative academic affect, coping strategies, academic stress, and overall grade point average (GPA). A total of 119 ninth through 12th-grade students completed assessments for (a) overall positive and negative moods, (b) GPA, and (c) academically related variables involving stress, negative emotions, and engaged and disengaged coping strategies. Greater negative academic affect and disengaged coping were related to lower GPAs, and disengaged coping mediated the connection between negative academic affect and GPA. By contrast, higher academic stress was related to students’ overall moods, negative academic affect, and disengaged coping; disengaged coping mediated the connection between academic stress and negative overall moods. Discussion focused on the especially problematic nature of disengaged academic coping.

Social Information Processing, Emotions, and Aggression: Conceptual and Methodological Contributions of the Special Section Articles

This discussion summarizes some of the key conceptual and methodological contributions of the four articles in this special section on social information processing (SIP) and aggression. One major contribution involves the new methodological tools these studies provide for future researchers. Eye-tracking and mood induction techniques will make it possible for SIP researchers to study attentional and emotion-related processes across the six SIP steps. In addition, the STEP-P instrument will open up the study of emotionally-charged aspects of preschoolers’ early SIP. A second contribution is how these articles emphasize the dynamic interplay of emotional and cognitive processes in the emergence of children’s and adolescents’ aggressive tendencies. Finally, implicit developmental themes are raised by several of these studies. Discussion concludes with suggestions for future research, including a focus on the positive (i.e., non-disruptive) role of emotions, and on the connections between moral development and aggression.

Emotional Intelligence and the Intelligence of Emotions: A Developmental Perspective on Mixed EI Models

In their article Zeidner, Matthews, Roberts and MacCann [2002] provide a thought-provoking model of the emergence and differentiation of children’s emotional intelligence (EI) by focusing on different levels of children’s emotion regulation. Their model is part of a general explosion of research and theory on children’s and adults’ emotional functioning, a proliferation that has important if sometimes ignored roots in functionalist, psychoevolutionary theories [e.g., Ekman, 1993; Izard, 1990]. This brief commentary will address some of the connections between mixed EI models and existing developmental research and theory, with an emphasis both on how Zeidner et al.’s model can help to clarify implicit confusions in the developmental literature regarding children’s emotional functioning, and on how a better understanding of the developmental literature can correct misconceptions about adult EI.

The Psychological and Educational Costs of Growing Income Inequality

Chrystia Freeland [2012] describes a remarkable episode in the history of Venice, Italy that she believes has important implications for modern America. In 1315, at the height of Venetian economic influence, wealthy Venetians put ‘a formal stop to social mobility with the publication of the Libro D’Oro, or Book of Gold, an official registry of the Venetian nobility. If you weren’t on it, you couldn’t join the ruling oligarchy’ (p. 5). The Venetians called the change La Serrata (The Closure), and within decades a potential democracy became an oligarchy, and economic and social opportunities were closed to all newcomers. As Freeland notes, by 1500 Venice’s population was smaller than it was in 1330, and it continued to shrink in the 17th and 18th centuries while the rest of Europe grew. By the end of Greg Duncan and Richard Murnane’s edited book, Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances, it is easy to worry that America’s own version of the Closure has already begun. In this landmark book, 25 chapters by leading psychologists, economists, and public policy experts focus on the fundamental and ongoing economic changes affecting children’s educational opportunities, performance, and likely job trajectories. The conclusions of these authors are complex, sometimes contradictory, and even encouraging at times (e.g., African-American students and young women have recently experienced some substantial academic gains). Overall, however, American income inequality is growing and, as many of these chapters reveal, family income is increasingly predictive of children’s educational opportunities and attainments. Social class matters more than ever, and unfortunately Americans are not very good at thinking about class.

Psychological Limits of Economic Rationality: Relational Contexts and Cognitive Irrationality

Gummerum, Hanoch, and Keller introduced some of the basic ideas and methods of economic game theory to a developmental audience in their article. They began by observing that developmental psychology and economic game theory share some overlapping interests involving concepts such as fairness, prosociality, and trust. Moreover, they argued, even an initial integration of these two approaches promises to introduce some important new methods and conceptual frameworks to those who study children’s social development, while providing some understanding of the social and cognitive trajectories and competencies underlying basic aspects of adults’ economic behavior. Gummerum et al. have done an admirable job of both providing a succinct overview of the psychological aspects of game theory and raising some broader questions that will stimulate discussion between psychologists (developmental and others) and economists. In this commentary, I would like to elaborate briefly on two quite different ways in which the psychological literature contradicts some of the basic claims of normative game theory. The first involves the central focus of the article by Gummerum et al.: Human economic behavior is influenced by a host of affectively charged interpersonal considerations involving trust, reciprocity, fairness, and other sociomoral connections. Moreover, these connections are psychologically normative in ways that fundamentally contradict the presumed narrow self-interest at the heart of normative game theory. Relationships and relationship histories (as well as culture) clearly have a deep effect on economic choices and beliefs. The second psychological contribution to economic behavior, however, is neither developmental (at least yet) nor affectively charged in any adaptive way, and it is not touched on at all by Gummerum