Social Cognition Aggression SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Social Cognition Aggression

Social Cognitive Development Social cognition An understanding of the social world Cognitive models of social behavior Social origins of cognition

Cognitive Theories of Social Behavior: ToM Social approaches to children’s understanding of mental states “ability to represent other people’s mental states such as thoughts, beliefs, and desires” there is a single reality and people may have different representations of that reality

ToM Socially competent behavior Problematic behavior (aggression, withdrawal) Moore et al., Jenkins & Astington: peer play involving cooperation Social maturity (communication skills), peer popularity, coordinated play

Reciprocal Villanueva Badenes et al.: ToM and peer popularity Link is stronger for 6 year-olds Implications

Aggression Definition and criteria Behavioral definition: any action that delivers noxious stimuli to another organism Intentional definition: any action intended to harm or injure another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment

Aggression Types Physical aggression Relational aggression: Harming others through purposeful manipulation (hurting others’ friendships or social status) Verbal aggression

SIP and Forms of Aggression Reactive/hostile aggression An angry response to frustration Acts for which the major goal is to inflict harm or injury on the victim Proactive/instrumental aggression Deliberate behavior controlled by external reinforcers (gain access to objects, space etc.) Acts are aggressive in form and may harm another person but are motivated by other reasons

Peer rejection and Adjustment Rejected-aggressive children: Prone to interpret others’ behavior as hostile, even when it isn’t.

Social Information Processing (SIP) Dodge: SIP model of social competence Complex, ambiguous social situations can be interpreted in many ways Roots of aggression: Biased processing of social cues in such ambiguous, unclear situations

Major cognitive steps Encode Interpret Formulate social goals Generate problem-solving strategies Evaluate strategies, Select Enact What happened? Did he mean to...? What do I want to happen? What can I do? What will happen then, what will work? Just do it!

Social Perception Test Original study: correctness of intention attributions made by insecurely attached were examined The act causes some harm to the child or his/her toys. Scenarios: ambiguous as to the intention

Cartoon 1 – Ambiguous Scenario

Cartoon 2 – Ambiguous Scenario

Cartoon 3 – Ambiguous Scenario Problem Definition: “What do you think is happening in this story?” Response Selection: “What would you do if you were in this situation and he/she did that to you?” Anticipation of Consequences: “What do you think would happen after you did that?”

SIP and Aggression Roots of aggression: Biased processing of social cues in such ambiguous, unclear situations Children give more aggressive responses and less prosocial responses Provide less constructive solutions

SIP and Forms of Aggression Reactive/hostile aggression: An angry, defensive response to frustration Proactive/instrumental aggression: Deliberate behavior controlled by external reinforcers Different SIP biases for different forms of aggression Hostile attribution bias Expecting positive outcomes

Mechanisms in the cycle of violence Question: What is the process by which antisocial behavior occurs in abused children? Time 1: Mothers interviewed about Child temperament Discipline practices at age 4 Whether child had been harmed by an adult visible bruises, medical attention Children’s SIP assessed at age 5 Time 2: Aggression in the school environment assessed Teacher ratings, peer ratings, observations

Findings Harmed children biased SIP at age 5  aggression at age 6 early harm  biased SIP  aggression temperament did not correlate with aggression and physical abuse. Experience leads child to conceptualize the world in deviant ways that perpetuate the cycle of violence. Internalizing problems were higher in harmed children than in noharmed children.

Social Information Processing All steps Influenced by the child’s history: abusive or harsh parenting, security of attachment Expectations: about others’ intent and behaviors Knowledge of rules: is it appropriate to display aggressive behavior when frustrated? Does it help solve problems? Encode Interpret Formulate social goals Generate problem-solving strategies Evaluate strategies, Select Enact

SIP and Age Age and development in SIP SIP skills of rejected-aggressive 6 year-olds were immature, typical of much younger children Changes in cognitive skills (attention, memory span, speed of processing, perspective taking and ToM) With age children start to encode more information

Aggression and Age Age related changes in the type of aggression Emotional and behavioral regulation The process of adjusting one’s emotions and bahaviors to appropriate levels in order to accomplish one’s goals Language

Aggression and Gender Boys give more aggressive responses Gender differences: minimal in early years and larger for children older than 3-4 years of age Implications: temperament and parenting Less optimal parenting for boys Gender-role socializing As preschool children learn to label gender reliably, girls’ aggressive behavior (level) dramatically decreases, but boys’ aggressive behavior does not change.

Aggression and Gender Social adjustment problems related with aggression Gender-normative aggression

Bullying Repeated aggression in which one or more persons intend to harm or disturb another physically, verbally, or psychologically Systematic abuse of power Imbalance of power Problems affecting well-being and psychosocial functioning Bullies: delinquency, crime and alcohol abuse Victims: depression, anxiety, self-esteem