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Julian K, Allbaugh LJ. Shame, guilt, and drinking motives as mediators between child maltreatment and problematic alcohol use in college students. JOURNAL OF AMERICAN COLLEGE HEALTH : J OF ACH 2024:1-12. [PMID: 38626427 DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2024.2338412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/18/2024]
Abstract
Objective: Drinking for emotion regulation may be a concern for college students who have experienced childhood maltreatment, due to high levels of shame and guilt. The present cross-sectional survey study tested how trait shame-proneness, trait guilt-proneness, and trauma-related guilt are differently related to drinking motives and how these pathways mediate the links between maltreatment severity and alcohol outcomes. Participants: Undergraduate student drinkers (n = 464; M age = 19.50, SD = 2.20) from a midsized midwestern University. Methods: Participants completed an online survey inquiring about demographics, childhood maltreatment, shame, guilt, drinking motives, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences. Results: There were several significant serial indirect effects of maltreatment on alcohol consumption and related consequences, through trauma-related guilt, shame-proneness, guilt-proneness, drinking-to-cope, and drinking for mood enhancement. Conclusions: On college campuses, to address problematic drinking among childhood maltreatment survivors, interventions may target maladaptive feelings of shame and guilt stemming from trauma exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelsey Julian
- Department of Psychology, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA
| | - Lucy J Allbaugh
- Department of Psychology, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA
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2
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Zhang L, Wang P, Liu L, Wu X, Wang W. Childhood maltreatment affects college students' nonsuicidal self-injury: Dual effects via trauma-related guilt, trauma-related shame, and prosocial behaviors. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2023; 141:106205. [PMID: 37116449 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 04/02/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Few studies have explored the impact of trauma-related guilt, trauma-related shame and prosocial behaviors on the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college students' NSSI. OBJECTIVE The present study examined how trauma-related guilt, trauma-related shame, and prosocial behaviors mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college students' NSSI. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING The sample comprised 496 college students (40.7 % male participants, age = 18.98 ± 1.35 years) from five universities in China. METHODS This longitudinal study was conducted three times with a six-month interval. Childhood maltreatment was assessed at Time 1; trauma-related guilt, trauma-related shame, and prosocial behaviors were assessed at Time 2; and NSSI was assessed at Time 3. RESULTS The results suggested that prosocial behaviors mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college students' NSSI (β = 0.021, 95 % CI = 0.005 to 0.049), and trauma-related shame played a mediating role in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college students' NSSI (β = 0.030, 95 % CI = 0.004 to 0.077). In addition, trauma-related guilt and prosocial behaviors showed a serial mediating effect between childhood maltreatment and NSSI (β = -0.002, 95 % CI = -0.009 to -0.0003). Trauma-related shame and prosocial behaviors also showed a serial mediating effect between childhood maltreatment and NSSI (β = 0.002, 95 % CI = 0.0002 to 0.009). CONCLUSION Prosocial behaviors act as a protective factor of college students' NSSI. Trauma-related shame following childhood maltreatment could reduce prosocial behaviors, which may ultimately increase NSSI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liying Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University
| | - Peizhong Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University
| | - Luming Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University
| | - Xinchun Wu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University
| | - Wenchao Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University.
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Stewart CA, Mitchell DGV, MacDonald PA, Pasternak SH, Tremblay PF, Finger E. The psychophysiology of guilt in healthy adults. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023:10.3758/s13415-023-01079-3. [PMID: 36964412 PMCID: PMC10400478 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01079-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 03/26/2023]
Abstract
Guilt is a negative emotion, elicited by realizing one has caused actual or perceived harm to another person. Anecdotally, guilt often is described as a visceral and physical experience. However, while the way that the body responds to and contributes to emotions is well known in basic emotions, little is known about the characteristics of guilt as generated by the autonomic nervous system. This study investigated the physiologic signature associated with guilt in adults with no history of psychological or autonomic disorder. Healthy adults completed a novel task, including an initial questionnaire about their habits and attitudes, followed by videos designed to elicit guilt, as well as the comparison emotions of amusement, disgust, sadness, pride, and neutral. During the video task, participants' swallowing rate, electrodermal activity, heart rate, respiration rate, and gastric activity rate were continuously recorded. Guilt was associated with alterations in gastric rhythms, electrodermal activity, and swallowing rate relative to some or all the comparison emotions. These findings suggest that there is a mixed pattern of sympathetic and parasympathetic activation during the experience of guilt. These results highlight potential therapeutic targets for modulation of guilt in neurologic and psychiatric disorders with deficient or elevated levels of guilt, such as frontotemporal dementia, posttraumatic stress disorder, and Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chloe A Stewart
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
| | - Derek G V Mitchell
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Penny A MacDonald
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Stephen H Pasternak
- Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Parkwood Institute Research Program, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
| | - Paul F Tremblay
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Elizabeth Finger
- Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Parkwood Institute Research Program, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
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Aafjes-van Doorn K, Luo X, Kealy D, McCollum J, Silberschatz G. Interpersonal guilt and the working alliance in psychotherapy: The moderating role of childhood experience. Clin Psychol Psychother 2023; 30:141-151. [PMID: 36068996 DOI: 10.1002/cpp.2784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2022] [Revised: 07/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Interpersonal guilt often encompasses pathogenic beliefs that imply omnipotent responsibility for others and concerns about abandoning, humiliating or threatening others. This study sought to examine how interpersonal guilt may influence patients' and therapists' ratings of early working alliance and the potential moderating effect of perceived adverse parenting in childhood. Ninety-five patients and their 19 therapists in an outpatient psychotherapy clinic rated their early working alliance after the first and the fifth session in treatment. We conducted separate moderation analyses for patient and therapist-reported working alliance and controlled for psychological distress at baseline. Results suggest that perceived adverse parenting in childhood significantly moderated the effect of interpersonal guilt on the working alliance in such a way that for patients reporting very low levels of perceived adverse experiences, the interpersonal guilt beliefs had a positive effect on working alliance, whereas for those with very high levels of perceived adverse experiences, interpersonal guilt had a negative effect on working alliance. This same pattern of moderation was found for patient- and therapist-reported working alliance at session 1 and therapist-reported working alliance at session 5. Thus, although the effect of interpersonal guilt on the working alliance depends somewhat on the perspective of the working alliance rating (patient or therapist), it mainly depends on developmental experiences of the patient.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Xiaochen Luo
- Department of Counseling Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California, USA
| | - David Kealy
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - James McCollum
- San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - George Silberschatz
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
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5
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Lee KJ, Setoh P. Early prosociality is conditional on opportunity cost and familiarity with the target. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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6
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Gerdemann SC, McAuliffe K, Blake PR, Haun DBM, Hepach R. The ontogeny of children's social emotions in response to (un)fairness. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:191456. [PMID: 36061521 PMCID: PMC9428536 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.191456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Humans have a deeply rooted sense of fairness, but its emotional foundation in early ontogeny remains poorly understood. Here, we asked if and when 4- to 10-year-old children show negative social emotions, such as shame or guilt, in response to advantageous unfairness expressed through a lowered body posture (measured using a Kinect depth sensor imaging camera). We found that older, but not younger children, showed more negative emotions, i.e. a reduced upper body posture, after unintentionally disadvantaging a peer on (4,1) trials than in response to fair (1,1) outcomes between themselves and others. Younger children, in contrast, expressed more negative emotions in response to the fair (1,1) split than in response to advantageous inequity. No systematic pattern of children's emotional responses was found in a non-social context, in which children divided resources between themselves and a non-social container. Supporting individual difference analyses showed that older children in the social context expressed negative emotions in response to advantageous inequity without directly acting on this negative emotional response by rejecting an advantageously unfair offer proposed by an experimenter at the end of the study. These findings shed new light on the emotional foundation of the human sense of fairness and suggest that children's negative emotional response to advantageous unfairness developmentally precedes their rejection of advantageously unfair resource distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stella C. Gerdemann
- Department of Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Peter R. Blake
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Daniel B. M. Haun
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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7
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Gerdemann SC, McAuliffe K, Blake PR, Haun DBM, Hepach R. The ontogeny of children's social emotions in response to (un)fairness. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:191456. [PMID: 36061521 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6154280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Humans have a deeply rooted sense of fairness, but its emotional foundation in early ontogeny remains poorly understood. Here, we asked if and when 4- to 10-year-old children show negative social emotions, such as shame or guilt, in response to advantageous unfairness expressed through a lowered body posture (measured using a Kinect depth sensor imaging camera). We found that older, but not younger children, showed more negative emotions, i.e. a reduced upper body posture, after unintentionally disadvantaging a peer on (4,1) trials than in response to fair (1,1) outcomes between themselves and others. Younger children, in contrast, expressed more negative emotions in response to the fair (1,1) split than in response to advantageous inequity. No systematic pattern of children's emotional responses was found in a non-social context, in which children divided resources between themselves and a non-social container. Supporting individual difference analyses showed that older children in the social context expressed negative emotions in response to advantageous inequity without directly acting on this negative emotional response by rejecting an advantageously unfair offer proposed by an experimenter at the end of the study. These findings shed new light on the emotional foundation of the human sense of fairness and suggest that children's negative emotional response to advantageous unfairness developmentally precedes their rejection of advantageously unfair resource distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stella C Gerdemann
- Department of Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Peter R Blake
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Daniel B M Haun
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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8
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Brazzelli E, Pepe A, Grazzani I. Prosocial Behavior in Toddlerhood: The Contribution of Emotion Knowledge, Theory of Mind, and Language Ability. Front Psychol 2022; 13:897812. [PMID: 35719532 PMCID: PMC9198648 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.897812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
While scholars have previously investigated the respective contributions of emotional knowledge and language ability to toddlers' prosociality, no studies to date have featured a battery of multiple direct measures assessing both of these abilities plus theory of mind on the one hand, and prosocial behavior on the other hand. In contrast, we conducted the present cross-sectional study with a view to evaluating the unique contributions of each of these three social cognition variables as antecedents of prosocial conduct during toddlerhood, measuring them via a series of individually administered standardized tasks. Furthermore, given that the existing literature documents mixed gender effects, we also set out to explore the role of gender in toddlers' prosociality. Finally, we also controlled for any effects of age on the patterns of association among the key variables. Participants were 127 children aged between 24 and 36 months (M = 29.2 months; SD = 3.5). We identified significant correlations among the variables under study. In addition, stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that each of the social cognition (SC) abilities – i.e., emotion knowledge, theory of mind, and language - made a unique contribution to explaining variance in prosocial behaviors (PB). These findings show that SC is already associated with PB in toddlerhood and suggest the importance of fostering social cognition competence from the early years, with a view to increasing children's propensity to engage in prosocial conduct.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Brazzelli
- Lab for Developmental and Educational Studies in Psychology (https://www.labpse.it/en/), "R. Massa" Department of Human Sciences for Education, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Pepe
- Lab for Developmental and Educational Studies in Psychology (https://www.labpse.it/en/), "R. Massa" Department of Human Sciences for Education, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Ilaria Grazzani
- Lab for Developmental and Educational Studies in Psychology (https://www.labpse.it/en/), "R. Massa" Department of Human Sciences for Education, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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9
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Gerdemann SC, Tippmann J, Dietrich B, Engelmann JM, Hepach R. Young children show negative emotions after failing to help others. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0266539. [PMID: 35442984 PMCID: PMC9020688 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and shame, motivate the adherence to social norms, including to norms for prosociality. The relevance of an observing audience to the expression of negative self-conscious emotions remains poorly understood. Here, in two studies, we investigated the influence of being observed on 4- to 5-year-old children's (N = 161) emotional response after failing to help someone in need and after failing to complete their own goal. As an index of children's emotional response, we recorded the change in children's upper body posture using a motion depth sensor imaging camera. Failing to help others lowered children's upper body posture regardless of whether children were observed by an audience or not. Children's emotional response was similar when they failed to help and when they failed to complete their own goal. In Study 2, 5-year-olds showed a greater decrease in upper body posture than 4-year-olds. Our findings suggest that being observed is not a necessary condition for young children to express a negative self-conscious emotion after failing to help or after failing to complete their own goal. We conclude that 5-year-olds, more so that 4-year-olds, show negative emotions when they fail to adhere to social norms for prosociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stella C. Gerdemann
- Department of Early Child Development, Faculty of Education, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Jenny Tippmann
- Institute for Medical Informatics and Biometry, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
- Center for Evidence-based Healthcare, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Bianca Dietrich
- Department of Psychology, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Jan M. Engelmann
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States of America
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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10
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Kolak AM, Volling BL. Amenders and Avoiders: an examination of guilt and shame for toddlers and their older siblings. Cogn Emot 2022; 36:805-820. [PMID: 35319341 PMCID: PMC9458630 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2022.2054779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Guilt- and shame-prone responding were examined in a sample of 146, 18-month-old toddlers and their older siblings (M = 49.5 months, SD = 10.4) during mishap tasks which were used to differentiate both toddlers and their older siblings into Amenders (low avoidance) and Avoiders (high avoidance). Toddlers and older siblings classified as Amenders expressed more concern and were less distressed by the mishap than Avoiders. Children were divided into four groups: Amender-Amender (older sibling-toddler), Amender-Avoider, Avoider-Avoider, and Avoider-Amender to examine differences in sibling interaction and moral development. Older siblings in the Avoider-Avoider group were significantly more aggressive and less empathic toward toddlers than older siblings in the Avoider-Amender group. Toddlers in the Amender-Amender, Amender-Avoider, and Avoider-Amender groups showed significant gains in moral regulation from 18 to 24 months whereas toddlers in the Avoider-Avoider group did not. In contrast, while older siblings were generally high on moral regulation when toddlers were 18 months, this was not the case for older siblings in the Avoider-Avoider group, who had lower moral regulation scores that significantly increased over time. Findings are discussed with respect to the significance of sibling socialisation for toddlers' developing moral sensibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy M Kolak
- Department of Psychology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Brenda L Volling
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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11
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The Role of Guilt and Empathy on Prosocial Behavior. Behav Sci (Basel) 2022; 12:bs12030064. [PMID: 35323383 PMCID: PMC8945273 DOI: 10.3390/bs12030064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2022] [Revised: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Research on the effects of guilt on interpersonal relationships has shown that guilt frequently motivates prosocial behavior in dyadic social situations. When multiple persons are involved, however, this emotion can be disadvantageous for other people in the social environment. Two experiments were carried out to examine the effect of guilt and empathy on prosocial behavior in a context in which more than two people are involved. Experiment 1 investigates whether, in three-person situations, guilt motivates prosocial behavior with beneficial effects for the victim of one’s actions but disadvantageous effects for the third individual. Participants were faced with a social dilemma in which they could choose to take action that would benefit themselves, the victim, or the other individual. The findings show that guilt produces disadvantageous side effects for the third individual person present without negatively affecting the transgressor’s interest. In Experiment 2, participants were faced with a social dilemma in which they could act to benefit themselves, the victim, or a third person for whom they were induced to feel empathic concern. Again, the results show that guilt generates advantages for the victim but, in this case, at the expense of the transgressor and not at the expense of the third person, for whom they were induced to feel empathic concern. Therefore, guilt and empathy seem to limit the transgressor’s interest. The theoretical implications are discussed.
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Waddington O, Hepach R, Jackson IR, Köymen B. Preschool children's evaluations of their own unjustified requests. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 218:105377. [PMID: 35150938 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
To make a fair request, requesters should consider the perspective of the requestee and contrast his or her needs with their own needs. Making an unjustified request (e.g., requesting something we do not need but the requestee does need) can induce some negative feelings such as guilt. Here, we investigated whether making unjustified requests resulted in negative emotions in 3- and 5-year-old children. Participants (N = 83; 34 girls) requested resources that they did or did not need from an experimenter who either did or did not need them. Both age groups were slower and more hesitant to make an unjustified request (children did not need the sticker, but the experimenter did) and also showed lowered body posture when making an unjustified request compared with when making a justified request (children needed the sticker, but the experimenter did not). Three-year-olds showed more pronounced changes in their posture, whereas 5-year-olds' emotional expression was overall more blunted. Rather, older children relied more on verbal indirect utterances (e.g., "You've got lovely stickers"), as opposed to direct requests (e.g., "Can I have that sticker?"), when making unjustified requests. These results suggest that preschool children already apply impartial normative standards to their requests for help, account for the fairness of their requests, and consider the needs of others when requesting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Owen Waddington
- School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Iain R Jackson
- School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Bahar Köymen
- School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
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Zhang Q. Positive Effects of Prosocial Cartoon Viewing on Aggression Among Children: The Potential Mediating Role of Aggressive Motivation. Front Psychol 2021; 12:742568. [PMID: 35069323 PMCID: PMC8782158 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Prosocial cartoon is characterized by helping others solve difficulties, including helping, donating, sharing, comforting, and cooperating. The current study examined whether viewing a prosocial cartoon decreases aggression immediately upon exposure and the potential mediating role of aggressive motivation. Participants involve 168 children (M age = 5.87 years, SD = 0.41) nominated by teachers as aggressive from three Chinese kindergartens. Children in the treatment group watched a prosocial cartoon (American cartoon "Handy Manny"), while children in the control group watched a nonprosocial cartoon (Chinese cartoon "Fruity Robo"). Afterward, the Hot Sauce Task (HST) was employed to assess aggressive behavior, and Aggressive Motivation Questionnaire (AMQ) was employed to assess aggressive motivation. Results revealed that viewing a prosocial cartoon (vs. a nonprosocial cartoon) did reduce children's aggression immediately upon exposure. Specifically, males showed less aggressive behavior than females upon prosocial cartoon exposure, while males showed more aggressive behavior than females upon nonprosocial cartoon exposure. Mediational analysis suggested that the prosocial cartoon effect on aggression was partially mediated by aggressive motivation, especially for males. Consistent with general aggression model (GAM), findings of the study indicated that short-term exposure to a prosocial cartoon decreased children's aggression by reducing aggressive motivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Zhang
- Center for Studies of Education and Psychology of Minorities in Southwest Area, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Department of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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15
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Decety J, Holvoet C. The emergence of empathy: A developmental neuroscience perspective. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2021.100999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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16
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Fimiani R, Gazzillo F, Dazzi N, Bush M. Survivor guilt: Theoretical, empirical, and clinical features. INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/0803706x.2021.1941246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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17
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Unique and interactive effects of guilt and sympathy on bystander aggressive defender intervention in cyberbullying: The mediation of self-regulation. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2021.106842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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18
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Nikolić M, Roth T. A comparative glance on self-conscious emotions: A commentary on Kret et al. (2020). Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 129:154-156. [PMID: 34339709 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.07.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Milica Nikolić
- Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Tom Roth
- Comparative Psychology and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, the Netherlands
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Malti T, Peplak J, Zhang L. The Development of Respect in Children and Adolescents. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 2021; 85:7-99. [PMID: 32779237 DOI: 10.1111/mono.12417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Respect is an integral part of everyday life. It is a virtue central to the aim of living an ethically good life. Despite its importance, little is known about its emergence, development, correlates, and consequences. In this monograph, we aim to fill this gap by presenting empirical work on children's and adolescents' thinking and feelings about respect. Specifically, we examined the development of respect in ethnically diverse samples of children between the ages of 5 and 15 years (N = 476). Using a narrative and semi-structured interview, as well as self-, caregiver- and teacher-reports, and peer-nominations, we collected information on children's respect conceptions and reasoning, as well as on the social-emotional correlates and prosocial and aggressive behavioral outcomes of respect. We begin with a review of theoretical accounts on respect. This includes a selective overview of the history of respect in philosophy and psychology in Chapter I. Here, we discuss early writings and conceptualizations of respect across the seminal works of Kant and others. We then provide an account of the various ways in which respect is conceptualized across the psychological literature. In Chapter II, we review extant developmental theory and research on respect and its development, correlates, and behavioral consequences. In this chapter, as part of our developmental framework, we discuss how respect is related and distinct from other emotions such as sympathy and admiration. Next, we describe our methodology (Chapter III). This includes a summary of our research aims, samples, and measures used for exploring this novel area of research. Our primary goals were to examine how children and adolescents conceptualize respect, how their conceptualizations differ by age, whether and to what degree children feel respect toward others' "good" behavior (i.e., respect evaluations for behavior rooted in ethical norms of kindness, fairness, and personal achievement goals), and how children's respect is related to other ethical emotions and behaviors. The next three chapters provide a summary of our empirical findings. Chapter IV showcases our prominent results on the development of children's conceptions of respect. Results revealed that children, across age, considered prosociality to be the most important component involved in conceptualizations of respect. We also found age-related increases in children's beliefs about fairness as a core component of respect. Children and adolescents also reported feeling higher levels of respect for behavior in the ethical domain (e.g., sharing fairly and inclusion) than behavior in the personal domain (i.e., achieving high grades in school). Chapter V investigates how sympathy and feelings of sadness over wrongdoing relate to respect conceptions and respect for behavior. Our findings show that sadness over wrongdoing was positively associated with adolescents' fairness conceptions of respect. Sympathy was positively related to children's feelings of respect toward others' ethical behavior. In Chapter VI, we present links between respect and social behavior. Our findings provide some evidence that children's feelings of respect are positively linked with prosocial behavior and children's conceptions of respect (particularly those reflecting themes of fairness and equality) are negatively related to physical aggression. In the last two chapters, we discuss the empirical findings and their implications for practice and policy. In Chapter VII, we draw upon recent work in the field of social-emotional development to interpret our results and provide insight into how our findings extend previous seminal work on the development of respect from early childhood to adolescence. Finally, in Chapter VIII, we conclude by discussing implications for educational and clinical practice with children and adolescents, as well as social policies aimed at reducing discrimination and nurturing children's well-being and positive peer relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina Malti
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.,Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy, University of Toronto Mississauga
| | - Joanna Peplak
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.,Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy, University of Toronto Mississauga
| | - Linlin Zhang
- School of Psychology, Capital Normal University Beijing
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Lenz S, Essler S, Wörle M, Paulus M. "Who will share with me?": Preschoolers rely on their friends more than on their nonfriends to share with them. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 203:105037. [PMID: 33291006 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2020] [Revised: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 10/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
During the preschool years, children start to share selectively with close affiliates such as friends. However, it is unclear whether preschool children also selectively rely on their own friends more than on their nonfriends to share with them. Moreover, the developmental course of this relationship-dependent reliance is unknown. In the current study, therefore, we investigated to what extent preschoolers rely on their friends and nonfriends to share with them. To this end, we analyzed the choices of 82 3- to 5-year old children by means of a metacognitive opt-out paradigm. Children were led to believe that a friend and a disliked peer have had the opportunity-but have not been obligated-to share a highly valued resource with them by putting it in a box. Children could then choose between the above-mentioned box by their peer and an opt-out box that contained a slightly less attractive but certain item. Thus, children were expected to choose the peer's box only if they thought that their peer had shared with them. Otherwise, they should choose the opt-out option to maximize their outcome. Our results reveal developmental changes with older but not younger preschool children relying on their friends to share with them and relying more on their friends than on their nonfriends. This highlights the developmental changes in selective reliance over the preschool years and gives further insight into how young children learn to navigate the social world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Lenz
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80802 Munich, Germany.
| | - Samuel Essler
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80802 Munich, Germany
| | - Monika Wörle
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80802 Munich, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80802 Munich, Germany
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Donohue MR, Williamson RA, Tully EC. Emotional Contexts Influence Toddlers' Prosocial Strategies. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2020; 44:551-556. [PMID: 33758446 PMCID: PMC7983853 DOI: 10.1177/0165025420912007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Prosocial behavior is a highly heterogeneous construct, and young children use distinct prosocial actions in response to differing emotional needs of another person. This study examined whether toddlers' prosocial responses differed in response to two understudied emotional contexts-whether or not children caused a victim's distress, and the specific emotion expressed by the victim. Toddlers (N = 86; M age =35 months) and their parent participated in two separate mishap paradigms in which parents feigned pain and sadness, respectively. Half of the sample was led to believe they had transgressed to cause their parent's distress, whereas the other half simply witnessed parent distress as bystanders. Results indicated that toddlers were overall equally prosocial when they were transgressors compared to when they were bystanders, and significantly more prosocial in response to sadness than pain Toddlers were significantly more likely to use affection as transgressors than bystanders, information seeking as bystanders than transgressors, and affection in response to pain than sadness. All children used greater helping in response to sadness than pain, and this was especially true when they were bystanders. Findings add to mounting evidence of the complexity of prosocial action in early childhood by identifying that two, distinct emotional contexts influence the amount and type of prosocial behaviors that toddlers use to help others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghan Rose Donohue
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, USA
| | | | - Erin C. Tully
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
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Lin HC, Janice J. Disengagement is as revealing as prosocial action for young children’s responding to strangers in distress: How personal distress and empathic concern come into play. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1177/0165025420912015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
In a paradigm of simulated stranger distress designed to elicit empathic arousal, this study examined multiple elements of responding in 61 preschoolers. Disengagement from stranger distress was underscored in addition to prosocial responding. All children encountered a female adult stranger feigning stomach ache followed by an infant manikin emitting cry sound in a bassinet. Behaviors were coded for other-oriented behaviors, personal distress, and disengagement. In contrast to the traditional supposition, behaviors indicative of personal distress covaried positively with empathic concern and negatively with disengagement. The findings of multiple regression analysis demonstrated how empathic concern and personal distress jointly related to disengaging behaviors in children’s response to stranger distress.
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Abstract
This comment explores the use of behavioral measures in the developmental study of guilt and gratitude reviewed by Vaish and Hepach (2020). Although the use of behavioral measures in developmental emotion research might be seen as a limitation in that researchers cannot be sure that young children are actually experiencing guilt or gratitude, behavioral measures have several advantages over self-report measures, including the ability to reduce self-presentation bias and to assess emotions and motivations that may be implicit. Other fields that study guilt and gratitude might follow in developmental psychology’s lead and incorporate more behavioral measures of guilt, gratitude, and prosociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jo-Ann Tsang
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, USA
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Abstract
Humans rely heavily on their prosocial relationships. We propose that the experience and display of prosocial emotions evolved to regulate such relationships through inhibiting individual selfishness in service of others. Two emotions in particular serve to meet two central requirements for upholding prosociality: gratitude motivates maintenance of ongoing prosocial interactions, and guilt motivates repair of ruptured prosocial interactions. We further propose, and review developmental evidence, that nascent forms of these two emotions serve their respective functions from early in ontogeny. The remarkably early emergence of these prosocial emotions allows even very young children to participate in and benefit from prosociality. We discuss the implications of and challenges to this conclusion and identify pressing future directions for this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amrisha Vaish
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, USA
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Research Methods in Early Child Development, University of Leipzig, Germany
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Abstract
Guilt theoretically functions to motivate reparative behaviors, which, in turn, theoretically alleviate guilt and prevent depression. Although empirical research supports these theories in adults, studies have not investigated causal relations between guilt and reparative behaviors in children. Thus, this study examined whether guilt motivates children's reparative behaviors, and whether their reparative behaviors successfully alleviate guilty feelings. Six-to 10-year olds (N = 97) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions. Children in the experimental condition were led to believe they had transgressed to cause a peer's distress. Children self-reported their guilt following the transgression, and then had the opportunity to repair the transgression by giving stickers and writing a note to the victimized peer. Following the repair opportunity, children self-reported their guilt a second time. Children in the experimental condition (i.e., children who felt guilty) engaged in greater reparative behavior than children in a no-guilt condition who were led to believe they had caused a peer's slightly positive emotions. Further, children in the experimental condition reported reduced guilt across the first to second guilt measurement, whereas children in the no-repair condition (who transgressed but did not have a repair opportunity) did not report reduced guilt over time. Results demonstrate that guilt and reparative behaviors function as theorized in middle childhood and may begin to inform reparative interventions aimed at preventing maladaptive guilt and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghan Rose Donohue
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, USA
| | - Erin C. Tully
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, USA
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Dahl A. The Science of Early Moral Development: on Defining, Constructing, and Studying Morality from Birth. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2018; 56:1-35. [PMID: 30846044 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2018.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The first 4 years of moral development are perhaps the most transformative. Helpless neonates become infants who routinely help and harm others; infants develop into preschoolers who make moral judgments based on moral concerns with welfare. Over the past two decades, there has been tremendous empirical progress, but also theoretical stalemates, in research on early moral development. To advance the field, this chapter argues for providing definitions of key terms, adopting an interactionist and constructivist approach (eschewing the dichotomy between innate and learned characteristics), and combining naturalistic and experimental methods. On this basis, the chapter reviews research on how children's orientations toward helping and harming others develop gradually through everyday social interactions in the early years. In these interactions, children play active roles through initiation, negotiation, protest, and construction. The chapter concludes with key questions for future research on early moral development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audun Dahl
- University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, United States.
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Vaish A. The prosocial functions of early social emotions: the case of guilt. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 20:25-29. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2017] [Revised: 06/20/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Moral stories emphasizing actors' negative emotions toward their nonhelping behavior promote preschoolers' helping behavior. J Exp Child Psychol 2017; 168:19-31. [PMID: 29289798 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2016] [Revised: 11/23/2017] [Accepted: 11/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Specific emotions, especially guilt, are considered to facilitate children's prosocial behavior. The current study differentiated moral stories with a helping theme in terms of the valence and source of emotions and aimed to clarify the effect of these stories on preschoolers' helping intentions and behavior. A total of 322 preschoolers between 4 and 6 years old were randomly assigned to four experimental groups and one control group. A specific type of moral story was presented to each of the experimental groups, whereas a nonmoral story was presented to the control group. The preschoolers were also asked to answer relevant questions to examine their story comprehension. The preschoolers' donating intentions and behavior were then measured. The results showed that all the experimental groups expressed more donating intentions than the control group. However, only the group that read the moral story emphasizing the actor's negative emotions toward his nonhelping behavior displayed more donating behavior than the control group. Therefore, the current study reveals that various moral stories dealing with a helping theme can facilitate helping intentions among preschoolers and that only certain stories can promote their helping behavior. Thus, it indicates the specificity of moral stories that facilitate prosocial behavior in terms of the valence and source of emotions in those stories.
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Nuske HJ, Hedley D, Woollacott A, Thomson P, Macari S, Dissanayake C. Developmental delays in emotion regulation strategies in preschoolers with autism. Autism Res 2017; 10:1808-1822. [DOI: 10.1002/aur.1827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2017] [Revised: 04/11/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Heather J. Nuske
- Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Pennsylvania USA
| | - Darren Hedley
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University; Victoria Australia
| | - Alexandra Woollacott
- Psychology Department; College of Arts and Sciences, Seattle University, Seattle; Washington USA
| | - Phoebe Thomson
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University; Victoria Australia
| | - Suzanne Macari
- Child Study Center; School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, New Haven; Connecticut USA
| | - Cheryl Dissanayake
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University; Victoria Australia
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