Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T22:21:25.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Children's emotion processing: Relations to emotionality and aggression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2004

DAVID SCHULTZ
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University
CARROLL E. IZARD
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
GEORGE BEAR
Affiliation:
University of Delaware

Abstract

We examined the relations between emotionality, emotion processing, and aggression in 182 first- and second-grade children. Consistent with Tomkins' and Izard's theoretical predictions, emotionality correlated with emotion processing. In particular, the happiness component of emotionality correlated with emotion attribution accuracy and empathy, the anger component correlated with anger attribution bias and empathy, and the fear component correlated with fear attribution bias. Multiple emotion processing deficits—including emotion attribution accuracy, anger attribution bias, and self-report of empathy—placed children at risk for heightened levels of teacher-reported aggression. Mediational analyses revealed that an emotion processing risk index fit a model of significant partial mediation between happiness and aggression but not between anger and aggression. The results suggest the multifaceted manner in which children's emotion experiences may influence the development of aggressive tendencies.The authors thank the teachers, staff, parents, and students of the Smyrna, DE, school district for their enthusiastic participation in this project and the dedicated work of Fran Haskins and our many research assistants at the University of Delaware.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abe, J. A., & Izard, C. E. (1999). A longitudinal study of emotion expression and personality relations in early development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77, 566577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arsenio, W. F., Cooperman, S., & Lover, A. (2000). Affective predictors of preschoolers' aggression and peer acceptance: Direct and indirect effects. Developmental Psychology 36, 438448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arsenio, W. F., & Lover, A. (1995). Children's conceptions of sociomoral affect: Happy victimizers, mixed emotions, and other expectancies. In N. Killen & D. Hart (Eds.), Morality in everyday life: Developmental perspectives (pp. 87128). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barth, J. M., & Bastiani, A. (1997). A longitudinal study of emotion recognition and preschool children's social behavior. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly 43, 107128.Google Scholar
Blumberg, S. H., & Izard, C. E. (1985). Affective and cognitive characteristics of depression in 10- and 11-year-old children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49, 194202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. H. (1989). The use of the HOME Inventory in longitudinal studies of child development. In M. H. Bornstein & N. A. Krasnegor (Eds.), Stability and continuity in mental development: Behavioral and biological perspectives (pp. 191215). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bryant, B. K. (1982). An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Development 53, 413425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cairns, R. B., Gariepy, J. L., & Kindermann, T. (1990). Identifying social clusters in natural settings. Unpublished manuscript, Social Development Laboratory, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Camras, L. A., Sachs–Alter, E., & Ribordy, S. C. (1996). Emotion understanding in maltreated children: Recognition of facial expressions and integration with other emotion cues. In M. Lewis & M. W. Sullivan (Eds.), Emotional development in atypical children (pp. 203225). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Caprara, G. V. (1996). Structures and processes in personality psychology. European Psychologist 1, 1426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, C. R., Felleman, E. S., & Masters, J. C. (1983). Influence of children's emotional states on the recognition of emotion in peers and social motives to change another's emotional state. Motivation and Emotion 7, 6179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, R. J. (1996). Emotional competence in children with externalizing and internalizing disorders. In M. Lewis & M. W. Sullivan (Eds.), Emotional development in atypical children (pp. 161183). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Casey, R. J., & Schlosser, S. (1994). Emotional responses to peer praise in children with and without a diagnosed externalizing disorder. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly 40, 6081.Google Scholar
Cervantes, C. A., & Callanan, M. A. (1998). Labels and explanations in mother–child emotion talk: Age and gender differentiation. Developmental Psychology 34, 8898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Ackerman, B. P., & Izard, C. E. (1995). Emotions and emotion regulation in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology 7, 110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Coppotelli, H. (1982). Dimensions and types of social status in the school: A cross-age comparison. Child Development 59, 815829.Google Scholar
Cook, E. T., Greenberg, M. T., & Kusche, C. A. (1994). The relations between emotional understanding, intellectual functioning, and disruptive behavior problems in elementary-school-aged children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 22, 205219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crick, N. R. (1995). Relational aggression: The role of intent attributions, feelings of distress, and provocation type. Development and Psychopathology 7, 313322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin 115, 74101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1996). Social information-processing mechanisms in reactive and proactive aggression. Child Development 67, 9931002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crick, N. R., Grotpeter, J. K., & Bigbee, M. A. (2002). Relationally and physically aggressive children's intent attributions and feelings of distress for relational and instrumental peer provocations. Child Development 73, 11341142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crockenberg, S., & Langrock, A. (2001). The role of specific emotions in children's responses to interparental conflict: A test of the model. Journal of Family Psychology 15, 163182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daleiden, E., Chorpita, B. F., & Lu, W. (2000). Assessment of tripartite factors of emotion in children and adolescents II: Concurrent validity of the affect and arousal scales for children. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 22, 161182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denham, S. A. (1998). Emotional development in young children. New York: Guilford Press.
Dodge, K. A., Lansford, J. E., Burks, V. S., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., Fontaine, R., & Price, J. M. (2003). Peer rejection and social information-processing factors in the development of aggressive behavior problems in children. Child Development 74, 374393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Laird, R., Lochman, J. E., Zelli, A., & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2002). Multidimensional latent-construct analysis of children's social information processing patterns: Correlations with aggressive behavior problems. Psychological Assessment 14, 6073.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Murphy, R. R., & Buchsbaum, K. (1984). The assessment of intention-cue detection skills in children: Implications for developmental psychopathology. Child Development 55, 163173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., & Valente, E. (1995). Social information-processing patterns partially mediate the effect of early physical abuse on later conduct problems. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 104, 632645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., & Price, J. M. (1994). On the relation between social information processing and socially competent behavior in early school-aged children. Child Development 65, 13851397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Price, J. M., Bachorowski, J., & Newman, J. P. (1990). Hostile attributional biases in severely aggressive adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 99, 385392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., & Somberg, D. R. (1987). Hostile attributional biases among aggressive boys are exacerbated under conditions of threat to the self. Child Development 58, 213224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Murphy, B., Karbon, M., Smith, M., & Maszk, P. (1996). The relations of children's dispositional empathy-related responding to their emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Developmental Psychology 32, 195209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Murphy, B. C., Shepard, S., Guthrie, I. K., Mazsk, P., Poulin, R., & Jones, S. (1999). Prediction of elementary school children's socially appropriate and problem behavior from anger reactions at age 4–6 years. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 20, 119142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, N., & Miller, P. A. (1987). The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors. Psychological Bulletin 101, 91119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eley, T. C., & Plomin, R. (1997). Genetic analyses of emotionality. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 7, 279284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flavell, J. H., Miller, P. H., & Miller, S. A. (1993). Cognitive development (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice–Hall.
Harris, M. B., & Siebel, C. E. (1975). Affect, aggression, and altruism. Developmental Psychology 11, 623627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. (1991). Is empathy altruistic? Psychological Inquiry 2, 131133.Google Scholar
Iannotti, R. J. (1978). Effect of role-taking experiences on role taking, empathy, altruism, and aggression. Developmental Psychology 14, 119124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isen, A. M. (1999). Positive affect. In T. Dalgleish & M. J. Power (Eds.), Handbook of cognition and emotion (pp. 521539). New York: Wiley.
Isen, A. M. (2002). Missing in action in the AIM: Positive affect's facilitation of cognitive flexibility, innovation, and problem solving. Psychological Inquiry 13, 5765.Google Scholar
Izard, C. E. (1977). Human emotions. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRef
Izard, C. E. (1979). Emotions in personality and psychopathology. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRef
Izard, C. E. (1991). The psychology of emotions. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRef
Izard, C. E. (1993). Four systems for emotion activation: Cognitive and noncognitive processes. Psychological Review 100, 6890.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izard, C. E. (2001). Emotional intelligence or adaptive emotions? Emotion 1, 249257.Google Scholar
Izard, C. E. (2002). Translating emotion theory and research into preventive interventions. Psychological Bulletin 128, 796824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izard, C. E., Fine, S. E., Schultz, D., Ackerman, B. P., & Youngstrom, E. A. (2001). Emotion knowledge as a predictor of social behavior and academic competence in children at risk. Psychological Science 12, 1823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, J. M., & Oatley, K. (2000). Psychopathology and short-term emotion: The balance of affects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 41, 463472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joreskog, K, & Sorbom, D. (1993). LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the SIMPLIS command language. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kagan, J., & Snidman, N. (1991). Temperamental factors in human development. American Psychologist 46, 856862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karns, A., & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (1997). Social health profile and TOCA-R: Technical report. Unpublished manuscript, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Kaukiainen, A., Bjoerkqvist, K., Lagerspetz, K., Oesterman, K., Salmivalli, C., Rothberg, S., & Ahlbom, A. (1999). The relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggression. Aggressive Behavior 25, 8189.3.0.CO;2-M>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keane, S. P., & Parrish, A. E. (1992). The role of affective information in the determination of intent. Developmental Psychology 28, 159162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keltner, D., & Kring, A. M. (1998). Emotion, social function, and psychopathology. Review of General Psychology 2, 320342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kring, A. M., & Gordon, A. H. (1998). Sex differences in emotion: Expression, experience, and physiology. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 74, 686703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemery, K. S., Goldsmith, H. H., Klinnert, M. D., & Mrazek, D. A. (1999). Developmental models of infant and childhood temperament. Developmental Psychology 35, 189204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lochman, J. E., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). Social-cognitive processes of severely violent, moderately aggressive, and nonaggressive boys. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 62, 366374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malatesta, C. Z., & Wilson, A. (1988). Emotion cognition interaction in personality development: A discrete emotions, functionalist analysis. British Journal of Social Psychology 27, 91112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meerum Terwogt, M., Kremer, H. H., & Stegge, H. (1991). Effects of children's emotional state on their reactions to emotional expressions: A search for congruency effects. Cognition and Emotion 5, 109121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, P. A., & Eisenberg, N. (1988). The relation of empathy to aggressive and externalizing/antisocial behavior. Psychological Bulletin 103, 324344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., & Brown, M. M. (1988). Early family experience, social problem solving patterns, and children's social competence. Child Development 59, 107120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollak, S. D., Cicchetti, D., Hornung, K., & Reed, A. (2000). Recognizing emotion in faces: Developmental effects of child abuse and neglect. Developmental Psychology 36, 679688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quiggle, N. L., Garber, J., Panak, W. F., & Dodge, K. A. (1992). Social information processing in aggressive and depressed children. Child Development 63, 13051320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogosch, F. A., Cicchetti, D., & Aber, J. L. (1995). The role of child maltreatment in early deviations in cognitive and affective processing abilities and later peer relationship problems. Development and Psychopathology 7, 591609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., & Hershey, K. L. (1994). Temperament and social behavior in childhood. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly 40, 2139.Google Scholar
Schultz, D., Izard, C. E., & Ackerman, B. P. (2000). Children's anger attribution biases: Relations to family environment and social adjustment. Social Development 9, 284301.Google Scholar
Schultz, D., Izard, C. E., Ackerman, B. P., & Youngstrom, E. A. (2001). Emotion knowledge in economically-disadvantaged children: Self-regulatory antecedents and relations to social maladjustment. Development and Psychopathology 13, 5367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultz, D., & Shaw, D. S. (2003). Boys' maladaptive social information processing, family emotional climate, and pathways to early conduct problems. Social Development 12, 440460.Google Scholar
Schultz, D., Trentacosta, C., Izard, C. E., Leaf, P., & Mostow, A. (2004). Children's emotion processing: The development of the Assessment of Children's Emotion Skills (ACES). Manuscript submitted for publication.
Schwartz, D. (2000). Subtypes of victims and aggressors in children's peer groups. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 28, 181192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidak, Z. (1967). Rectangular confidence regions for the means of multivariate normal distributions. Journal of the American Statistical Association 62, 626633.Google Scholar
Sobel, M. E. (1988). Direct and indirect effects in linear structural equation models. In J. S. Long (Ed.), Common problems/proper solutions (pp. 4664). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Terry, R., & Coie, J. D. (1991). A comparison of methods for defining sociometric status among children. Developmental Psychology 27, 867880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomkins, S. S. (1962). Affect, imagery, consciousness: Vol. 1. The positive affects. New York: Springer.
Tomkins, S. S. (1963). Affect, imagery, consciousness: Vol. 2. The negative effects. New York: Tavistok.
Tomkins, S. S., & McCarter, R. (1964). What and where are the primary affects? Some evidence for a theory. Perceptual and Motor Skills 18, 119158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, M. K., Coie, J. D., & Herbsman, C. R. (1992). Display rules for anger and aggression in school-age children. Child Development 63, 366380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiss, B., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1992). Some consequences of early harsh discipline: Child aggression and a maladaptive social information processing style. Child Development 1992, 13211335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werthamer–Larsson, L., Kellam, S., & Wheeler, L. (1991). Effect of first-grade classroom environment on shy behavior, aggressive behavior, and concentration problems. American Journal of Community Psychology 19, 585603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahn–Waxler, C., Cole, P. M., Welsh, J. D., & Fox, N. A. (1995). Psychophysiological correlates of empathy and prosocial behaviors in preschool children with behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology 7, 2748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahn–Waxler, C., Schiro, K., Robinson, J. L., Emde, R. N., & Schmitz, S. (2001). Empathy and prosocial patterns in young MZ and DZ twins: Development and genetic and environmental influences. In R. N. Emde & J. K. Hewitt, (Eds.), Infancy to early childhood: Genetic and environmental influences on developmental change (pp. 141162). New York: Oxford University Press.