Publication Date

11-2009

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Dr. Elizabeth Lemerise (Director), Dr. Jacqueline Pope-Tarrence,Dr. Andrew Mienaltowski

Degree Program

Department of Psychology

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

Past models (i.e., Crick and Dodge, 1994) of children’s social information processing (SIP) have neglected to include the role of emotions in children’s reasoning during social situations. A recent reformulation (Lemerise and Arsenio, 2000) updated Crick and Dodge’s model to incorporate emotions and their impact on children’s processing. Since then, studies have examined the influence of emotion in children’s SIP, but few have investigated the impact of children’s affective ties with their peers. This study explores the effect of the participant’s relationship with the provocateur on subsequent consequential reasoning concerning possible hostile, passive, and competent response; in addition, it addresses gaps in the literature by utilizing a different age range and investigating the response decision step of SIP. A sample of second and fifth graders (N=101) completed a social cognitive interview in which they reasoned about competent, hostile, and passive responses when the provocateur was a friend, neutral peer, or an enemy. Results indicated multiple relationship effects and gender differences, which illustrated the impact relationships can have on SIP.

Disciplines

Child Psychology | Cognition and Perception | Developmental Psychology

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