Young children's representations of peers' distress: Associations to children's social functioning and acceptance of distressed peers
(2007) In Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 48(3). p.203-213- Abstract
- Children's mental representations of situations involving another child's distress were examined in two studies. Study 1 examined 3- to 7-year-old children's (n = 44) ideas about what victims and bystanders would think, feel and do in hypothetical situations. In Study 2, 7- to 8-year-olds (n = 40) described their own cognitive response to situations in which they were confronted with another's distress. In both studies, representational bias was examined in relation to children's display of prosocial and aggressive behavior and in relation to their acceptance of distressed peers. Although not entirely consistent, findings indicate that three types of representational biases are associated with low levels of considerate behavior and with... (More)
- Children's mental representations of situations involving another child's distress were examined in two studies. Study 1 examined 3- to 7-year-old children's (n = 44) ideas about what victims and bystanders would think, feel and do in hypothetical situations. In Study 2, 7- to 8-year-olds (n = 40) described their own cognitive response to situations in which they were confronted with another's distress. In both studies, representational bias was examined in relation to children's display of prosocial and aggressive behavior and in relation to their acceptance of distressed peers. Although not entirely consistent, findings indicate that three types of representational biases are associated with low levels of considerate behavior and with relatively low acceptance of distressed peers: (a) mentally representing the victim's problem without giving thought to its implications for the victim, (b) significantly reducing the emotional significance of the problem and (c) exaggerating negative aspects of the problem. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/662892
- author
- Bengtsson, Hans LU and Persson, Gun LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- empathy, aggressive behavior, prosocial behavior, representational bias
- in
- Scandinavian Journal of Psychology
- volume
- 48
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 203 - 213
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000246626000003
- scopus:34249096853
- pmid:17518913
- ISSN
- 1467-9450
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2007.00559.x
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- cfdd71a6-7d92-44a5-95dc-8aff7e8868ba (old id 662892)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 15:54:17
- date last changed
- 2022-03-22 07:00:22
@article{cfdd71a6-7d92-44a5-95dc-8aff7e8868ba,
abstract = {{Children's mental representations of situations involving another child's distress were examined in two studies. Study 1 examined 3- to 7-year-old children's (n = 44) ideas about what victims and bystanders would think, feel and do in hypothetical situations. In Study 2, 7- to 8-year-olds (n = 40) described their own cognitive response to situations in which they were confronted with another's distress. In both studies, representational bias was examined in relation to children's display of prosocial and aggressive behavior and in relation to their acceptance of distressed peers. Although not entirely consistent, findings indicate that three types of representational biases are associated with low levels of considerate behavior and with relatively low acceptance of distressed peers: (a) mentally representing the victim's problem without giving thought to its implications for the victim, (b) significantly reducing the emotional significance of the problem and (c) exaggerating negative aspects of the problem.}},
author = {{Bengtsson, Hans and Persson, Gun}},
issn = {{1467-9450}},
keywords = {{empathy; aggressive behavior; prosocial behavior; representational bias}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{203--213}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Scandinavian Journal of Psychology}},
title = {{Young children's representations of peers' distress: Associations to children's social functioning and acceptance of distressed peers}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2007.00559.x}},
doi = {{10.1111/j.1467-9450.2007.00559.x}},
volume = {{48}},
year = {{2007}},
}