Negative Affect and Its Cognitive and Behavioral Minnesota Univ
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DOCUMENT RESOME ED 245 779 PS 014 036 AUTHOR Barden, R. Christopher; And Others TITLE Factors Governing the Effective Remediation of Negative Affect and Its Cognitive and Behavioral Consequences. SPONS AGENCY Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis.; National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE [83] GRANT NSF-BNS-78-09108; NSF-BNS-79-21027 NOTE' 42p. AVAILABLE FROMR. Christopher Barden, Dept. of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, 310 Hyer Hall, Dallas, TX 75275 -PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2,. Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Altruism; *Cognitive Processes; Depression (Psychology); Elementary Education; *Elementary School Students; *Emotional Experience IDENTIFIERS Facial Expressions; *Induced Affect; *Induced Mental Imagery; Maintenance Behavior; Remediation (Psychology) ABSTRACT A study was conducted in which negative affective states were induced in children by one of several different types of cognition or experience. Subjects were 150 second-grade children, evenly divided by sex, from suburban elementary schools. In particular, cognitive induction proce6c,a1 involved children's thinking about negative events that might happen to them or to others; experiential induction procedures provided children with an actual aversive social experience or with an occasion to observe another child undergoing a similar aversive experience. Induction procedures were followed by.positive remedial inductions, in which the content was social acceptance and the process either did or did not match that of the negative induttion. To assess effects of negative inductions and positive remediations, measures were taken of children's subsequent altruistic behavior and of their cognitive abilities as measured by performance on a block-design task.. In addition, self-reports of,affective social experience were recorded, and videotapes were'made of children's facial expressions during the procedures. Except for negative self-cognitions, results indicated that behavioral and cognitive consequences of negative emotion were i a t-i on-was-of-the-same-type-a s-the---- original induction. Emotional expressions were consistently positive following remediation. Results were-considered in terms of-differing processes for maintaining negative emotion as a function of the character of induction, and implications for understanding clinical depression in children were noted. (Author/RH) *****************.****************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can-be made * fromthe original document. * *********************************************************************** lbc U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTIT'JTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER lEfliCi 7e Tfi; d::ournent has been reprodoced as received from the person or organization orty,nating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproductionquolity. Point; of vie v or opinions stared in ems clocu ment do not necessarily represent official ME position or policy goverii:ng the effective rernediation of negative affect andi cognitive and be!-.3vioral consequences R. Christopher Barden Southern Methodist University Judy Garber a-a Burt Leiman University of Minnesota Martin E. Ford Stanford University John C. Masters Vancerbi It University Running Head:Remediation of negative affect.. "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS MATERIAL HAS BEENGRANTED BY R TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC)." footnotr,:- This rch vas co hartofadoctora: E a.I by the named author.It was supported inpart by National BNS 76-09102an :NS 7-21027toJohnC.. MaPters. L' (an, Eva 0. Social Science Fellowship award anda grant from thej..11-ivE..,.sit,of MinnesDt.72. Computer CentertoR. Christopher Barden. Reques.:-r,far ints should 1.7.!.f:, sent to author Barden, Department of Psycho....-;. Methodi,;:: University, 3.1..O Hyer Hall, Dallas, TX 75975. e:11 ::-...',-.:, ..,,,,,:,..-e he:-.,:!-. ;:,ht :,,,, rewei4,eliellef _- viii: eeeeeffecti% e ht h e rer-,.ediale,rocet....;refeeee_.- . L-. L1 Ir. excer,ence Or Cag hi -_": on that induced the negative state roces-spe.cif:city nveothesiz. -Lther h. eot-eses examined .:erethat negativesta.tesinduced by cognitive reflectiel related to the self would be resi:;tz:ntto remediation, even by a same-process- positive procedure, andthat changes inemotional expressions may make itappear that a negative state has been effectively remediated when lingeringeffectson behavior and cognition indicatethat it has not. Negativeemotionalstateswereinduced in second-'grode children by one four processes, allof which involved social rejectioncontent: coen:tionthatfocusedon(a)the -self(thinking about oneself being rejected by a peer) or (b)'.anotherperson (thinking about a peer beingrejected);orexperiencethatrelatedto(c)oneself(actually being eociallyrejected)or(d)observinganother(vicarious: seeingapeerbe sociallyrejected). Theseinductionswerethenfollowedbyapositive, remedial induction whose content was thereverse (sou.el acceptance) and whose processdidordid not match thatofthe negative induction.As predicted, except for negativeself-cognitions, it wasfoundthatthebehavioral' ;altruism) and cognitive (performanCe ona block design task) consequences of negative emotion were alleviated when the positive remediationwas of the same LYDe as theoriginalinduction. Emotionalexpressionswereconsistently positivefollowingrerhediation,regardless. oftheirtype. The resultsare discussec.1interms of differing processes for maintaining negative emotionas a functionofthecharacterofinduction,andtheimplicationsforthe understanding of clinical depression in children are noted. ;1:1, . -sonsec.:o,.:7nce; tnar, E;m:ot.ioncantoproduced bythln'..::no.e>.pariencino,or observ:ngisnut one. poetsand other reflective people have considered thepossibilitythatone'sthoughts.,attitudesand expectations inshort, one's cognitions--- may play an important role in theproductionand maintenance ofaffectivestates. inaddition, such thinkers have long espoused thepower of individuals to cdntroltheir emu: iorral reactions to negative occurrences by stoic acceptance, the ell minationofirriaionalexpectations,or 7 therapeutically focusingon one's 'bless:nes.' However,even thestaunchestsupporterofsuch aviewpoint readily concedes that "experiences other than purely cognitiveones may produce emotional reactions.A variety of experiences such as physiological distress Or theloss'of aloved one may becapableofproducing powerful affective consequence:: with minimalcognitive inducement. In noting such emotion inducing experiences,.those that involVe the observation of emotional responses in others also quickly come to mind. The phenomenological experience of a parent observing a progeny'sanguishor thecontagious laughterofa croup of adolescents offer strong natural support for the idea thatone's emotions may have important affectiveconsequencesforothersas well. There is ample ^experimental --,-----ay evidencef-that cognitions, especially ruminationSabout, effectivelytoned events, may have powerfulinfluenceson mood statesandassociatedbehaviors. Theemotionalstatesresultingfrom such cognit ive,. inductions of emotion have been found influence self-gratification and altruism(Barden,Garber,Duncan Mz-1:-.ters, 190i; ~!enrich, 1976;Moore,Underwood & -Rosenhan,1973; Rosenhan, Underwood & Moore. 1974; Underwood, Framing & Moore., 1977; Underwood,Moore & Karp.19731.cogn.tiv,-processing etdi. 1931 :.(lasters, 1979 Ford. r..hd ,Affucta_iarc'rn 19Z-.); Fe:lemon & 1533;''.12..sterset 1979)..Lsithough these effects are andpowe:ful,theprocessesbywhich sucheffectsareachieved, maintained, and eventunl r.rne.diated are far from clear. Even though thereisa significant and crowing literature demonstrating theeffectivenessofoc,i:nitiveaffect-inducingprocedures, thereisstilla paucity,of.resarchi concerning theinductionofvariousaffectivestatesin children(oradults)throughthemanipulationof controlledexperiences, esoecii-JIlythose ofa socialnature. Thisisremarkable given the gamut of 'potentialexperie. ncesthat may influencechildren'saffectivestates. The mostrelevantavailabledatacomefromseveralstudiesinvestigatingthe ef fert.sofsuccessandfailureexperiences on young children (Krebs,1970; lees,. Horn Rosenhan, 1973), and even this work has not verified children's actw_li emotional reactions to their experiences. t. ittlehas been donetochart children's :,.-moti; reactions to actual experiences.Furman and Masters (1980) foundthat social reinforcement from peerstendedto,e.licitexpressionsofpositiveaffect and socialpunishMent indicationsofnegativeaffectivereactions. Suggestive evidenceforother 4) re le and._ reactions in was reported an interview stud by r,arrien,Zeiko, Duncan i.`ic Masters C 19110). As earlyasthe preschnot :-_iwarethat experiences such F:3 success or nurturanre fro` induces happiness,and thatother experiences such as failureo: Jcialrejef:tion elicit negative affect. Thus far,however,therehus been.ittleresearch manipulating children's actual ect.anet:-.F:r affectinlaybe -arousedisthe observation of Vicariouslyinducedaffective.stateshave beenpo:;tuintedtobe aprh.sary coufiocientof altruktic behav ior through the empathy such affectmay generate (Hoffman, 1975). Vicarious processes have also been hypothesized to contributetotheacquisit ion and maintenance of clinical depressioni._oyne, N.-yerzheless,despitethecentralityofvicariousprocessestosuch tenttheoreticalissues,and despiteevidencethateven young children arecapableofrecccni zingaffectivestatesinothers (Carlson,