An ethological or behavioral approach views childhood emotional outbursts as conflict between avoidance and attachment behavior on the part of the child. The classification of the level of motivation may produce a more useful diagnosis than standard psychiatric categories of behavior. This approach can also be applied to children diagnosed as…

Compared children's emotional expression and self-appraisal of emotional experience in response to positive feedback. Subjects were 60 children ages 7 through 14, half with diagnosed externalizing disorders and half without. Found that, although diagnosed children typically reported a positive response to peer compliments, they displayed more…

Highlights the contributions made by the papers in this special issue, and discusses remaining research problems and future research directions in the field of children's emotions and social competence. Notes that one of the most important points raised in this series of papers is the critical role of socialization in the development of emotions.…

Literature review of cognitive, affective, behavioral, and somatic-psychological effects as a consequence of overwhelming life events in children and adolescents is compared with DSM-III-R definition of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Responses likely in children and adolescents are discussed; suggestions for future research and counseling…

Used semiprojective and scenario-based measures to identify evidence for adaptive or maladaptive aspects of guilt and shame in 5- to 12-year olds. Found that shame and projective guilt were related to symptoms as rated by parents, self-blame, and attempts to minimize painful feelings. Scenario-based guilt was related to fewer symptoms in boys but…

Observed a laboratory play session to study development of anger expression during middle childhood. Found that 8- to 12-year-olds were remarkably composed in response to taunts from a same-age, same-sex confederate and to losing a computer game for a desirable prize. Also found gender differences in negative comments and gestures, and age…

Expressed emotion in a mother's communications about her child may reflect both direct and subtle ways in which she transmits aspects of her depressive affective and cognitive style to her children. This study considered whether: (1) depressed mothers are more likely than well mothers to express negative emotional statements in descriptions of…

The focus in the present study was on children's expectancies about how parents would respond to their children's genuine emotional-expressive displays, as sampled across seven different vignettes about parent-child interaction. The vignettes consisted of schematic cartoons and a verbal narrative. They contained "emotional displays" of…

This paper presents a model of affective relationships and a review of a number of empirical studies based on the model. The fundamental aim of the model is to describe the life-span development of affective relationships, which are measured in terms of an individual's representation of a variety of significant interpersonal relationships. These…

Although role or perspective taking has been considered important for the development of mature social thought and behavior, and training for perspective taking has been used to remediate deficient behavior, few studies with either normal or disturbed populations have examined naturally occurring behaviors expected to correlate with…

This study examined children's responses to several questions about their use of display rules for expressing emotions--i.e., about the circumstances in which they would (1) mask or hide their feelings, (2) dissimulate their feelings through substituting another affective expression, and (3) express their feelings. A total of 60 children, aged 6,…

The differential effects of self- and other-directed negative affect on subsequent generosity are explored in two studies, both using a modified version of the direct mood inducement procedure (Moore, 1973). Subjects (N=85) in the first experiment were children aged 7-12. Subjects (N=48) in the second experiment were college undergraduates.…

It was hypothesized that if perceived reality is an important factor in determining children's reactions to television, radical differences in the structure of perceived reality should lead to radical differences in its functioning as well. Questionnaires were answered by 153 children from first, third, and sixth grades in a suburban Wisconsin…

The present investigation looked at selective attention in impulsive and reflective children using a central/incidental task similar to that used by Hagen, 1967. In order to examine developmental change in selective attention, children at kindergarten, second, and fifth grades were tested. The central recall task involved presenting the child with…

Depression is considered a significant affective disorder in children and adolescents. This article provides school psychologists with information concerning the current status of depression in this population. Epidemiological data on depression is provided with phenomenology and diagnostic criteria, review of assessment measures, and…