| Abstract: | 84 to 90 5–12 yr olds were given scenarios that involved social rejection or a broken social engagement in a role-playing paradigm. The reasons for rejection were varied to be internal or external to the person being rejected, while the reasons for not appearing at an appointment were varied so that they were controllable or uncontrollable. Ss revealed whether they would communicate the true reasons for their outcomes and, if so, how much the other person's feelings would be hurt when rejected or how angry the person would be when stood up. Results show that for all age groups, there were strong associations between the causal properties of locus and controllability and the respective anticipated reactions of hurt feelings and anger. Correlations between anticipated affects and reported response strategy in this hypothetical situation varied as a function of age and the type of emotional anticipation, with older Ss stating that they would especially withhold causes that elicited anger. Data documented developmental changes in communication strategy rather than in the understanding of attributional determinants of affect. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
