Dimensions of executive functioning: Evidence from children

This study investigated dimensions of executive functioning in 8- to 13-year-old children. Three tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), two tasks from the NEPSY battery and some additional executive function (EF) tests were administered to 108 children. In line with earlier work, modest correlations among EF measures were obtained (r < .4). Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded three interrelated factors, which resembled those obtained by Miyake et al. (2000) and which were—with some reservations—labelled Working Memory (WM), Inhibition and Shifting. Age correlated with performance on most individual EF measures as well as Shifting a…

Etätyössä koettuun työtyytyväisyyteen yhteydessä olevat tekijät : työn ominaisuudet ja työntekijän persoonallisuus

A three-level analysis of reactive aggression among children

Lasten aggressiivinen käytös kuvaa henkilökohtaisen edun tavoittelemista tai puolustamista keinoin, jotka aiheuttavat tahallista vahinkoa muille lapsille. Aggressiivinen käytös saa tavallisesti aikaan yhteisen leikin tai muun toiminnan päättymisen.Petri Juujärven kokeelliseen tutkimusasetelmaan perustunut väitös osoitti, että aggressiivista käytöstä voi selittää yksilöllisillä taipumuksilla voimakkaaseen kielteisen tunteiden viriämiseen ja virinneiden tunteiden heikkoon säätelemiseen, mutta kielteisten seurausten todennäköisyyden muunteleminen vaikutti käyttäytymiseen suotuisasti. The present series of studies sought to confirm the hypothesis that simulated physical proactive aggression wou…

Effects of physical provocations on heart rate reactivity and reactive aggression in children

This article presents complementary data on the relationship between the intensity of offensive and defensive aggression that was investigated by means of the computerised Pulkkinen Aggression Machine (PAM) paradigm [Juujarvi et al., 2001; Aggr Behav 27:430-445]. The recording of the electrocardiogram was conducted in a sample of 109 children (61 boys and 48 girls) while they completed the PAM. Across the conditions of controlled aggression, the simulated attack and defence evoked a mean increase of HR by 2.7 beats per minute (bpm), but the variation between children was substantial (-10.9 to +11.4 bpm). Children who showed a strong HR increase, moderate HR increase, or HR decrease were com…

An aggression machine v. determinants in reactive aggression revisited

The relations between reactive aggression, situational cues, and emotion regulation were examined by means of the Pulkkinen Aggression Machine (PAM) task. In the PAM, provocation and response were systematically varied under two conditions: the impulsive aggression condition and the controlled aggression condition. In the impulsive condition, no information about the attacker was provided, while in the controlled condition the attackers were specified in terms of sex, age, and physical strength. The task was administered to 109 children aged 8 to 13 years. Boys (n = 61) and girls (n = 48), as well as subgroups of Adjusted (n = 67) and Maladjusted (n = 26) children were compared. The results…

Controlling reactive aggression through cognitive evaluation of proactive aggression cues

The authors investigated how the relationship between the acts of proactive and reactive aggression was moderated by the individual differences in cognitive regulation of emotion. An aggression paradigm, a electrocardiogram recording, a cognitive assessment battery, and a short form IQ test were completed by 109 children, aged 8 to 13 years (Juujarvi, Kaartinen, Laitinen, Vanninen, & Pulkkinen, 2006; Juujarvi, Kooistra, Kaartinen, & Pulkkinen, 2001; Lehto, Juujarvi, Kooistra, & Pulkkinen, 2003). The less the children subdued the intensity of their defence to the attacks in the aggression paradigm, the poorer they performed in the cognitive assessment battery tasks measuring Working memory c…