0000000000396803
AUTHOR
Bernard Weiner
At‐risk children's causal inferences given emotional feedback and their understanding of the excuse‐giving process
Italian male school children, ranging in age from 7 to 10 years, were identified as at‐risk children on the basis of self‐reports, teacher questionnaires, and peer nominations assessing aggression, emotional instability, and pro‐social behaviour. Together with a normal control sample, these children participated in two studies guided by attribtional theory. In Study 1, following teacher emotional feedback of anger or sympathy for failure, attributional inferences regarding low ability or lack of effort as the cause of that failure were rated. In Study 2, controllable and uncontrollable causes of a social transgression were given, and participants rated the anticipated anger of the ‘victim’…
Linkages between causal ascriptions, emotion, and behavior
Italian schoolboys between the ages of 9 and 10 participated in three experiments guided by attribution theory as conceptualised by Weiner (1985, 1986). In Experiment 1, following teacher-emotional feedback of anger or sympathy for failure, attributional inferences regarding low ability or lack of effort as the cause of that failure were rated. In Experiment 2, controllable and uncontrollable causes of a social transgression were given, and children rated the anticipated anger of the “victim” and their intention to withhold or reveal the cause. In Experiment 3, effects of perceived causality and related emotions of anger and sympathy (pity) with regard to helping behaviour were investigate…