Document Type

Article

Journal Title

Child Study Journal

Publication Date

1996

Volume

26

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of one potential source of arousal, namely time pressure, on the attributions made and the solutions generated in hypothetical social problem situations by aggressive and nonaggressive boys. It was predicted that time pressure would be more disruptive to the social information-processing of aggressive boys as compared to their nonaggressive peers. Thirty aggressive and 32 nonaggressive third- and fourth-grade boys were administered attribution and solution generation tasks under both untimed and time pressured conditions. Level of arousal in both conditions was assessed by experimenter observation and subject self-report. The time pressure condition re-suited in greater arousal than the untimed condition across all subjects. The predicted interaction between group and condition did not reach statistical significance; however, there was a trend suggesting that the aggressive group made more hostile attributions in the time pressured as compared to the untimed condition, whereas the nonaggressive group did not differ between the two conditions. On the solution generation measure, the time pressure condition resulted in all subjects producing a greater number of solutions overall, more types of solutions, and proportionally more aggressive solutions. Results are discussed in terms of the influence of arousal on social information-processing.

ISSN

0009-4005

Rights

Courtesy of: "SUNY Buffalo State Archives/School of Education, Child Study Journal."

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