Social Cognition and Children's Aggressive Behavior

DODGE, KENNETH A. Social Cognition and Children's Aggressive Behavior. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1980, 51, 162-170. Aggressive and nonaggressive boys from grades 2, 4, and 6 were exposed to a frustrating negative outcome which was instigated by an unknown peer who had acted with either a hostile intent, a benign intent, or an ambiguous intent. Videotaped behavioral responses constituted the dependent measures. Contrary to a hypothesis, aggressive boys did not display any failure to integrate intent cues into their behavioral reactions to the negative consequences, nor were there any significant main or interaction effects for age of subject. All groups responded with more aggression in the hostile condition than in the benign condition. Aggressive and nonaggressive subjects differed only in the ambiguous condition. Here aggressive subjects responded as if the peer had acted with a hostile intent. Nonaggressive subjects responded as if the peer had acted with a benign intent. The hypothesis that aggressive children respond to ambiguous-intention-negative-consequence situations with aggression because they infer a hostile intention was supported by a follow-up study using hypothetical episodes as stimuli. Results of this second study reflect the increased significance of the social reputation of the aggressive child with increasing age. The total pattern of results suggests a picture of the aggressive child being caught up in a spiraling cycle of reputation and behavior.