Real‐time hostile attribution measurement and aggression in children

Abstract

Hostile attributions are acknowledged as an important part of maladaptive social information-processing that results in aggression in children. Literature suggests the largest effect size between aggressive behavior and hostile attributions is found when hostile attributions are measured using staged situations rather than commonly used vignette-based measures (Orobio de Castro et al., 2002), but few, if any, studies have investigated hostile attributions as they occur in real-time. The current study uses an interactive, video racing game along with a verbal and nonverbal response procedure to measure hostile attributions while children are playing against a presumed peer. A sample of 75 children between the ages of 10 and 13 played the game while their parents were asked to rate their child's reactive and proactive aggression. It was expected that the new real-time measure of hostile attributions would predict reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression. The predictive ability of the new measure was compared with that of the traditional, vignette-based measure of hostile attributions.Participants played a computer video game created for this study by racing their car against a presumed peer, though the opponent's car was actually computer-operated and preprogrammed to ambiguously provoke participants by crashing into their car. A visual prompt appeared on screen to elicit real-time attribution responses, either verbally or nonverbally, after each of eight crashes and at eight non-crash moments.iii Participants' hostile attributions using the nonverbal and verbal response procedures were significantly positively related to parent-rated reactive aggression, when controlling for proactive aggression. Multiple regression indicated that the real-time measure was a significant predictor of reactive aggression, while the vignette-based measure was not. The results of this study illustrate how hostile attributions in real-time occur quickly and simultaneously with social interaction, which differs from the deliberative, controlled appraisal process described in previous literature. These findings can be used to identify specific appraisal deficits in children at risk for aggressive behavior, which could enhance preventive interventions by more precisely targeting these cognitions and more effectively preventing aggression. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS αCronbach's index of internal consistency; probability of a Type I error

Hostile Intent Attribution and Aggressive Behavior in Children Revisited: A Meta‐Analysis

“…A plausible explanation could be the lack of observations for computerized real time interactions (two effect sizes from one study), which could have resulted in an unreliable estimate of the true effect size. Another explanation could be that this study assessed computerized real‐time interactions with a presumed peer through a race‐car game (Yaros, Lochman, Rosenbaum, & Jimenex‐Camargo, ). This type of stimulus presentation might not have elicited sufficient levels of emotional engagement to evoke strong HIA, because the peer’s behavior may have been considered legitimate in the gaming context.…”

Research Review: What do we know about psychopathic traits in children?

“…Hare () referred to psychopathic individuals as those who were able to read others well, and, as individuals able to operate in a variety of social environments ‘conning friends and foe alike’ (p. 50). Although perspective‐taking abilities appear to be compatible with the expression of psychopathy traits (manipulation), they are not always consistent with CD (e.g., hostile attribution bias; Dodge, ; Yaros, Lochman, Rosenbaum, & Jimenez‐Camargo, ).…”

Interactive Virtual Reality versus Vignette-Based Assessment of Children’s Aggressive Social Information Processing

“…This interactive nature might enhance the experience of an actual social interaction, however it might also affect ambiguity to some extent (e.g., children who talked a lot with the virtual peer during the interaction might be prone to attribute non-hostile intent). Moreover, interactive VR is obviously costly and time-consuming to develop, and so it is relevant to directly compare this method to other assessment methods besides vignettes, such as video game tasks (e.g., Yaros et al, 2014).…”

“…Nonetheless, findings vary considerably between studies and SIP measures used. A meta-analysis (Verhoef et al, 2019) revealed that the association between aggressive behavior and children's hostile intent attributions was stronger in studies using actual social interactions (d = 1.33) than in studies using vignettes (d = 0.23 to 0.44) or video-game tasks (d = 0.36; Yaros et al, 2014). The small to moderate effect sizes for vignettes and video games may be due to a lack of emotional engagement (i.e., vignettes may not evoke strong emotions) or limited ecological validity (i.e., video games may not resemble real-life social interaction).…”