Attribution of intent and role-taking: cognitive factors as mediators of aggression with people who have mental retardation.
An assessment task was devised to explore the attributional style and role-taking ability of 22 aggressive and 22 nonaggressive adults with moderate to mild mental retardation. Aggressive participants showed a hostile bias in their interpretation of others' intentions towards themselves within ambiguous interpersonal situations, although no difference was found across groups within clearly provocative situations. Furthermore, the role-taking ability of the aggressive participants was superior to the nonaggressive group, undermining the focus on global problems of interpersonal understanding as a causal factor of aggression for people with mental retardation.
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Department of Psychological Medicine, Academic Centre, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland.
Jahoda
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Squire
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011386:Projective Techniques; D012380:Role; D012938:Social Perception