title: Visual Attention to Dynamic Scenes of Ambiguous Provocation and Children's Aggressive Behavior.
abstract: Research on biases in attention related to children's aggression has yielded mixed results. Some research suggests that inattention to social cues and reliance on maladaptive social schemas underlie aggression. Other research suggests that maladaptive social schemas lead aggressive individuals to attend to nonhostile cues. The primary objective of this study was to test the proposition that aggression is related to delayed attention to cues followed by selective attention to nonhostile cues after the provocation has occurred. A second objective was to test whether these biases are associated with aggression only when children hold negative social schemas. The eye fixations of 70 children (34 boys, 36 girls; Mage=11.71 years) were monitored with an eye tracker as they watched video clips of child actors portraying scenes of ambiguous provocation. Aggression was measured using peer-, teacher-, and parent-reports, and children completed a measure of antisocial and prosocial peer beliefs. Aggressive behavior was associated with greater time until fixation on the provocateur among youth who held antisocial peer beliefs. Aggression was also associated with greater time until fixation on an actor displaying empathy for the victim among children reporting low levels of prosocial peer beliefs. After the provocation, aggression was associated with suppressed attention to an amused peer among children who held negative peer beliefs. Increasing attention to cues in a scene of ambiguous provocation, in conjunction with fostering more positive beliefs about peers, may be effective in reducing hostile responding among aggressive youth.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , North Dakota State University.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Troop-Gordon
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , North Dakota State University.
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: b State of Minnesota Judicial Branch , Seventh Judicial District.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vogel-Ciernia
authors.affiliation: c Methodological and Statistical Consultant, Insight Research and Consulting.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ewing Lee
authors.affiliation: d School of Social and Family Dynamics , Arizona State University.
authors.forename: Kari J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Visconti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D011897:Random Allocation; D012917:Social Adjustment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires