Contextual factors in children's social information processing.

Abstract

Attributions and social problem solutions of socially accepted and rejected boys and girls (M age = 9.33 years) were assessed by verbal responses to hypothetical vignettes embedded in a computer mathematics game involving 3 contextual factors: interpersonal context (competition or collaboration), outcome of the game (success or failure), and story type (ambiguous provocation or peer group entry). More hostile attributions of intent were provided in the failure than in the success condition and in the ambiguous provocation than in the peer group entry stories. More aggressive problem solutions were provided in ambiguous provocation than in peer group entry stories. Boys offered more aggressive solutions than girls in the cooperation condition but not the competition condition and for the provocation stories but not the peer group entry stories. Rejected children offered somewhat more aggressive solutions than accepted children