Individual differences in children's emotional responses to gifts /
Regulation is one of the central aspects of daily life. Researchers have examined various components of regulatory processes, but much is still unknown about these processes. The present study uses a social exchange situation as a vehicle for studying individual and situational differences in emotio...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2002.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=764789951&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Regulation is one of the central aspects of daily life. Researchers have examined various components of regulatory processes, but much is still unknown about these processes. The present study uses a social exchange situation as a vehicle for studying individual and situational differences in emotion regulation. More specifically, we examined Agreeableness, the motive to maintain smooth interpersonal relations, and the presence of a parent as predictors of emotional displays. Based on the Mistaken Gift paradigm (Saarni, 1984; Cole, 1986), child participants (n = 117) received a desirable gift after performing a book-rating task. This first exchange created the expectation in child participants that the receipt of a desirable gift would follow future help in the book-rating task. After completing the second book-rating task, however, child participants received an undesirable gift and their reactions to these gifts were captured on videotape for later observational coding. Observational coders rated each child's emotional responding on ten items using five-point Likert-type scales. After assessing the reliability of observational coding, these ten emotional responding items were reduced further to two factors, negative and positive affect. Regression analyses indicated that Agreeableness was a significant predictor of negative affect displays following the receipt of undesirable gifts. Children high in Agreeableness displayed less negative affect than did children low in Agreeableness. Agreeableness also demonstrated a curvilinear interaction with parent condition, such that children high in Agreeableness showed the least negative emotion in the absence of a parent. When in the presence of a parent, children high in Agreeableness showed as much negative affect as their peers. The parent condition was most pronounced in children whose Agreeableness scores fell in the middle range on the continuum. Parental presence and sex also predicted positive affect such that girls displayed more positive affect than did boys. These and other results are discussed in terms of the five-factor structural approach to personality and links to emotional self-regulation. Applications and future directions of this research also are discussed. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: School Psychology". |
| Physical Description: | xiii, 100 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-93). |