Adults’ responses to children’s crying after a moral transgression

• Patrícia Arriaga ^[1] ; Carla Murteira ^[1] ; Raquel Oliveira ^[1]
  1. [1] Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

     Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

     Socorro, Portugal

     
• Localización: The Spanish Journal of Psychology, ISSN 1138-7416, Nº 22, 2019, págs. 1-10
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1017/sjp.2019.21
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • This study investigated how adults respond to a moral transgression committed by a child offender, by examining the role of the child’s sex, emotions, and crying behavior when caught committing a moral transgression on adults’ forgiveness, trust, and disciplinary behaviors. An experimental survey manipulated the children’s sex, crying, and their emotional expressions (fear, sadness, shame, and crying). Participants (N = 847) reported how they would feel, their willingness to forgive (immediately and a week after the event) and to trust the child, estimated recidivism, and the use of disciplinary behaviors. Results showed that participants in the crying conditions reported significantly higher levels of intention to trust and forgive the child a week after the event, and a lower estimation of the child committing a similar act in the future than participants in the non-crying conditions (ps < .05). Compared to men, women anticipated higher intentions to forgive (ps < .05), and more inductive behaviors, less overreactivity and warmth removal towards the child (ps < .001). Overall, the results suggest the functional value of crying in children-adults relations and the importance of the gender of both child and adults in a context of a moral transgression committed by a child.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Ajzen I., & Fishbein M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Arnold D. H., McWilliams L., & Arnold E. H. (1998). Teacher discipline and child misbehavior in day care: Untangling causality with correlational...
  • Arnold D. S., O'Leary S. G., Wolff L. S., & Acker M. M. (1993). The Parenting Scale: A measure of dysfunctional parenting in discipline...
  • Balsters M. J. H., Krahmer E. J., Swerts M. G. J., & Vingerhoets A. J. J. M. (2013). Emotional tears facilitate the recognition of sadness...
  • Barnett M. A., Quackenbush S. W., & Sinisi C. S. (1996). Factors affecting children's, adolescents', and young adults' perceptions...
  • Bekker M. H. J., & Vingerhoets A. J. J. M. (2001). Male and female tears: Swallowing versus shedding? In Vingerhoets A. J. J. M. &...
  • Berry J. W., Worthington E. L., Jr., Parrott L. III, O'Conner L. E., & Wade N. G. (2001). Dispositional forgivingness: Development...
  • Cacioppo J. T., Tassinary L. G., & Berntson G. G. (2007). Handbook of psychophysiology (3 ...
  • Dys S. P., & Malti T. (2016). It's a two-way street: Automatic and controlled processes in children's emotional responses to moral...
  • Eid M., Gollwitzer M., & Schmitt M. (2011). Statistik und Forschungsmethoden Lehrbuch [Statistics and research methods]. Weinheim, Germany:...
  • Eisenberg N. (2000). Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 665-697. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.665...
  • Eisenberg N., Fabes R. A., Schaller M., Carlo G., & Miller P. A. (1991). The relations of parental characteristics and practices to children...
  • Enright R. D., Freedman S., & Rique J. (1998). The psychology of interpersonal forgiveness. In Enright R. D. & North J. (Eds.), Exploring...
  • Girard M., & Mullet E. (1997). Forgiveness in adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults. Journal of Adult Development, 4 (4),...
  • Goldberg A. E., Kashy D. A., & Smith J. Z. (2012). Gender-typed play behavior in early childhood: Adopted children with lesbian, gay,...
  • Hendriks M. C. P., Croon M. A., & Vingerhoets A. J. J. M. (2008). Social reactions to adult crying: The help-soliciting function of tears....
  • Hendriks M. C. P., & Vingerhoets A. J. J. M. (2006). Social messages of crying faces: Their influence on anticipated person perception,...
  • Hoffman M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Irwin L. M., Skowronski J. J., Crouch J. L., Milner J. S., & Zengel B. (2014). Reactions to children's transgressions in at-risk caregivers:...
  • Jellesma F. C., & Vingerhoets A. J. J. M. (2012). Crying in middle childhood: A report on gender differences. Sex Roles, 67 (7-8), 412-421....
  • Kokkinos C. M., Panayiotou G., & Davazoglou A. M. (2005). Correlates of teacher appraisals of student behaviors. Psychology in the Schools,...
  • Larzelere R. E., & Kuhn B. R. (2005). Comparing child outcomes of physical punishment and alternative disciplinary tactics: A meta-analysis....
  • Leenders I., & Brugman D. (2005). Moral/non-moral domain shift in young adolescents in relation to delinquent behavior. British Journal...
  • Marques J. M., Yzerbyt V. Y., & Leyens J.-P. (1988). The "black sheep effect": Extremity of judgments towards in-group members...
  • McCullough M. E. (2001). Forgiveness: Who does it and how do they do it? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10 (6), 194-197. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00147...
  • Miceli M., & Castelfranchi C. (2003). Crying: Discussing its basic reasons and uses. New Ideas in Psychology, 21 (3), 247-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2003.09.001...
  • Newman J. D. (2007). Neural circuits underlying crying and cry responding in mammals. Behavioural Brain Research, 182 (2), 155-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2007.02.011...
  • O'Keefe D. J. (2003). Message properties, mediating states, and manipulation checks: Claims, evidence, and data analysis in experimental...
  • Probst F., Meng-Hentschel J., Golle J., Stucki S., Akyildiz-Kunz C., & Lobmaier J. S. (2017). Do women tend while men fight or flee? Differential...
  • Provine R. R., Krosnowski K. A., & Brocato N. W. (2009). Tearing: Breakthrough in human emotional signaling. Evolutionary Psychology,...
  • Robinson C. C., Mandleco B., Olsen S. F., & Hart C. H. (1995). Authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting practices: Development...
  • Royle N. J., Smiseth P. T., & Kölliker M. (2012). The evolution of parental care. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Scarnier M., Schmader T., & Lickel B. (2009). Parental shame and guilt: Distinguishing emotional responses to a child's wrongdoings....
  • Simons R. L., Beaman J., Conger R. D., & Chao W. (1992). Gender differences in the intergenerational transmission of parenting beliefs....
  • Tajfel H. (1982). Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 1-39. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.33.020182.000245...
  • van Kleef G. (2016). The interpersonal dynamics of emotion: Toward an integrative theory of emotions as social information. Cambridge, UK:...
  • Vingerhoets A. J. J. M., & Scheirs J. G. M. (2000). Sex differences in crying: Empirical findings and possible explanations. In Fisher...
  • Zeifman D. M., & Brown S. A. (2011). Age-related changes in the signal value of tears. Evolutionary Psychology, 9 (3), 313-324. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491100900304
  • Zhang Q., Ting-Toomey S., Oetzel J. G., & Zhang J. (2015). The emotional side of forgiveness: A cross-cultural investigation of the role...
  • Zickfeld J. H., van de Ven N., Schubert T. W., & Vingerhoets A. (2018). Are tearful individuals perceived as less competent? Probably...