Children's Interpersonal Conflict Processing: The Effects of Cues and Emotion on Goal Setting

• Main Authors: Yi-Jun Chen, 陳怡君
• Other Authors: Lin Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/28774202995012859810

碩士 === 中原大學 === 心理學研究所 === 97 === Children’s conflicts with peers often take the form of arguments for objects. The goal a child set often direct the results of conflict. Due to the importance of goal setting in conflicts, this study will investigates the influences of goal setting in children’s conflicts with peers. The Information Processing Theory proposes that the goal setting is determined by ones interpretations of social cues. Since, the emotion will influence their resolution in peer conflicts. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of cues interpretation and the anger emotion on goal setting, while children were managing the peer conflict. Three hundred and eighty seven students were recruited from an elementary school in Chung-Li city with two hundred and thirteen boys and one hundred and seventy three girls. One hundred two students were in their 3rd-grade and one hundred nineteen five students in their 5th-grade. The interpretations of cues, and goal setting in peer conflict were measured by “Children’s Interpersonal Conflicts Solving Processing Questionnaire”. Children’s anger was measured by emotional face picture. The data were analyzed statistically with Friedman two-way analysis of variance by ranks and path analysis. The results support the hypotheses that the goal children set in conflict reflect one’s interpretation of the situation. In peer conflict, when children interpret the situation as they want the toy, the goal they set tending to obtain objects. When children interpret the opposition as the pattern want the toy, they may set the goal of yield. When Children interpret the intention of pattern in the conflict as hostility, they may set the goal of revenge, objects obtaining, and yield. When children interpret the intention of the pattern as friendly, they may set the goal of maintain relationship. This research reveals sex and age differences. The girls set goal of enhance relationships more in conflicts, compare to boys, even girls and boys interpret cues in the same way. In age differences, when 5-grade students interpret the intention of the pattern as they want the toy, they may set the goal of yield. The results will not show in 3-grade students. The anger emotion and hostile attribution will contribute one to set damage relationship goal, in direct and indirectly ways. The direct effects show, when children are anger in the conflict or attribute pattern’s intention hostile, they tend to set the goal of revenge and objects obtaining. The indirectly effects show, when person in anger emotion tend to interpreted pattern’s intention more hostile and hence, set more damage relationship goals. This indirectly effect also shows in hostile intention interpretation evoke more anger emotion, than to set damage relationship goals.