The Role of Affect in Children's Attribution of Intentionality and Dispensation of Punishment

Abstract

RYBASH, JOHN M.; ROODIN, PAUL A.; and HALLION, KENNETH. The Role of Affect in Children's Attribution of Intentionality and Dispensation of Punishment. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 1227-1230. The role of affect in children's attribution of intentionality and dispensation of punishment was examined within the context of Heider's balance theory and Stavitsky and Sim's equity theory. 12 boys and 12 girls at the kindergarten, first-, and second-grade levels were told 3 motivationally ambiguous stories in which an actor always produced a bad outcome. Subjects were required to judge the intentional nature of the actor's behavior and the amount of punishment the actor should receive for his behavior. At all grade levels children's attributions of intentionality varied with respect to the affective reactions (e.g., happiness, sadness, neutrality) displayed by an actor. These same affective cues, however, only influenced children's dispensations of punishment at the firstand second-grade levels. The overall significance of affective cues in children's judgments of intentionality was discussed. The impact of various types of response criteria on the developmental emergence of children's social judgments was also noted.