Social Information-Processing in Malfunctioning Caregiving Systems

这项研究将测试认知、自主和情绪过程，这些过程会导致神经系统出现故障。过去的研究表明，作为照顾者，控制感低的女性在试图应对"困难"的孩子时更有可能表现出自主觉醒和情绪上的负面反应。在互惠的方式，在这样的系统中的儿童很可能会表现出反应模式，保持照顾者的信念。例如，他们可能会表现出自我保护的回避行为，这些行为很容易被照顾者解释为蔑视。这里提出的研究将这条调查线延伸到两个方向：低权力（权力）信念作为自动访问的“脚本”吗？预测测试，作为照顾者的低感知控制的妇女容易想到"威胁导向"的想法，即，他们很容易把孩子的行为解释为对他们脆弱的自我控制感的挑战。儿童对社交互动的信念是否会影响他们对他人表达行为的感知和反应？该预测是测试，低感知控制在他们的社会环境中的儿童可能会表现出自主觉醒，不良的情绪调节，和不准确的处理正在进行的事件时，他人的表达线索表明存在的"威胁"。"儿童（5至10岁）的反应是根据对包括潜在威胁线索（儿童进行常规体检）的视频的反应来衡量的。低感知控制的儿童预计会对"威胁"的微妙线索高度警惕（例如，被录像的儿童表现出的忧虑的表情）;他们也被期望表现出对目击事件的感知和反应的恶化。在第二项研究中，将测试社会赋权体验的效果，以确定它们在多大程度上缓冲了对"威胁"的功能失调反应。"影响是反馈回路，促进和维持功能失调的信息处理模式和家庭系统。这项研究将提供有关这些系统内的控制机制的信息，以及这些机制作为改变经验的函数而发生变化的程度。//

This research will test the cognitive, autonomic, and emotional processes that foster malfunctioning caregiving systems. Past research has demonstrated that women with low perceived control as caregivers are more likely to show autonomic arousal and emotionally negative reactions when attempting to cope with "difficult" children. In reciprocal fashion, children within such systems are likely to show response patterns that maintain the beliefs of caregivers. For example, they may show self- protective avoidance behaviors that are readily (mis)interpreted by caregivers as showing defiance. Research proposed here extends this line of inquiry in two directions: Do low power (caregiving) beliefs act as automatically-accessed "scripts"? The prediction is tested that women with low perceived control as caregivers readily bring to mind "threat- oriented" ideation, i.e., they easily interpret child behavior as challenging their fragile sense of their own control. Do the beliefs of children about social interactions influence their perception and response to the expressive behaviors of others? The prediction is tested that children with low perceived control in their social environment are likely to manifest autonomic arousal, poor emotion regulation, and inaccurate processing of ongoing events when the expressive cues of others suggests the presence of "threat." Responses of children (aged 5 to 10) are measured in reaction to a video that includes cues to potential threat (child having routine medical exam). Children with low perceived control are expected to be hypervigilant to subtle cues to "threat" (e.g., a worried expression shown by the videotaped child); they are also expected to show deterioration in their perception of and response to witnessed events. In a second study, the effects of socially empowering experiences will be tested to determine the extent to which they buffer against dysfunctional responses to "threat." Implications are for feedback loops that foster and maintain dysfunctional information-processing patterns and family systems. This research will provide information on controlling mechanisms within such systems, as well as the extent to which such mechanisms are subject to change as a function of altered experience.*** //