Social Information-Processing in Malfunctioning Caregiving Systems

这项研究将测试导致护理系统失灵的认知、自主和情感过程。过去的研究表明，在照顾“难相处”的孩子时，自觉性较低的女性更有可能表现出自主觉醒和情绪消极反应。以互惠的方式，这种系统中的儿童可能表现出维持照顾者信念的反应模式。例如，他们可能表现出自我保护的回避行为，这很容易（错误地）被照顾者解释为蔑视。这里提出的研究从两个方向扩展了这条调查线：低权力（照顾）信念是否像自动访问的“脚本”一样起作用？结果表明，作为照顾者的控制力较低的女性很容易产生“威胁导向”的观念，即她们很容易将孩子的行为解释为挑战她们脆弱的自我控制力。儿童对社会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？对这一预测的测试表明，在社会环境中感知控制能力较低的儿童，当他人的表达暗示暗示存在“威胁”时，可能会表现出自主觉醒，情绪调节能力差，对正在发生的事件的处理不准确。儿童（5至10岁）的反应是通过对包含潜在威胁线索（儿童进行常规体检）的视频的反应来衡量的。认知控制能力低的儿童会对“威胁”的微妙暗示高度警惕（例如，录像中儿童表现出的担忧表情）；他们对目睹的事件的感知和反应也会恶化。在第二项研究中，将测试社会授权体验的影响，以确定它们在多大程度上缓冲了对“威胁”的功能失调反应。暗示是对反馈循环，培育和维持功能失调的信息处理模式和家庭系统。这项研究将提供关于这些系统内的控制机制的资料，以及这些机制在多大程度上由于经验的改变而受到改变的影响。* * * / /

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.*** //