Psychology

The role of expectations in children's experience of novel events

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The expectations children bring to interactions, as well as the information they receive prior to them, may be important for children's experiences of new adults. In this study, 148 children (8-13. years old) reported on their expectations of adults, received one of three types of information about a new adult (positive, realistic, or control), and then " interacted" with a videotaped " controlling" adult. The effect of information type depended on children's age and prior expectations, with expectancy effects emerging in the context of positive information at the younger end of our age range and in the context of realistic information at the older end of our age range. Furthermore, the more expectations exceeded perceptions (i.e., the more disappointment), the lower children's rapport, affect, and prosocial intentions were and the more internal causal attributions they made. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied contributions. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

Publication Title

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Publication Date

2012

Volume

113

Issue

3

First Page

305

Last Page

321

ISSN

0022-0965

DOI

10.1016/j.jecp.2012.06.010

Keywords

disappointment, expectations, interpersonal perception, self-determination theory, social information processing, trait understanding

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