Participants were 82 children aged 9–11 and 169 adults aged 18–65, majority White European; data were collected in Northern Ireland between January and June 2022. Children’s awareness of autism was ...assessed by asking what they know about autism. Children and adults also judged the extent to which a hypothetical autistic peer had capacity for mental experiences (emotions and personality traits). Emotions and personality traits varied between non-uniquely, or uniquely human, and the effect of valence (positive/negative) was also examined. We describe the extent to which children and adults attribute capacity for mental experiences to an autistic peer, and examine potential dehumanization of the peer through relative denial of uniquely human mental experiences. Denial of uniquely human mental experiences predicted how happy participants expected themselves (adults) and others (children and adults) to be about including the peer. Findings suggest children of this age hold fairly accurate representations of autism, and that dehumanization of autistic people may contribute to their exclusion by neurotypical peers.
•Children aged 9-11 had an awareness of autism, giving definitions in line with diagnostic criteria or lived experiences.•Children denied negative uniquely human mental experiences (vs. negative non-uniquely human) to an autistic target.•Children did not deny positive uniquely human mental experiences (vs. positive non-uniquely human) to an autistic target.•Adults demonstrated the infrahumanization effect in relation to an autistic target.•Denial of uniquely human mental experiences was negatively related to happiness about including an autistic peer.
The relations between prosocial risk taking (taking a risk to benefit another person; PSRT) and interpersonal regret (regret that one's choices have caused a poor outcome for another person) were ...examined in 192 children aged 7–9. PSRT was measured by children's choices within a gambling task in which one choice guaranteed participants a good prize whereas the other involved risking this prize to help a peer also win a good prize. Interpersonal regret was assessed within the same task by examining children's change in emotion when they learned they would have won a better prize for a peer had they chosen differently. Performance on this task was also examined in relation to sympathy and resource sharing. Findings indicated that the operationalizations of PSRT and interpersonal regret were meaningful. Children who took a prosocial risk were more generous in a resource sharing task. In some circumstances, children who took a prosocial risk were also more likely to experience interpersonal regret than those who did not take a prosocial risk, indicating that experiencing interpersonal regret may be related to individual differences in prosociality. However, experiencing interpersonal regret did not have a direct effect on subsequent prosocial behavior, when measured by resource sharing. We consider findings in relation to a possible distinction between outcome and process regret and the generalizability of the behavioral consequences of regret.
•7–9-year-olds demonstrate interpersonal regret in a prosocial risk taking task.•Few 7–9-year-olds are prepared to take a prosocial risk.•Prosocial risk takers are more likely to experience ...interpersonal regret.
Numerous studies have examined the development of regret about choices yielding non-optimal outcomes for the self (intrapersonal regret), but regret can also be experienced when one’s choices lead to poor outcomes for another person (interpersonal regret). We investigated interpersonal regret in children using a novel prosocial risk taking task that closely resembled in structure those used in intrapersonal regret studies. Children chose between two gambles to win a prize for themselves and a peer. In interpersonal trials, acting prosocially required children to incur a risk of winning nothing in order to improve the possible outcomes for another child. Regardless of their choice, children found out that the other child would have had a better outcome if they had chosen differently. Intrapersonal regret trials were also included where the participant themselves received a poor outcome that would have been better if a different choice had been made. Few children of 7-9-years were willing to take a personal risk in order to be prosocial. Those who did choose to take a prosocial risk were more likely to experience interpersonal regret than those who made the non-prosocial choice. There was no association between interpersonal and intrapersonal regret, potentially suggesting that different factors underlie their emergence, with interpersonal regret being prosocially motivated.
•People’s emotions are influenced not just by present events but also by how events have unfolded in the past and how they are likely to unfold in the future.•Importantly, emotions are shaped not ...only by thoughts about past or future events but also by the experience of events moving from the present and into the past.•Using single-character vignettes, we found that from age 4, children understand that the cessation of events can impact others’ emotions and recognize that people feel differently following the cessation of positive, negative, and neutral events.•Results also indicate that the majority of 4-year-olds judge others as feeling happier at the end of negative events (an earlier understanding of relief than shown in previous research). However, 6-year-olds were less likely than adults to judge others as feeling sad at the end of positive events.
People’s emotional states are influenced not just by events occurring in the present but also by how events have unfolded in the past and how they are likely to unfold in the future. To what extent do young children understand the ways in which past events can affect current emotions even if they are no longer ongoing? In the current study, we explored children’s ability to understand how others feel at the cessation of events—as events change from being present to being past. We asked 97 4- to 6-year-olds (40.2% female) and 35 adults (54.3% female) to judge how characters felt once particular types of events had ended relative to how they felt during these events. We found that from age 4, children judged (as adults do) that the character would feel positive at the cessation of negative events—what we refer to as temporal relief. This understanding of relief occurs earlier than has been shown in previous research. However, children were less likely than adults to judge others as feeling sad at the cessation of positive events—what we refer to as temporal disappointment. Overall, our findings suggest that children not only understand that the cessation of events can affect others’ emotions but also recognize that people feel differently following the cessation of positive, negative, and neutral events.
Counterfactual thought describes the process of thinking about alternatives to reality. Counterfactual thought can result in various counterfactual emotions, one of which - regret- has received ...particular research attention. Regret is the emotion we feel when things would have turned out better than they are now, if only we had acted differently in some way. Thus, regret involves a comparison between reality and a counterfactual alternative. Functional theories of regret argue that experiencing or anticipating regret can promote adaptive behavior, as aversive emotional feedback signals that a sub-optimal decision has been made. Furthermore, thinking counterfactually about how poor outcomes could have been avoided also draws attention to ameliorative actions, which can then be enacted upon when faced with similar decisions in the future. Indeed, many studies have evidenced that experiencing or anticipating regret can promote adaptive behavior, in both adults and children. However, studies of regret have focused primarily on the context of self-interested decision making, i.e. when an individual makes a decision which results in a poor outcome for themselves. I refer to this as intrapersonal regret. However, it is also possible to experience regret about decision that have negative consequences for someone other than ourselves: I call this interpersonal regret. The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate the development of interpersonal regret. Motivating this aim was the suggestion that, if intrapersonal regret informs self-interested decision making process, perhaps interpersonal regret might inform social and moral decision making. In Studies 1 through 3, I describe efforts to design an interpersonal regret task which could overcome some limitations which had been identified in existing regret tasks, while maintaining a similar structure overall. In Studies 1 and 2, 8-9-year-olds reported feeling sadder when they learned that making a different choice would have prevented the poor outcome of a peer, and did so significantly more often in regret trials than control trials (where making a different choice would not have prevented the poor outcome). Additionally, 8-9-year-olds reported feeling sadder significantly more often than 4-5-year-olds in regret trials, as is consistent with developmental changes in counterfactual thinking abilities. However, while this evidence suggested that sadder responses were underpinned by consideration of the counterfactual alternative - what would have happened if they had made a different choice - it was not until Study 3 that 8-9-year-olds reported feeling sadder in such circumstances significantly more often than chance. Having piloted and refined the interpersonal regret measure, its associations with theoretically relevant constructs were examined in Study 4; resource donation and sympathy. In addition to examining interpersonal regret, this thesis also investigated prosocial risk taking (PSRT). PSRT was defined as taking a risk with the primary intention of benefitting a person other than oneself. Importantly, PSRT required a potential cost to one's own outcomes, making it more likely that the intentions underlying such a choice were genuinely altruistic. Few 8-9-year-olds were willing to take a prosocial risk to benefit a peer; those who were did so consistently across trials and were more likely to experience interpersonal regret. Engaging in PSRT was also associated with donating a larger amount of resources to another child, and paying a cost to create equality with another child. These findings indicated our tasks had successfully operationalized a novel indicator of prosociality. Although recent work has discussed PSRT as a theoretical construct, we are the first to propose a measure of PSRT, and to examine its occurrence in children.
Abstract
An overarching, supraordinate identity (e.g., European identity) can enhance intergroup relations if individuals recategorize ingroup and outgroup members into one, unified group. Yet, in ...conflict‐affected societies, ethno‐national identities may promote negative intergroup attitudes and behaviours. The effects of European and ethno‐national identities in combination have yet to be explored in childhood. If they can be integrated, the inclusivity of a supraordinate European identity may be felt despite the divisiveness of ethno‐national identities in post‐accord societies. This research assesses supraordinate identity integration in relation to quality intergroup contact and cross‐group friendships among the post‐accord generation in Croatia, Kosovo and Republic of North Macedonia (RNM). These sites have relatively recent conflicts, but varying relationships to the EU. Data were collected from 382 children aged 7–11, split evenly by minority and majority status (Croatia
n
= 90; Kosovo
n
= 107; RNM
n
= 185). Children across all three sites had integrated ethno‐national/European identities. Levels of identity integration varied by site, but not group status. Identity integration was positively and significantly associated with quality of outgroup contact and number of cross‐group friends, and this relationship varied by site. Integrated supraordinate identities have promising implications for intergroup relations and the future of peacebuilding in Europe. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's
Community and Social Impact Statement
.
The effects of political violence are felt across generations; for example, extent of parental competitive victimhood (feeling that one's ingroup was relatively more victimised during the conflict) ...predicts adolescent's intergroup discrimination. We extend that research to children, born a generation after the height of violence. Participants were 223 family dyads with children aged 7–11 (M = 9.05, SD = 1.30; 52.4% female): Croatia (n = 82) and Republic of North Macedonia (RNM: n = 141), equally split by group status (i.e., Croatia: Croats/Serbs; RNM: Macedonian/Albanian). Parents reported on competitive victimhood while children reported on intergroup contact intentions (e.g., shared education initiatives). Moderation analysis across sites found a significant status by competitive victimhood interaction; increased parental competitive victimhood was associated with decreased contact intentions among minority, but not majority, children. We review site‐specific findings in relation to their historical context, concluding with the implications for shared education, reconciliation and peacebuilding.
An overarching, supraordinate identity (e.g., European identity) can enhance intergroup relations if individuals recategorize ingroup and outgroup members into one, unified group. Yet, in ...conflict‐affected societies, ethno‐national identities may promote negative intergroup attitudes and behaviours. The effects of European and ethno‐national identities in combination have yet to be explored in childhood. If they can be integrated, the inclusivity of a supraordinate European identity may be felt despite the divisiveness of ethno‐national identities in post‐accord societies. This research assesses supraordinate identity integration in relation to quality intergroup contact and cross‐group friendships among the post‐accord generation in Croatia, Kosovo and Republic of North Macedonia (RNM). These sites have relatively recent conflicts, but varying relationships to the EU. Data were collected from 382 children aged 7–11, split evenly by minority and majority status (Croatia n = 90; Kosovo n = 107; RNM n = 185). Children across all three sites had integrated ethno‐national/European identities. Levels of identity integration varied by site, but not group status. Identity integration was positively and significantly associated with quality of outgroup contact and number of cross‐group friends, and this relationship varied by site. Integrated supraordinate identities have promising implications for intergroup relations and the future of peacebuilding in Europe. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.
In addition to commonly associated environmental factors, genomic factors may cause cerebral palsy. We performed whole-exome sequencing of 250 parent-offspring trios, and observed enrichment of ...damaging de novo mutations in cerebral palsy cases. Eight genes had multiple damaging de novo mutations; of these, two (TUBA1A and CTNNB1) met genome-wide significance. We identified two novel monogenic etiologies, FBXO31 and RHOB, and showed that the RHOB mutation enhances active-state Rho effector binding while the FBXO31 mutation diminishes cyclin D levels. Candidate cerebral palsy risk genes overlapped with neurodevelopmental disorder genes. Network analyses identified enrichment of Rho GTPase, extracellular matrix, focal adhesion and cytoskeleton pathways. Cerebral palsy risk genes in enriched pathways were shown to regulate neuromotor function in a Drosophila reverse genetics screen. We estimate that 14% of cases could be attributed to an excess of damaging de novo or recessive variants. These findings provide evidence for genetically mediated dysregulation of early neuronal connectivity in cerebral palsy.
Cognitive impairment is a core feature of bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Deficits in processing speed (PS) and sustained attention (SA) may be particularly impaired and ...may underpin a broader profile of deficits, however current knowledge of the nature of these impairments is limited by heterogeneous results in the literature. Few reviews to date have attempted to disentangle sources of heterogeneity to assess the presence and magnitude of impairments in PS and SA in BD and MDD.
One hundred and three studies were reviewed to examine performance in tests of PS and SA in BD (n = 3452) and MDD (n = 5461) compared to healthy controls (n = 8016). Neuropsychological methodology used in the literature was summarised. Data were meta-analysed to assess impairments in PS and SA for each neuropsychological test separately. Subgroup analysis was performed across mood states to investigate sources of heterogeneity.
Impairments were found across most neuropsychological tests, with small to large effect sizes for BD (range: d = 0.19-0.96) and MDD (range: d = 0.29-0.86). Impairments were present in symptomatic states and euthymia in most cases. Some outcome measures were not impaired in euthymia. Heterogeneity was observed for most neuropsychological tests and remained after separating by mood state. There inadequate data to meta-analyse some outcome measures, particularly for symptomatic groups.
Impairments in PS and SA in BD and MDD can be observed across most neuropsychological tests. Future research should further investigate the nature of these impairments across mood states, controlling for clinical confounds.
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