Social-cognitive correlates of children's understanding of displaced aggression

The purpose of this research was (1) to provide a detailed description of developmental differences in the understanding of displaced aggression during the grade school years and (2) to identify social-cognitive correlates of this development. Seventy-two children aged 5, 7, and 9 viewed, and answered questions about, four videotaped stories involving displaced aggression. In another session they were given three tests of social cognition. One was a person perception task which tapped the tendency to refer to physical or psychological attributes. A second was a recursive thinking task which assessed their awareness that people can think about each other. Third, Selman's puppy story was used to assess their awareness that words or facial expressions do not always reflect the way a person feels, and that a person may not always know what he or someone else really feels. The understanding of displaced aggression increased significantly with increasing age. This understanding was significantly related to the person perception task for 5-year-olds, and to the Selman task for 7- and 9-year-olds. The results were discussed in terms of a developing awareness of possible discrepancies between feelings and physical behavior, facial expressions, or words.