Title

Caregiver Attributions Are Not Just For Children: Evidence For Generalized Low Power Schemas

Keywords

Animal cruelty; Child abuse; Perceived control

Abstract

Two studies demonstrated that cognitive attributional styles linked to child abuse are predictive of responses during an interaction with a companion animal. Study 1 showed that individuals who perceive children as having greater control than themselves over negative caregiving situations (low perceived control, LPC) experienced more negative affect than high-perceived-control individuals during a brief interaction with a puppy that was perceived as "difficult." Study 2 showed that when interacting with a young cat, individuals who experienced greater negative affect during the interaction were those who perceive children as having a great deal of power over caregiving situations, regardless of their own perceived power. Both studies suggest that parent attributions may be predictive of affective responses in many caregiving situations, including those involving companion animals. Further, the link between child abuse and animal cruelty may involve a general cognitive schema that is activated by many difficult social interactions. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.

Publication Date

9-1-2001

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume

22

Issue

5

Number of Pages

527-541

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0193-3973(01)00093-4

Socpus ID

0042326572 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0042326572

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS