Human Nature and Potentials Lab

Emotional Potential: Meaning and Happiness

We all want to live a happy and meaningful life, but what are happiness and meaning about? Philosophers have long debated about whether happiness is about feeling good, or about being good. Our work reveals that even young children perceive moral goodness as essential for happiness. Our adult work shows that people perceive meaning as even more self-transcendent than happiness. By examining children’s and adults’ perceptions and experiences of happiness and meaning, this line of our work aims to illuminate the (self-transcendent) nature of happiness and meaning.

O’bi, A. D., & Yang, F. (2024). Seeing awe: How children perceive awe-inspiring visual experiences. Child Development. Advance Online Publication

download open-access paper here

Abstract:

Awe is a profound, self-transcendent emotion. To illuminate its origin, four preregistered studies examined how U.S. 4- to 9-year-old children perceive awe-inspiring stimuli (N = 444, 55% female, 58% White, tested in 2020–2023). Awe-inspiring expansive nature (Study 1) and natural disaster scenes (Study 2) evoked perceived vastness, motivation to explore, and awareness of the unknown more than everyday scenes did (d ranging 0.32–1.76). Compared to expansive social stimuli, expansive nature stimuli more positively affected children’s sense of self (Study 3). Diverse awe-inspiring scenes (vast nature, natural disasters, and slow-motion objects) all elicited awe and higher learning motivation than everyday scenes did (Study 4). These findings suggest that children appreciate awe-inspiring visual experiences, illuminating the origins and nature of awe as a self-transcendent experience.

Huang, M. & Yang, F. (2023). Self-transcendence or self-enhancement: People's perceptions of meaning and happiness in relation to the self. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication.

download the paper here

Abstract:

We all desire to have meaningful experiences in life, but what factors give rise to perceptions of meaning? Across 7 preresigtered studies (total N = 1362), we examined the role of self-transcendence (i.e., benefits to society) and self-enhancement (i.e., benefits to the self) in people’s judgments of meaning, in comparison to their judgments of happiness. We found that people weighed benefits to society more heavily than benefits to the self when evaluating the meaning of different jobs (Study 1), other people’s life (Study 2a), and advice given to others (Study 2b). In contrast, benefits to the self were weighed similarly to (Studies 1-2) or even more heavily than benefits to society (Study 3) in people’s judgments about happiness, suggesting people’s meaning judgment is more self-transcendent than happiness judgment. Similar differences between meaning and happiness were found in participants’ first-party perceptions of their own jobs (Study 4), advice intended to improve their own lives (Study 5), and actual feelings of completing a behavioral task (Study 7), except that self-enhancement played a relatively bigger role in first-party meaning judgments than in third-party meaning judgments (Studies 4-6). The results consistently suggest that people’s meaning perceptions are more self-transcendent than their happiness perceptions (Studies 1-7). Our findings help illuminate the social cognitive processes underlying people’s perceptions of meaning, as well as shed light on the similarities and differences between people’s conceptualizations of meaning and happiness.

In the News:

The paper has received the Best Paper Award by the International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology (https://www.issep.org/annual-awards).

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/whats_the_difference_between_meaning_and_happiness

https://socialsciences.uchicago.edu/news/new-study-explores-how-self-transcendence-and-self-influence-impact-how-we-evaluate-meaning

Yang, F. (2023). Cooperative care as origins of the “happy ape”?. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, e80-e80.

download preprint here

Abstract:

Grossmann proposes an interesting framework to explain how heightened fearfulness among humans could be evolutionarily adaptive in the context of cooperative care. I would like to propose that cooperative care may also be a potential mechanism promoting enhanced happiness expression among humans, shedding light on questions about the scope and boundary of the fearful ape hypothesis.

Ge, B.H. & Yang, F. (2023). Transcending the self to transcend suffering. Frontiers in Psychology (Special Issue on Suffering and Wellbeing). Advance online publication.

download the paper here

Abstract:

Suffering is inevitable in human life. Our perspective paper theorizes on precise mechanisms for how self-transcendence––the state in which an individual looks beyond the self and adopts a larger perspective including concern for others and the world––may help people endure the experience of suffering. From an examination of empirical literature ranging from social psychology to clinical research, we propose that self-transcendence may aid the endurance of suffering along three psychological levels: (1) On the level of affect, the unique profundity and positivity of self-transcendent experiences (e.g., awe, flow, compassion) may supersede and reduce the salience of negative affect arising from suffering (e.g., fear, despair, depressive mood). (2) On the level of cognition, the larger frame of reference provided by self-transcendent thinking may contextualize one’s suffering as something comprehendible, thereby helping to resolve the challenges of making meaning from suffering (e.g., that one’s existing meaning systems are unable to explain the suffering event). (3) On the level of motivation, the drive to fulfill one’s need for self-transcendence may counterbalance the more hedonically-oriented motivations that can promote negative coping strategies in response to suffering (e.g., avoidance, substance abuse). All three mechanisms may also provoke downstream prosocial behaviors that help embed the individual into networks of social support. Altogether, by synthesizing specific mechanisms from affective, cognitive, and motivational self-transcendent processes, our paper establishes a theoretical framework for how self-transcendence may help people endure and transcend suffering, thereby elevating the conditions and experiences of our existence.

Chen, X., Harris, P. L., & Yang, F. (2023). Beyond enjoyment: Young children consider the normative goodness of activity engagement when attributing happiness. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 228, 105608.

download the preprint here

Abstract:

Individuals are typically happy when engaging in enjoyable activities. But many enjoyable activities could be harmful when engaged in to excess. Do children consider the normative goodness of activity engagement levels when attributing happiness? To examine this question, we presented children with enjoyable activities that are often harmless in moderation but harmful in excess. When told that engaging in their favorite activities at their preferred amount was either normatively good (i.e., harmless and permitted) or normatively bad (i.e., harmful and forbidden), 10-11-year-old and 7-8-year-old children (Study 1), and even 5-year-old children (Studies 2-3, with simplified methods) attributed less happiness when the engagement level was normatively bad than normatively good, both to themselves and to another child. Young children also perceived normatively bad engagement as less interesting and pleasurable (Study 3). The findings suggest that children consider the normative goodness of activity engagement (rather than enjoyment alone) when attributing happiness, illuminating how children understand happiness.

Kim, Y., Nusbaum, H., & Yang, F. (2022). Going beyond ourselves: The role of self-transcendent experiences in wisdom. Cognition and Emotion. Advance online publication.

download the paper here

Abstract:

Having good moral character often involves shifting one’s focus of attention from the self to others and the world. Across three studies (N = 605 adults), we found converging evidence that self-transcendent experiences, specifically awe and flow, enabled the expression of wisdom, as captured by wise reasoning and epistemic humility measures. Study 1 found that dispositionally awe- and flow-prone people have stronger wise reasoning and epistemic humility abilities, over and above dispositional happiness. Consistent with Study 1, Study 2 found that, across diverse recalled experiences, individuals who experienced more awe showed greater wise reasoning, and those who experienced more flow showed greater epistemic humility. In Study 3, using situated interventions, we induced awe (watching a video involving vast nature scenes) and flow (composing a song using an online music maker) and compared them with neutral and amusement experiences. Compared to these control conditions, eliciting awe and flow facilitated one’s (1) ability to address interpersonal conflicts with wise reasoning, (2) ability to acknowledge one’s epistemic gaps, and (3) willingness to improve those aspects and one’s general moral character. Altogether, these findings reveal the promising role of self-transcendent experiences in motivating people to appreciate others’ perspectives beyond one’s own.

Yu, Y., Chen, X., Li,D., Liu, J., & Yang, F. (2022). Growing up happy: Longitudinal relations between children’s happiness and their social and academic functioning. The Journal of Positive Psychology. Advance online publication.

download paper here

Abstract:

Happiness is valued as one of the most important goals in raising children, but what factors make children happy? Inspired by philosophical conceptions of “eudaimonia” in life, we investigated how children’s social and academic functioning, including prosocial behaviors, peer preference, and academic achievement, may be related to happiness, over and above desire satisfaction. Participants included 2,144 children (initial ages of 9 and 10 years) in China. Two waves of longitudinal data were collected from multiple sources including self-reports, peer evaluations, and school records. Cross-lagged panel analysis indicated that prosocial behaviors, peer preference, and academic achievement predicted children’s self-reported happiness over a year, controlling for desire satisfaction. Bidirectional relations were found between peer-assessed happiness and prosocial behaviors, peer preference, and academic achievement. The results suggest that children’s happiness is linked to their social and academic functioning from middle childhood, contributing to a better understanding of the nature and development of happiness.

Yang, F., Knobe, J., & Dunham, Y. (2021). Happiness is from the soul: The nature and origins of our happiness concept. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150(2), 276.

download paper here

Abstract:

What is happiness? Is happiness about feeling good or about being good? Across five studies, we explored the nature and origins of our happiness concept developmentally and cross-linguistically. We found that surprisingly, children as young as age 4 viewed morally bad people as less happy than morally good people, even if the characters all have positive subjective states (Study 1). Moral character did not affect attributions of physical traits (Study 2), and was more powerfully weighted than subjective states in attributions of happiness (Study 3). Moreover, moral character but not intelligence influenced children and adults’ happiness attributions (Study 4). Finally, Chinese people responded similarly when attributing happiness with two words, despite one (“Gao Xing”) being substantially more descriptive than the other (“Kuai Le”) (Study 5). Therefore, we found that moral judgment plays a relatively unique role in happiness attributions, which is surprisingly early emerging and largely independent of linguistic and cultural influences, and thus likely reflects a fundamental cognitive feature of the mind.

Perspectives shared on Kudos:

Blog post on Psychology Today:

Moral Potential:

We cannot survive without being self-interested, but to what extend can we transcend narrow self-interests? We found children as young as age four expect people to contribute to the common good, and by middle childhood, children think it is morally right to transcend group boundaries to treat strangers equally. Ongoing projects examine the social, moral, and cognitive mechanisms that motivate or limit our tendencies to make contributions beyond the self.

Yang, F. & Roberts, S. (2024). Condemned or valued: Young children evaluate nonconformity based on nonconformists' group orientations. Cognition. Advanced Online Publication
Abstract:

Nonconformity––the act of deviating from established norms and expectations of one’s group––is often evaluated negatively, despite its potential benefits for society. Three preregistered studies (N = 153) examined how nonconformists’ group orientations (attitudes and intentions toward ingroup and outgroups) might affect 4–6-year-olds’ evaluations of nonconformity in intergroup situations. Study 1 examined children’s default beliefs of nonconformists’ group attitudes toward ingroup and outgroup. We found that children expected nonconformists to hold more positive attitudes toward their outgroup than toward their ingroup, and this expectation predicted their disapproval of nonconformity. In Study 2, however, when nonconformity was explicitly motivated by positive intentions toward the ingroup rather than toward the outgroup, children were more accepting of nonconformity. Study 3 found that among nonconformists with different types of group orientations (positive toward the outgroup, ingroup or both group), young children evaluated the most positively nonconformists who bring the ingroup and the outgroup together. Collectively, these findings suggest that children evaluate nonconformity based on nonconformists’ group orientations, illuminating one mechanism for how nonconformity could be more socially accepted and valued.

Yu, H., Chen, J., Dardaine, B., & Yang, F. (2023). Moral barrier to compassion: How perceived badness of sufferers dampens observers’ compassionate responses. Cognition.
Abstract:

Compassion has been theorized as a desirable prosocial emotion due to its potential to transcend arbitrary boundaries (e.g., race, physical distance) and motivate us to alleviate the suffering of all human beings. Our paper nevertheless examines a potential moral barrier to compassion––whether and how moral evaluations of the suffering and the sufferer hinder our compassion and prosocial motivation. In four pre-registered studies (total N = 421, within-participant design), we demonstrated that adult U.S. participants withheld their compassion and willingness to help when they perceived moral badness of the sufferer, even when the perceived moral badness did not directly cause the suffering. The effects were found in terms of diverse types of moral judgments, including the sufferers’ immoral intention (e.g., harming another; Study 1), bad moral character (e.g., being a dishonest person; Study 2), and even mere associations with groups perceived as deserving of suffering based on moral status (Studies 3-4). Deservedness judgment––how much the
sufferer was viewed as deserving the suffering––mediated the effect between moral judgment and compassionate responses. Importantly, participants judged withholding compassion based on moral deservedness as what should be done and what morally good people would do, suggesting that people hold a normative view of the tendency that might make it difficult to overcome. Our findings thus reveal moral judgment as a barrier that prevents us from alleviating the suffering of all human beings.

Yang, F., Yang, X., & Dunham, Y. (2023). Beyond our tribe: Developing a normative sense of group-transcendent fairness. Developmental Psychology.
download the paper here
Abstract:

Human beings naturally prefer and support ingroup members more than outgroup members, but to what extent do we morally value equal treatment to ingroups and outgroups? Across four preregistered studies, we examined the development of “group-transcendent fairness”, i.e. the moral endorsement of allocating resources equally to ingroup members and outgroup members. We found that when allocating common resources to ingroup and outgroup members, American adults (N = 549) thought it was morally right to allocate equally instead of giving more to their family, political, or minimal ingroup members, across high and low stakes (Study 1). This normative sense of group-transcendent fairness develops gradually: 4-6-year-olds tended to endorse ingroup favoritism, whereas by age 8 or 9 children endorsed intergroup fairness (Studies 2-3, N = 214). Adults from China (N = 200) –– a culture that values ingroup loyalty –– also endorsed intergroup fairness as morally right, suggesting this moral value is not specific to western societies where egalitarianism is emphasized (Study 4). In contrast to the normative endorsement of intergroup fairness, participants in all studies did not predict most people to be fair across contexts, suggesting group-transcendent fairness was perceived more as a prescriptive than a descriptive norm (Studies 1-4). Together, our studies reveal the robust presence of group-transcendent fairness, which is valued across group contexts and cultures, develops later than ingroup support, and is prescriptive but not descriptive by nature. The findings help illuminate the nature and development of one group-transcendent moral value that helps promote intergroup relations and societal progress.

Public Significance:

We naturally love and support people in our own groups, but how much do we also morally value treating ingroup and outgroup members equally? We found that when allocating common resources to ingroup and outgroup members, 4-6-year-old children endorse giving more to their family and arbitrary ingroup members, whereas children older than age 8 and adults from US and China endorse equal allocations as morally right. In contrast to their moral endorsement to “group-transcendent fairness”, children and adults did not predict most other people to be fair. The findings suggest that children gradually develop to morally value group-transcendence fairness, which may have implications for promoting intergroup relations and societal progress.

 

Wang, X., Chen, Z., Van Tongeren, D. R., DeWall, C. N., & Yang, F. (2023). Permitting immoral behaviour: A generalized compensation belief hypothesis. British Journal of Psychology, 114(1), 21-28.

download paper here

Abstract:

When are we more likely to permit immoral behaviours? The current research examined a generalized compensation belief hypothesis that individuals, as observers, would morally tolerate and accept someone paying forward unfair treatment to an innocent person as a means to compensate for the perpetrator’s previously experienced mistreatment. Across five experiments (N = 1107) based on economic games (Studies 1–4) and diverse real-life scenarios (Study 5), we showed that participants, as observing third parties, were more likely to morally permit and engage in the same negative act once they knew about previous maltreatment of the perpetrator. This belief occurred even when the content of received and paid-forward maltreatment was non-identical (Study 2), when the negative treatment was received from a non-human target (Study 3) and when the maltreatment was intangible (e.g. material loss) or relational (e.g. social exclusion; Study 5). Perceived required compensation mediated the effect of previous maltreatment on moral permission (Studies 4 and 5). The results consistently suggest that people’s moral permission of immoral behaviours is influenced by perpetrator’s previous mistreatment, contributing to a better understanding of the nature and nuances of our sense of fairness and contextualized moral judgement.

News:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2022/09/18/psychological-research-offers-3-strategies-to-strengthen-your-ethical-code/?sh=72004a33470b

Yang, X., Yang, F., Guo, C., & Dunham, Y. (2022). Which group matters more: The relative strength of minimal vs. gender and race group memberships in children's intergroup thinking. Acta Psychologica, 229, 103685.

download paper here

Abstract:

Experimentally created “minimal” social groups are frequently used as a means to investigate core components of intergroup cognition in children and adults. Yet, it is unclear how the effects of such arbitrary group memberships compare to those of salient real-world group memberships (gender and race) when they are directly pitted against each other in the same studies. Across three studies, we investigate these comparisons in 4–7-year-olds. Study 1 (N = 48) establishes the minimal group paradigm, finding that children develop ingroup preferences as well as other forms of group-based reasoning (e.g., moral obligations) following random assignment to a minimal group. Study 2 (N = 96) and Study 3 (N = 48) directly compare this minimal group to a real-world social group (gender or race) in a cross-categorization paradigm, in which targets are participants’ ingroups in terms of the minimal group and outgroups in terms of a real-world social group, or vice versa. The relative strength of the minimal group varies, but in general it either has a similar effect or a stronger effect as compared to race and in some cases even gender. Our results support the contention that an abstract tendency to divide the world into “us” and “them” is a central force in early intergroup cognition.

Yang, F., Choi, Y. J., Misch, A., Yang, X., & Dunham, Y. (2018). In defense of the commons: Young children negatively evaluate and sanction free riders. Psychological science, 29, 1598-1611.

download paper here

Abstract:

Human flourishing depends on individuals paying costs to contribute to the common good, but such arrangements
are vulnerable to free riding, in which individuals benefit from others’ contributions without paying costs themselves.
Systems of tracking and sanctioning free riders can stabilize cooperation, but the origin of such tendencies is not well
understood. Here, we provide evidence that children as young as 4 years old negatively evaluate and sanction free
riders. Across six studies, we showed that these tendencies are robust, large in magnitude, tuned to intentional rather
than unintentional noncontribution, and generally consistent across third- and first-party cases. Further, these effects
cannot be accounted for by factors that frequently co-occur with free riding, such as nonconforming behaviors or the
costs that free riding imposes on the group. Our findings demonstrate that from early in life, children both hold and
enforce a normative expectation that individuals are intrinsically obligated to contribute to the common good.

Yale News: Even 4-year-olds dislike freeloaders

Quartz: Nobody likes a free rider–including four-year-old kids

Quartz

Reddit:

Children as young as age 4 express dislike of and are willing to punish those who freeload off the work of other group members, a new study has found. But kids also make a clear distinction between those who freeload intentionally and those who have good reasons why they can’t contribute.
byu/Wagamaga inscience

Perspectives shared on Kudos:

Becoming a Better Self: The Valuation of Goals, Ability and Uniqueness

To realize our life’s potential, we need to become and actualize the self. In this line of research, we have explored the early underpinnings of self-realization, on children’s understanding and valuation of goal pursuit, ability and and unique ideas/skills. We have found that children’s beliefs undergo very interesting changes during early childhood, paving the way for realizing their full potential in life.

Yang, F., & Frye, D. (2017). When preferences are in the way: Children’s predictions of goal-directed behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 54, 1051-1062.

download paper

Abstract:

Across three studies, we examined 4- to 7-year-olds’ predictions of goal-directed behaviors when goals conflict with preferences. In Study 1, when presented with stories in which a character had to act against basic preferences to achieve an interpersonal goal (e.g., playing with a partner), 6- and 7-year-olds were more likely than 4- and 5-year-olds to predict the actor would act in accordance with the goal to play with the partner, instead of fulfilling the basic preference of playing a favored activity. Similar results were obtained in Study 2 with scenarios that each involved a single individual pursuing intrapersonal goals that conflicted with his or her basic preferences. In Study 3, younger children’s predictions of goal-directed behaviors did not increase for novel goals and preferences, when the influences of their own preferences, future thinking, or a lack of impulse control were minimized. The results suggest that between ages 4 and 7, children increasingly integrate and give more weight to other sources of motivational information (e.g., goals) in addition to preferences when predicting people’s behaviors. This increasing awareness may have implications for children’s self-regulatory and goal pursuit behaviors.

Perspectives shared on Kudos:

Yang, F., & Frye, D. (2016). Early understanding of ability. Cognitive Development, 38, 49-62.

download paper here

Abstract:

Preschoolers’ understanding of ability was examined in three studies. Three- to 5-year-olds evaluated the abilities of two characters whose performances were inconsistent with their actual abilities because of an interfering event. Results revealed an age-related change in children’s understanding of ability: Three-year-olds evaluated the character who produced the better outcome as more competent, whereas 5-year-olds judged the character who originally had higher ability was more capable and predicted he would do better with no disruption. Study 2 replicated these results with modified stories and also found that the understanding of ability and false belief were related. Study 3 obtained similar results with a simplified story using concrete information about physical ability, interfering event, and observable outcome. These results suggest that an early understanding of ability as differentiated from outcomes is present before the end of preschool years. The results are discussed in relation to the similarities and differences between children’s understanding of ability and belief.

Yang, F., Shaw, A., Garduno, E., & Olson, K. R. (2014). No one likes a copycat: A cross-cultural investigation of children’s response to plagiarism. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 121, 111-119.

download paper here

Abstract:

Copying other people’s ideas is evaluated negatively by American children and adults. The current study investigated the influence of culture on children’s evaluations of plagiarism by comparing children from three countries—the United States, Mexico, and China—that differ in terms of their emphasis on the protection of intellectual property and ideas. Children (3- to 6-year-olds) were presented with videos involving two characters drawing pictures and were asked to evaluate the character who drew unique work or the character who copied someone else’s drawing. The study showed that 5- and 6-year-olds from all three cultures evaluated copiers negatively compared with unique drawers. These results suggest that children from cultures that place different values on the protection of ideas nevertheless develop similar concerns with plagiarism by 5-year-olds.

Culturally-Valued Competence and Personality Development:

How do we overcome the social and psychological consequences of negative dispositional tendencies (e.g., shyness and aggression)? Our research suggests that having culturally-valued competence matters. We found that academic achievement–a highly valued competence in China–buffers the maladjustment of shy and aggressive children and promote positive adjustment. 

Fu, R., Chen, X., Wang, L., & Yang, F. (2016). Developmental trajectories of academic achievement in Chinese children: Contributions of early social-behavioral functioning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 1001.

download paper here

Abstract:

This study explored the developmental trajectories of academic achievement and the contributions of early social behaviors and problems to these trajectories in Chinese children. Data were collected each year in 5 consecutive years from a sample of elementary schoolchildren in China (initially N 1,146, 609 boys, initial M age 8.33 years). Four distinct academic achievement trajectories were identified: low-stable, high/moderate-decreasing, high-increasing, and high-stable. Children high on sociability and low on externalizing behaviors and girls were more likely to be classified in the higher academic achievement trajectories. Initial higher levels of social competence were associated with lower decreasing rates of academic achievement within the high/moderate-decreasing trajectory. Initial lower levels of shyness and fewer externalizing behaviors predicted higher growth rates within the high-increasing trajectory. In addition, within the low-stable trajectory, children initially low on shyness and high on social-behavioral problems remained poor in academic achievement over time. The results suggest the
significance of social-behavioral functioning in predicting the distinctive trajectories of academic achievement in Chinese children.

Yang, F., Chen, X., & Wang, L. (2015). Shyness‐sensitivity and social, school, and psychological adjustment in urban Chinese children: A four‐wave longitudinal study. Child development, 86, 1848-1864.

download paper here

Abstract:

This study examined reciprocal contributions between shyness-sensitivity and social, school, and psychological adjustment in urban Chinese children. Longitudinal data were collected once a year from Grade 3 to Grade 6 (ages 9–12 years) for 1,171 children from multiple sources. Shyness-sensitivity positively contributed to social, school, and psychological difficulties over time, with the most consistent effects on peer preference and loneliness. Social and school adjustment negatively contributed to the development of shyness-sensitivity. The initial levels of shyness-sensitivity and social and school adjustment moderated the growth of each other, mainly as a resource-potentiating factor. The results indicate the significance of shyness-sensitivity for adjustment and the role of adjustment in the development of shyness-sensitivity in today’s urban Chinese society.

Yang, F., Chen, X., & Wang, L. (2014). Relations between aggression and adjustment in Chinese children: Moderating effects of academic achievement. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 43, 656-669.

download paper here

Abstract:

The primary purpose of the study was to examine the moderating effects of academic achievement on relations between aggressive behavior and social and psychological adjustment in Chinese children. A sample of children (N¼1,171; 591 boys, 580 girls; initial M age¼9 years) in China participated in the study. Two waves of longitudinal data were collected in Grades 3 and 4 from multiple sources including peer nominations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. The results indicated that the main effects of aggression on adjustment were more evident than those of adjustment on aggression. Moreover, aggression was negatively associated with later leadership status and positively associated with later peer victimization, mainly for high-achieving children. The results suggested that consistent with the resource-potentiating model, academic achievement served to enhance the positive development of children with low aggression. On the other hand, although the findings indicated fewer main effects of adjustment on aggression, loneliness, depression, and perceived social incompetence positively predicted later aggression for low-achieving, but not high-achieving, children, which suggested that consistent with the stress-buffering model, academic achievement protected children with psychological difficulties from developing aggressive behavior. The results indicate that academic achievement is involved in behavioral and socioemotional development in different manners in Chinese children. Researchers should consider an integrative approach based on children’s behavioral, psychological, and academic functions in designing prevention and intervention programs.

Chen, X., Zhao, S., & Yang, F. (2014). Cultural perspectives on shyness inhibition. In J. B. Burack, & L. A. Schmidt (Eds.), Cultural and contextual perspectives on development atrisk. New York: University of Cambridge Press.

 

 

Chen, X., Yang, F., & Wang, L. (2013). Relations between shyness-sensitivity and internalizing problems in Chinese children: Moderating effects of academic achievement. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 825-836.

download paper here

Abstract:

Shy-sensitive children are likely to develop adjustment problems in today’s urban China as the country has evolved into an increasingly competitive, marketoriented society. The main purpose of this one-year longitudinal study was to examine the moderating effects of
academic achievement on relations between shynesssensitivity and later internalizing problems in Chinese children. A sample of 1171 school-age children (591 boys, 580 girls) in China, initially at the age of 9 years, participated in the study. Data on shyness, academic achievement, and internalizing problems were collected from multiple sources including peer evaluations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. It was found that shyness positively and uniquely predicted later loneliness, depression, and teacher-rated internalizing problems, with the stability effect controlled, for low-achieving children, but not for high-achieving children. The results indicate that, consistent with the stress buffering model, academic achievement may be a buffering factor that serves to protect shy-sensitive children from developing psychological problems.

Yang, F., Fu, R., Zhao, S., & Chen, X. (2013). Children’s aggressive behavior in cultural context. In R. Bodine & D. R. Bucher (Eds.), Aggressive behavior: New research (pp. 141-162). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Chen, X., Yang, F., & Rui, F. (2012). Culture and temperament. In M. Zentner. & R. Shiner (Eds.), Handbook of Temperament. New York: Guilford Press.