Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-5t224 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-09-13T03:25:18.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Allocation of attention to scenes of peer harassment: Visual–cognitive moderators of the link between peer victimization and aggression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2018

Wendy Troop-Gordon*
Affiliation:
North Dakota State University
Robert D. Gordon
Affiliation:
North Dakota State University
Bethany M. Schwandt
Affiliation:
North Dakota State University
Gregor A. Horvath
Affiliation:
North Dakota State University
Elizabeth Ewing Lee
Affiliation:
Insight Research and Consulting
Kari J. Visconti
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Wendy Troop-Gordon, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, 203 Spidle Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849. E-mail: wpg0006@auburn.edu.

Abstract

As approximately one-third of peer-victimized children evidence heightened aggression (Schwartz, Proctor, & Chien, 2001), it is imperative to identify the circumstances under which victimization and aggression co-develop. The current study explored two potential moderators of victimization–aggression linkages: (a) attentional bias toward cues signaling threat and (b) attentional bais toward cues communicating interpersonal support. Seventy-two fifth- and sixth-grade children (34 boys; Mage = 11.67) were eye tracked while watching video clips of bullying. Each scene included a bully, a victim, a reinforcer, and a defender. Children's victimization was measured using peer, parent, and teacher reports. Aggression was measured using peer reports of overt and relational aggression and teacher reports of aggression. Victimization was associated with greater aggression at high levels of attention to the bully. Victimization was also associated with greater aggression at low attention to the defender for boys, but at high attention to the defender for girls. Attention to the victim was negatively correlated with aggression regardless of victimization history. Thus, attentional biases to social cues integral to the bullying context differentiate whether victimization is linked to aggression, necessitating future research on the development of these biases and concurrent trajectories of sociobehavioral development.

Information

Type
Regular Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable