Table Of ContentEMOTIONAL AND COGNITIVE REACTIONS TO HYPOTHETICAL
MORAL TRANSGRESSIONS IN AGGRESSIVE AND NONAGGRESSIVE
BOYS IN TAIWAN
By
SHU-TAI LIAO
A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
1998
.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The con^letion of this study was made possible by the
contribution of a number of people. I wish to express my
sincere gratitude to Dr. Patricia Ashton, chairperson of my
doctoral committee, for her continuous guidance,
encouragement, axid careful scrutiny of my work throughout
the years of my doctoral study and this project. Without her
assistance and expertise, I would never have completed this
study. I also wish to thank Dr. Shari Ellis, Dr. Bridget
Franks, and Dr. Jin-Wen Hsu, for their valuable counsel and
support
My appreciation is also extended to my feuaily, my
parents, my husband, and two sons, for their encouragement
and sacrifices.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDOffiNTS ii
LIST OF TABLES V
ABSTRACT ix
CHAPTERS
1 INTRODUCTION 1
Statement of the Problem 1
Purpose of the Study 4
Significance of the Study 6
Review of Literature 8
S\immary 32
2 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 33
Research Participants 33
Measures 34
Procedures 38
Data Analysis 39
Limitations of the Study 40
Pilot Study 41
Revising Interview Questions and Stories 52
3 RESULTS 54
Descriptive Data 55
Differences Between Aggressive and Nonaggressive
Boys 59
Differences Between the Sixth and Third Graders.. 77
4 DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 99
Overview of the Findings 99
Discussion of Results 100
Recommendations for Further Research 117
Recommendations for Practice 119
iii
APPENDICES
A TEACHER CHECKLIST 121
B REVISED STORIES 122
C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WITH REVISIONS 124
D CONSENT FORMS 12"
E INTERCORRELATION MATRIX 131
REFERENCES 134
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 147
I
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1 Differences between Aggressive and Nonaggressive
Children in Reactions to Moral Transgression 43
2 Differences between Third and Sixth Graders in
Reactions to Moral Transgression 46
3 Correlations Between Scores on Interview
Questions 49
4 Means and Standard Deviations on Each Variable
for Sixth Graders 56
5 Means and Standard Deviations on Each Variable
for Third Graders 57
6 ANCOVA Test on Story Completion for Sixth- and
Third-Grade Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys
with IQ as Covariate 59
7 MANCOVA Test of Reactive Feelings for Aggressive
and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six and Three .... 61
8 Univariate F-Tests of Reactive Feelings for
Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six
and Three gl
9 Frequency and Fisher's Exact Test for Cognitive
Coping Strategy for Aggressive and Nonaggressive
Boys in Sixth Grade 64
10 Frequency and Fisher's Exact Test for Cognitive
Coping Strategy for Aggressive and Nonaggressive
Boys in Third Grade 64
11 MANOVA of Intention to Compensate for Aggressive
and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six and Three .... 66
V
12 Univariate F-Tests of Intention to Compensate for
Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six
and Three 66
13 MANOVA of Intensity of Disturbance for Aggressive
and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six and Three ... 67
14 Univariate F-Tests of Intensity of Disturbance for
Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six
and Three 67
15 MANOVA of Length of Disturbance for Aggressive and
Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six and Three 69
16 Univariate F-Tests of Length of Disturbance for
Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys in Sixth- and
Third-Grade 69
17 MANOVA of Empathic Reactions for Aggressive and
Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six and Three 71
18 Univariate F-Tests of Empathic Reactions for Sixth
and Third-Grade Boys 71
19 MANOVA of Outcome Expectations for Aggressive and
Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six and Three 72
20 Univariate F-Tests of Outcome Expectations for
Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six
and Three 72
21 MANOVA of Beliefs about the Legitimacy of
Aggression for Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys
in Grade Six and Three 74
22 Univariate F-Tests of Beliefs about the Legitimacy
of Aggression for Aggressive and Nonaggressive
Boys in Grade Six and Three 7/1
23 MANOVA of Attribution of Self-Responsibility for
Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six
and Three 7g
24 Univariate F-Tests of Attribution of Self-
Responsibility for Aggressive and Nonaggressive
Boys in Grade Six and Three 76
vi
25 MANOVA of Attributing Responsibility to Victim for
Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys in Grade Six and
Three 78
26 Univariate F-Tests of Attributing Responsibility
to Victim for Aggressive and Nonaggressive Boys
in Grade Six and Three 78
27 ANOVA Results for Testing Age Differences in
Story Con^letion 80
28 MANOVA Results for Testing Age Differences in
Reactive Feelings 81
29 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Reactive Feelings 81
30 Frequency and Fisher's Exact Test for Age
Differences in Cognitive Coping Strategy for
Aggressive Boys 83
31 Frequency and Fisher's Exact Test for Age
Differences in Cognitive Coping Strategy for
Nonaggressive Boys 83
32 MANOVA Results of Age Differences in Intention to
Help and J^ologize 85
33 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Intention to Help and Apologize 85
34 MANOVA Results of Age Differences in Intensity of
Disturbance 87
35 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Intensity of Disturbance 87
36 MANOVA Results of Age Differences in Length of
Disturbance gg
37 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Length of Disturbance gg
38 MANOVA Results of Age Differences in Empathic
Reactions
39 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Empathic Reactions 90
vii
40 MANOVA Results of Age Differences in Outcome
Expectations for Aggression 92
41 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Outcome Expectations for Aggression 92
42 MANOVA Results of Age Differences in Beliefs about
the Legitimacy of Aggression 94
43 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Beliefs about the Legitimacy of Aggression ... 94
44 MZ^OVA Results of Age Differences in Attribution
of Self-Responsibility 95
45 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Attribution of Self-Responsibility 95
46 MANOVA Results of Age Differences in Attributing
Responsibility to Victim 97
47 Results of Univariate F-Tests for Age Differences
in Attributing Responsibility to Victim 97
I
viii
Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School
of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
EMOTIONAL AND COGNITIVE REACTIONS TO HYPOTHETICAL
MORAL TRANSGRESSIONS IN AGGRESSIVE AND NONAGGRESSIVE
BOYS IN TAIWAN
By
Shu-Tai Liao
December 1998
Chairperson: Patricia Ashton
Major Department: Foundations of Education
The purpose of this study was to identify differences
between aggressive and nonaggressive boys and between sixth-
amd third-grade boys in their emotional and cognitive
reactions to hypothetical moral transgressions. One hundred
aggressive and one hundred nonaggressive boys in the third
and sixth grades in Taiwan selected on the basis of teacher
ratings were interviewed individually. The boys read three
semiprojective stories describing explicit misbehavior and
then answered questions concerning how they would feel and
think if they were the perpetrators of the misbehavior.
Results indicated that boys in all groups, regardless
of age and aggressiveness, reported that they would feel
high levels of negative emotions and low levels of positive
emotions and they believed that aggression is inappropriate.
However, they differed in the strength of their feelings.
ix
. .
outcome expectations and responsibility attributions For
, .
the sixth graders nonaggressive boys reported that they
,
would feel higher levels of sadness, guilt, sheune, and
empathy, have a stronger intention to compensate, would be
more intensely disturbed, expect a less favorsdale outcome,
and attribute less responsibility to victims, when compared
to aggressive boys Among the third graders nonaggressive
. ,
boys reported that they would expect less favorable
consequences for transgressions and attribute more
responsibility to self, relative to aggressive peers.
Age differences were also found. Younger aggressive
boys reported that they would feel higher levels of
happiness and pride than older boys The older aggressive
.
boys reported that they would expect more disapproval from
friends for the aggression than did younger aggressive boys
The older nonaggressive boys said that they would feel
higher levels of shame and a stronger intention to remedy
their misbehavior than did the younger boys. Both aggressive
and nonaggressive older boys said they would be more
intensely disturbed longer and attribute more responsibility
to self and victims compared to the younger boys
,
Results are discussed in terms of their relationship
to previous studies. Finally, some suggestions for further
study and practice are proposed.
X
