The Development Of Children And Adolescents' Behavior Attribution And Spontaneous Trait Inference And The Relationship Between Them

Social cognition of children and adolescents was from juvenility to maturity, they knew the important role of internal psychological characteristics for others'behavior gradually during communicating with others, and then knew personality traits implying the cross-situational consistency or temporal stability, so trait attribution occured frequently in social interaction. When the attribution became habitual, it could happen unconsciously, and occured spontaneous trait inference. The development of children and adolescents'behavior attribution and spontaneous trait inference were two relatively separate, yet closely related research topics. A large body of research, both empirical and theoretical, had been conducted by psychologists outside China. In the present thesis, a comprehensive literature review was made with regard to the important empirical findings, theoretical explanations as well as the research methodology in the area, e.g., the development of children and adolescents'behavior attribution, the occurrence of spontaneous trait inference and the relationship between them. Further analyses were focused on the limitations existing in the prior research. On the basis of these facets, two related studies were presented following the purposes set forth in this research. In study 1, the development of 8-, 11-and 19-year-old children and adolescents'behavior attribution and factors of influence were investigated by questionnaire. The detail categories of internal attribution children and adolescents used in explanation and their developmental trend were further examined. In study 2, the developmental trend and characteristics of 8-, 11-and 19-year-old children and adolescents'spontaneous trait inference were explored systematically by recognition probe method, and then Pearson correlation was employed to examine the relations between children and adolescents'behavior attribution and spontaneous trait inference. The main findings in the above two studies were as follows: 1. With age, children and adolescents could make different attribution for the consistent and inconsistent behaviors. 8-year-old children were inclined to make internal...