Re: Interactional nature of physical abuse

["Cary Jenson" <Cary_Jenson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Absolutely right about negative attributions. Research shows that most parents (most research done on moms) show that they have have a positve parental bias about the causes of their kid's behavior. In other words when kid does something bad, moms
most likely to attribute cause to something external to kid (negative peer influence, needing a nap. etc.) However, when a parent views child as "difficult" to manage, the attribution changes and becomes personal ("He is doing it to spite me"). That
shift in causal attribution shifts the response to anger. 

Also has implications to parents who are divorcing. The so-called "fundmental attribtutional bias" is that we attribute negative behavior of others to something within them (anger, meanness, vindictivneess) but we attribute negative behavior by
ourselves as do so external causes ("I was tired and lost my temper", "my car broke down and put me in bad mood")

So, changing attributions can be effective in reducing hostility and anger. However, changing attributions can be very difficult.

cj

Cary E. Jenson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Social Work
University of Maine