Publications [#272199] of Kenneth A. Dodge

Journal Articles

1. Dodge, KA; Newman, JP (1981). Biased decision-making processes in aggressive boys.. Journal of abnormal psychology, 90(4), 375-379. [doi]
   (last updated on 2025/06/16)

   Abstract:
   Recent evidence has suggested that aggressive boys demonstrate a bias toward attributing hostility to peers in unwarranted circumstances. The present study explored 2 aspects of cognitive processing that might be related to attributional bias: speed of decision making and selective recall of hostile cues. 81 aggressive and nonaggressive boys at 3 age levels (kindergarten-2st grade, 2nd-3rd, and 4th-5th) participated in a detective game in which the task was to accumulate evidence to decide whether or not a peer had acted with benevolence or hostility. Aggressive boys were found to respond more quickly and with less attention to available social cues. They also overattributed hostility to peers in unwarranted circumstances, but only when they responded quickly. This restriction suggests that training aggressive boys to respond more slowly could lead to fewer biased attributions on their part. Selective recall was also related to biased attributions for both groups of boys. This suggests that training boys to recall all cues nonselectively could reduce the frequency of their biased attributions. Results are discussed in terms of a cognitive model of aggressive behavior. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1981 American Psychological Association.