Slagt Meike, Dubas Judith Semon, van Aken Marcel A G, Ellis Bruce J, Deković Maja
Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2017 Feb;154:78-97. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016.10.004. Epub 2016 Nov 9.
Differential susceptibility theory proposes that a subset of individuals exist who display enhanced susceptibility to both negative (risk-promoting) and positive (development-enhancing) environments. This experiment represents the first attempt to directly test this assumption by exposing children in the experimental group to both negative and positive feedback using puppet role-plays. It thereby serves as an empirical test as well as a methodological primer for testing differential susceptibility. Dutch children (N=190, 45.3% girls) between the ages of 4 and 6years participated. We examined whether negative and positive feedback would differentially affect changes in positive and negative affect, in prosocial and antisocial intentions and behavior, depending on children's negative emotionality. Results show that on hearing negative feedback, children in the experimental group increased in negative affect and decreased in positive affect more strongly than children in the control group. On hearing positive feedback, children in the experimental group tended to increase in positive affect and decrease in prosocial behavior. However, changes in response to negative or positive feedback did not depend on children's negative emotionality. Moreover, using reliable change scores, we found support for a subset of "vulnerable" children but not for a subset of "susceptible" children. The findings offer suggestions to guide future differential susceptibility experiments.
差异敏感性理论认为，存在一部分个体，他们对消极（促进风险）和积极（促进发展）环境均表现出更高的敏感性。本实验首次尝试通过使用木偶角色扮演，让实验组的儿童同时接触消极和积极反馈，来直接检验这一假设。因此，它既作为一项实证检验，也作为检验差异敏感性的方法指南。4至6岁的荷兰儿童（N = 190，45.3%为女孩）参与了实验。我们研究了消极和积极反馈是否会根据儿童的消极情绪，对积极和消极情绪、亲社会和反社会意图及行为的变化产生不同影响。结果显示，听到消极反馈时，实验组儿童的消极情绪增强，积极情绪减弱，且比对照组儿童表现得更强烈。听到积极反馈时，实验组儿童的积极情绪往往增强，亲社会行为减少。然而，对消极或积极反馈的反应变化并不取决于儿童的消极情绪。此外，通过使用可靠变化分数，我们发现了对一部分“易受影响”儿童的支持，但未发现对一部分“敏感”儿童的支持。这些发现为指导未来的差异敏感性实验提供了建议。
