L72Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Beh 'aVlOrTherapy

Woods, P.J. (1987a). Do you really want t . .your stomach? Using the findings o~ ~:m~am that a. flat tire can uPsetbolster the argument that peo Ie ~ychophY~lOlogy of stress to

N Journal of Rational-Emoti~e Tt:era;;~ 5~0:49~~~clt.IYdisturbed by events.oods, P.J. (1987b). ReductIons in type A b havi .~nd .physical illness as related to changes in irr~tfoV~~r'b ~!1~le~, anger,

.voods:t;1~:i~;;t~e ~ Cognitive-Behavior Ther~py, 5, 213~;;~' ournal iifVood ' cto er 23). Personal communication

s, P.J., & Lyons, L.C. (1990). Irrational belief d . .ders. Journal of Rational-Emotive & C >g 't' ~a~ ~sychosomattc diso»,

Voods, P.J., Silverman, E.S. Gentihni ,;.,;' 'atc e a~lO~Therapy, 8, 3-20.June). Cognitive variabl;s related t . :"d I unnmg a~, D..K. (1990,cents with implications for long-rang: :r~l:~n~io co~templatlOn In adoles-World Congress on Mental Health C Ii ~. aper presented at the

'an~~~~; ~prt~7.den, W. (1990). DOin~u~S;~~~lbe~s~~:, ~O~ction.New

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JournaL of Rational-Emotiva & Cognitive-Behavior TherapyVolume 9, Number 3, Fall 1991

ATTRIBUTIONAL PROCESSESIN YOUNG CHILDREN:

THEORETICAL,METHODOLOGICAL, AND

CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONSI

Robert D. FriedbergMesa Vista Hospital

Constance J. DalenbergCalifornia School of Professional Psychology

San Diego

ABSTRACT: Research exammmg young children's causal attributions isequivocal yielding results that place the field at theoretical, clinical, and em-pirical crossroads. The aims of the followi ng review are a presentation of therelevant literature in the area, an underscoring of salient dilemmas and the. subsequent clarification of issues for practitioners and researchers alike. Re-search exploring elementary school children's attributions and their relation-ship to social problem-solving and depression is noted and reviewed. The find-ings involving preschool children's causal ascriptions is accompanied by adiscussion of the theoretical and clinical questions confronting this area. Fur-ther, suggestions for the current practice of cognitive-behavior therapy withchildren as well as future directions are outlined.

Robert D. Friedberg, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist on the Cognitive Therapy Program andChild and Adolescent Program of Mesa Vista Hospital in San Diego. He is in private practice atthe Cognitive Therapy Institute of San Diego and works as an adjunct faculty member at theCalifornia School of Professional Psychology.

Constance J. Dalenberg, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology at the California School of Profes-sional Psychology-San Diego and is engaged in private practice and research with a specialty infamily violence.

'Portions of this article are based on a doctoral dissertation completed by the first authorunder the direction of the second author. The authors wish to thank Drs. Richard Baker andSheila Sharpe for their help in the completion of this project. Please address all correspondenceto: Robert D. Friedberg, Cognitive Therapy Unit, Mesa Vista Hospital, 7850 Vista Hill Ave., SanDiego .:CA.92123.

173 .,') 1991 Human Sciences ~~. Inc.

174 Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Beh .avior Thera py

.··1INTRODUCTION

Making attributions involves children's d tnize, and form meaningful rules about th nee 0 understand, orga.serve and experience (Harve & Ge e everyday events they oil.encoding of expenience, chillren ai~ry, 1981), Through this complexcon~rol over their environment. T~ese :tfr~:te~ sense of mastery anqfeehngs transform and individualize th utl~ns and accompanying(Bandura 1984) This ' e meamng of external events

h.' . paper exammes attribution I

young c ildren, considers theoretical as w II a pr~ces~es inand suggests implications for clinical prac~ic:'s methodological Issues,

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN'SATTRIBUTIONS

Previous research has indicated th t Iattributions mediate salient social a e e~entary school children'sDweck (1980) found blaming re'ect:o~d emotional ~rocesses, Goetz anda deterioration in children's ~ on ~rsonal incompetence led tofound internal, stable attrib~;:~:7-s01~:~g, F~r~her, Krasnor (1983)correlated with more flexible b~,g" 1m.a riendly person") wereDweck and her colleagues (Dien:;o& ~:-::k vI~8;.~rts, kAccording to& Dweck 1980) te d h " wec, 1981; Goetzthe abilit~ to re~o~~sin~~~:r elrless ;.ttributional ~tyles influencecult tasks. Helplessness orien::;:h~l:e~ctqS ?~ pe~Slst despite diffi-are confronted ith Co '1 . uic y grve up when theyad~ersity, theirw;opi:; ~;;~r~:n::~;~~ ::-e!:~cul::. :hen face~ withchildren, on the other hand be . ~lOra, astery orientedtasks d h ' come increasingly engaged in difficult

Per::ti~ ::s!~: ~:c::~;0~:~~7!~S~ihr~e~~!:~s~~dt~~ir effo~ts,~ays to make friends are key interpersonal tasks Withd Iscov~rmgbO,n,and peer rejection can be quite deleterious: fl rawal, Isola-children's development Further Dod 10 uences on youngdren's attributional biases ' , fl ge (1985) remarked that chil-may 10 uence the emergence m . tnance, and exacerbation of hostile peer relationships Child am e-::~~~~:r;'i:enign behaviors .as delib~rate provocati~ns andr~:c~;~to interpret t:e ~yste~ lof hostile peer interactions, Teaching children

healthier sociall~:~~i:p:~~~i~:~~~:~ga:o :~~:~~ way may facilitate

~~~~:::::~:~~;;:!:~~~i~:~tr.~~motebetter sociaf~~~'::.a~efIx~a~

J«lbert D. Friedberg, and Constance J. Dalenberg175

In their seminal work with adults, Abramson, Seligman, and Teas-dale (1978) stated that depressive symptoms are associated with acharacteristic style of explaining bad events by internal, stable, andglobal causes. Recent studies have indicated a correlation betweenelementary school children's attributional style and depression (Astor-Dubin, 1983; Kaslow, Rehm, & Siegel, 1984; Nolen-Hoeksema, Sel-igman & Girgus, 1986; Seligman, Peterson, Kaslow, Tannenbaum,Alloy, & Abramson, 1984). In a longitudinal study of depression,achievement and explanatory style in elementary school children,Nolen-Hoeksema, Seligman, and Girgus (1986) found that an internal,stable, and global explanatory style for negative events was correlatedwith concurrent as well as future depressive affect. This depressivestyle was also correlated with lower achievement and more helplessbehaviors in the classroom.Depressed children's attributional style seems similar to the causal

explanations that characterize adult depressives. Children's attribu-tions may maintain and possibly exacerbate their depressions. Sincethe cognitive processes in depressed children and depressed adultsmay be conceptually similar, treatment approaches helpful withadults may also be efficacious with children. Although there is a pau-city of outcome research, interventions focusing on reattribution maybe quite promising (Harvey & Galvin, 1984; Hughes, 1988).There arerecent reports that modification of attributions is associated with salu-tary change in adults (Brewin, 1988; Firth-Cozens & Brewin, 1988)and children (Aydin, 1988). Since the cognitive components of depres-sion in children and adults are similar and changing attributions ishelpful in working with adult depression, it seems reasonable thathelping children modify dysfunctional attributions has clinical merit.

PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN'SATTRIBUTIONS: BEYOND COGNITIVE

LIMITATIONS

Research examining attributional processes in preschool and kin-dergarten children has been more equivocal and controversial. Someauthors (Rholes & Ruble, 1984; Rholes, Blackwell, Jordan, & Walters,1980; Ruble & Rholes, 1981) maintain that due to cognitive imma-turity children'S attributions are not important mediators of behaviorwhereas others (Dalenberg, Bierman, & Furman, 1984; Karniol &Ross, 1976; Kassin, 1981; Miller, 1985) argue children have a surpris-ing degree of sophistication if asked the right question. Thus, limita-

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176 Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

tions in studying and treating children's attributional processes rnabe more a function of the method and approach clinicians and r;searchers employ.The egocentrism of young children may not necessarily limit the

stu~y of their attributions, Children's attributions are a function ofthe~r le.vel of cognitive sophistication, their social experience, andtheir stimulus environment (Chandler, Paget, & Koch, 1978; Dix &Herzberger, 1983; Ford, 1985; Higgins & Wells, 1986). Egocentrismmay not be a basic stage which characterizes only young children'ssocial reasoning; rather, it may be a general type of social-cognitiveerror (Flavell, 1985; Perry & Bussey, 1984). Any person, adult orchild, is likely to become egocentric when the task demands exceedtheir capacity. When clinical tasks are too difficult, children will un-derstandably become more egocentric. Often, young children do nothave experience in therapy; they simply do not know the rules of thegame. Consequently, their egocentrism may be more a function oftheir limited experiences rather than their truncated capacities,Several authors (Abramovitch & Freedman, 1981; Friedberg & Dal-

enberg, in press; Miller, 1985; Shaklee, 1976) have concluded thatyoung children can be sophisticated social cognizers. Preschoolershave been shown to offer plausible explanations for a friend's behavior(Abramovitch & Freedman, 1981) and predict behavior from its causes(Miller, 1985). Clearly, causal judgments and discriminations becomefiner with age (Fischer, Hand, Watson, Van Parys, & Tucker, 1984;Shaklee, 1976) and greater social learning experiences (Kendall,1984). Berndt and Heller (1985) aptly argued that there may be age-mediated changes in children's attributionalsystems, but it is unrea-sonable to claim social-cognitive sophistication emerges from a placewhere none previously existed. "Children," Mischel (1981, p. 240)noted, "are potentially sophisticated (albeit fallible) intuitive psychol-ogists who corne to know and use psychological principles for under-standing social behavior, for regulating their own conduct, and forachieving mastery and control over their environments."

METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICALCONSIDERA nONS

The equivocal results on preschoolers' attributions can be traced to alack of adequate ways to measure young children's attributions. Attri-bution researchers should avoid placing stringent demands of chil-

Robert D. Friedberg, and Constance J. Dalenberg 177

dren's attention and memory capacities (Weisz & Stipek, 1982). Picto-rial formats (Harter & Pike, 1984), the use of toy figures (Miller,1985), and puppet shows (Denham, 1986; Friedberg & Dalenberg, inpress; Ridley, Vaughn, & Wittman, 1982) are engaging proceduresand attentuate the problems caused by limited attention and memorycapacities.Differences in the simplicity and complexity of tasks may also ac-

count for discrepant results (Ruble & Rholes, 1981; Kassin, 1981). Ac-cordingly, the most familiar and representative situations should beselected to promote stimulus salience. These stimuli should be simple(Kassin, 1981) yet tap a range of common events (Miller, 1985). If thestimulus complexity exceeds the child's cognitive capacity, the taskbecomes too difficult and confusing (Chandler, 1982). Further, if sev-eral simple situations are presented, the responses wil] be more char-acteristic of a general style (Peterson & Seligman, 1984). A promisingapproach is the assessment of beliefs across different domains such asthe pictorial scale of perceived competence (Harter & Pike, 1984).Theoretically, children's attributions may be the peripheral phe-

nomena that underlie deeper core psychological constructs (Guida no &Liotti, 1983). Causal ascri.ptions may be the cognitive products ofdeeper structures called schemas (Ingram & Kendall, 1986). Schem~sreflect individuals' personal meaning systems based on their expert-ences which serve to filter, collate, and synthesize incoming environ-mental information and direct behavior accordingly (Guidano & Li-otti, 1983; Kovacs & Beck, 1978; Liotti, 1987; Mahoney & Lyddon,1988; Pace, 1988). Adults who are vulnerable to depression may havedepressogenic maladaptive schemas (Beck, Emery, Rush, & Shaw,1979' Kovacs & Beck, 1978). Since the peripheral products may becloser to the core structures in childhood than adulthood, exploringthe nascent schemas which may be associated with attributions wouldbe an important contribution.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Attributional processes in children have important clinical implica-tions because these attributions represent the "stuff" of most, if notall, cognitive psychotherapies. Regardless of whe~h~r the i~terventionis cognitive restructuring, self-instructional trairung, rational anal-ysis, or formal reattribution training, the bottom line for al~ thesetherapies is a more health promoting causal analysis of smotionally

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178 Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

significant events. For instance, if a child believes she is a bad h'lbecause he~ par~nts are divorced .and experiences depressive ;o~~accom~anymg .thls causal explanation, most cognitive therapies wouldtake aim at this faulty ascription. The goal would be to help the childdev~lop more accurate appraisals for the event and in this process ex.perrence a more modulated mood state.The extant. researc~ on. attributional research indicates that chil.

dren pr~ess mfo~matJOn 10 a personally meaningful way. They arenot passive perceivers of external and internal stimuli, rather, theyattend, reca~l, select, and tr~nform stimulation in an idiographic man.nero Accordingly, the way m which children interpret their experi,~nces and. subseque~tly. derive meaning from them is a key clinicalls~ue (Guidano & Liotti, 1983). Clinicians need to discern. the waychildren attach blame, responsibility, and control to consequences andhelp them realistically appraise situations (Astor-Dubin, 1983; Bras-well, Loehler, & Kendall, 1985).Working with children's attributional processes can be fruitful in

cogr_ti~iveassessment and therapy. Assessing children's attributions ina clinical context is an interesting and fun endeavor. Cognitive assess.ment with children must be developmentally sensitive. Clinical tasksshould be simple, meaningful, understandable, and engaging for chil-dren. ~he le8Bon~ from the extant research should teach cognitivetherapists to avoid the automatic conclusion that children's blankstares or "I don't know" answers reflect "resistance." Rather it isquite possible these reactions are due to an overly complex or demand-mg question or task. Traditional techniques requiring sophisticatedverbal dialogues and written material should be eschewed in favor ofmore creative interventions employing pictorial or play processes. Forexampl~, storytellin.g may. elicit meaningful information regarding theway children explain their experiences. Creating a storybook wherethe child is the main character may help children identify and mod-ify inaccurate attributions. Finally, during the assessment process, itseems incumbent on the clinician to address the process by which chil-dren make sense of specific domain areas such as social acceptance oracademic performance.Children's attributions may influence the treatment process itself.

The way children perceive or interpret reinforcement is likely to effectthe efficacy of behavioral interventions. Sobol and Earn (1985) re-marked that children with an internal style may profit most from aself-instructional treatment program whereas externals may benefitfrom a program of structured external reinforcement. Fostering inter-

Robert D. Friedberg, and Constance J. Dalenberg 179

oal ascriptions, especially effort attributions, while children are intreatment seems to promote positive therapeutic outcomes (Braswell,Koehler, & Kendall, 1985).The nature of Socratic questioning must also be amended to match

children's cognitive capacities. The use of traditional thought records,used extensively in adult psychotherapy, can be modified to meet thechallenges associated with doing cognitive therapy with children.Thought bubbles (Bernard & Joyce, 1984; Padesky, 1986) may helpthe children see the work more as a cartoon and less as a homeworkexercise. Watching a video in a session may also be productive in as-sessing and modifying attributions. The therapist can stop the tape atan emotional moment and ask the child to explain the outcome orsituation. Attributional processes will be embedded in this explana-tion. Watching movies is fun, as well as non-threatening,. and likelywill potentiate the general reinforcement value of the session".The subsequent testing of faulty beliefs must also be carn~d out

with considerable gentility. DiGuiseppe (1989) remarked that childrenare especially apt to interpret questioning and thought testing as criti-cism. Vernon (1989) and Kendall (1988) offer developmentally appro-priate exercises for children that can be adopted for group and in~ividual treatment. Berg (1990a, 1990b) has developed therapeuticboard games emphasizing the application of cognitive-behavioral cop-ing skills. ... .Although the methods used to promote attributional change 10 chil-

dren may be different than those used with adults,. the proc~ss ofchange is similar. The notion that powerful disconfirrning expen~~cesare required to bring about change cuts across all forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy (Bandura, 1986). Thus, children must ~e taught todevise behavioral experiments and collect data to test their faulty at-tributions as well as reinforce their reattributions. For exam~le, achild who ascribes her hospitalization to malicious parental intent(e.g., "My parents hate me and want to get rid of me") can be taught tochallenge this explanation. She can collect data fr~m her parents,other kids, other children's parents, and other professlOna.ls.The finalstep in the process is for the child to reach a new conclusion based onadditional incoming information. . .Attributional processes in children confront the co~~mbve-b~h~v-

ioral therapist with several challenges. Outcome. studies exammmgthe role of attributional change in clinical populations need t~ be co~-pleted. Further, empirically evaluated methods .for promoting attri-butional change in children need to be systemahcally developed and

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180Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Th

erapy

~resented. In sum, attributional process . hit~ve-behavioraJ therapists with opportun .~~ I~C bildren supply cOg'ni_tice, and research. I lea roaden theory, prac_

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