Article summary with The roles of shame and guilt in the development of aggression in adolescents with and without hearing loss by Broekhof a.o. - 2021

What is aggression and what does its developmental course look like?

Aggression is any form of behavior that has the goal of harming or injuring someone else. Two types of aggression based on underlying motives are:

• Reactive aggression is a defensive response to perceived provocation or threat. It is accompanied by negative affective states, such as anger and frustration.

• Proactive aggression is goal-oriented and motivated by the desire to obtain a desired outcome. It occurs in the absence of provocation and emotional arousal.

Engagement in aggression starts to emerge before the age of two and reaches a peak between the age of two and four. After that, aggression starts to gradually decrease as children learn to regulate their behavior.

How do adolescents with hearing loss differ with regards to aggression compared to adolescents without hearing loss?

Results show a higher incidence of aggression in adolescents with hearing loss. This could be due to a few reasons. Firstly, adolescents with hearing loss may be at higher risk for developing reactive aggression, because theWhaty more often attribute hostile intentions to others in benign social situations. Secondly, adolescents with hearing loss seem to infer that relationships are not always harmed by anger or aggression. Thirdly, adolescents with hearing loss may view aggressive behavior as a preferable option to obtain instrumental goals, since they don't attach the same level of negative consequences to anger and aggression.

What are shame and guilt and how do these emotions develop?

Shame focuses on the fear of being negatively evaluated by others. Guilt focuses on the responsibility for the harm caused to another. Children are not born with the ability to experience shame and guilt. These feelings usually arise after a moral transgression. The onset and development of these emotions depends on the acquisition of several cognitive skills:

• A sense of self-awareness and the capacity to reflect on the self. This develops around two years of age.

• Knowledge about social rules and the capacity to evaluate one's own behavior according to these standards. The development of this skill is highly dependent on input from the social environment, as children learn social rules via observation.

• Perspective taking abilities. Around the age of four children have developed a basic understanding of others´ intentions, beliefs and desires.

How does the development of shame and guilt differ for children with hearing loss?

The acquisition of the cognitive skills for the experience of shame and guilt relies on input from the social world. Not being able to hear the interactions in the social world has several consequences. For instance, children with hearing loss are not able to overhear interactions to learn how others´ behaviors are evaluated. This may lead them to have less awareness of social rules and standards. Also, children with hearing loss tend to have difficulties with perspective taking, as this development is highly reliant on verbal interactions.

How do the relations between shame and guilt and aggression develop during childhood and adolescence?

An important predictor of aggression is whether children and adolescents anticipate positive or negative emotions following moral transgressions. Children around the age of four know that moral transgressions are wrong, but still only attribute positive feelings to themselves. In middle childhood, children have an increased focus on others´ emotions and perspectives and they start to anticipate shame and guilt. Throughout adolescence and early adulthood, negative emotion attributes become more frequent. The expectation that one will experience negative emotions following a moral transgression turns aggression into a less desired behavioral alternative, while the expectation that one will experience positive emotions following a moral transgression is associated with higher levels of aggression.

How are feelings of shame related to aggression?

There are different results regarding the relationship between shame and aggression. In some studies, the mere anticipation of shame prevents aggressive behaviors, whereas in other studies, shame is related to higher levels of aggression. Distinguishing between reactive and proactive aggression may explain this difference. If shamed individuals feel judged and are worried about their image, they may react hostile and aggressive towards disapproving others to protect their self-esteem and increase their sense of superiority (increased reactive aggression). But, shame can also evoke a feeling of having harmed someone, and contribute to a decrease of proactive aggression.

How are feelings of guilt related to aggression?

Guilt has been found to be associated with lower levels of aggression. The anticipation that one's actions have negative consequences for others and the unpleasantness of guilt, makes it less likely that adolescents will behave aggressively. Especially, higher levels of guilt are linked to lower levels of proactive aggression.

What are the main findings of the study by Broekhof et. al. (2021) with regards to the relations between shame, guilt and the development of aggression in adolescents with and without hearing loss?

The main findings can be summarized as followed:

• Reactive and proactive aggression declined throughout adolescence.

• Higher levels of shame were related to increasing levels of reactive aggression over time.

• Higher levels of guilt were related to decreasing levels of proactive aggression.

• The developmental trend of aggression and its associations with shame and guilt apply to both adolescents with and without hearing loss.

• Adolescents with hearing loss report higher levels of proactive aggression and lower levels of shame and guilt.

• In adolescents with hearing loss, guilt peaked later in adolescence compared to adolescents without hearing loss.

What can be concluded about the level of social access of adolescents with hearing loss and their levels of aggression?

The level of social access did not seem to alter the role of shame and guilt on the development of aggression. Adolescents with hearing loss did not seem to be at risk for the development of reactive aggression, but they did show elevated levels of proactive aggression. The need for social learning is highlighted by this research, as adolescents with hearing loss reported lower levels of shame and guilt in general. Children and adolescents with hearing loss tend to be less aware of others´ perspectives and feelings, due to restricted access to the social world. They may not foresee the negative evaluations of others or negative emotional consequences as a result of aggressive behavior, making it less likely that they will experience shame and guilt.