Self-Statements of Aggressive and Nonaggressive Children

Thirty aggressive and 30 nonaggressive elementary schoolchildren were presented with and questioned about 10 aggression-provoking vignettes. Questions related to the thoughts of the child in each vignette. Aggressive and nonaggressive children did not differ in the objectivity of their descriptions of the situations, or in their consideration of the consequences of reactions to the situations. Aggressive children responded with significantly more irrational thoughts, more statements on aggressive behavior, and more negative evaluations of the children in the vignettes. Thought irrationality was significantly related to inappropriate behavior for aggressive children, but not for nonaggressive children.