| This dissertation study examined the developmental path and cognitive components of prosocial display rules. Prosocial display rules (an advanced form of affect regulation) are social norms prescribed by society used to protect the feelings of others. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the cognitive predictors of prosocial display skills and to examine the developmental patterns of these constructs. False belief understandings, the ability to make the appearance reality distinction, behavioral inhibition, cognitive inhibition, and three forms of prosocial display rule skills (positive display behaviors, negative display behaviors, and prosocial display rule understanding) were assessed in thirty four-year-old and thirty six-year-old children. Overall, the six-year-olds out-performed the four-year-olds on all tasks except the cognitive inhibition task. Differential developmental patterns emerged for all three forms of prosocial display skills. Regression analyses identified different cognitive predictors for each of the prosocial display skills. Age contributed the most unique variance to positive and negative prosocial display behaviors and prosocial display understanding. However, after controlling for age and verbal ability, behavioral inhibition accounted for a unique amount of variance in positive prosocial display behaviors while the ability to make the appearance reality distinction accounted for a unique amount of variance in prosocial display rule understanding. The importance of considering the differential and varying nature of prosocial display development is discussed. |
