Poster #196 - Social Schemas of Mistrust, Narcissism, and Respect Linked With Social Information Processing Across Cognitive Levels

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Social Cognition

Integrative Statement

Youth repeatedly experiencing negative social interactions develop negative cognitive social schemas about the world and the self. These social schemas can be about a mistrustful world, emphasizing the importance of receiving respect from others, or self-views of either deflated or inflated competence, such as narcissistic characteristics. These social schemas influence the way youth view new social situations, referred to as social information processing (SIP) (Calvete & Orue, 2012; Van Nieuwenhuijzen et al., 2006). The current study aimed to investigate social schemas and SIP in youth with mild intellectual disability (MID: IQ 50-70), borderline intelligence (BIQ: IQ 71-84), and average intelligence (AIQ≥85). Youth with MID and BIQ have difficulty with SIP (e.g., Van Nieuwenhuijzen et al., 2011), high risks of experiencing negative interactions in multi-problem families, and tend to show externalizing behavior problems in social situations (Douma et al., 2007; Kaal et al., 2010). Differences in baseline social schemas were examined between IQ groups. Relations with SIP were analyzed, and finally, we examined whether social schemas related to SIP equally across cognitive level.

This study included 232 13- to 17-year-olds (M = 15.2 SD = 1.33, 54% male). IQ was measured by the Wechsler scales of intelligence (Wechsler, 1949; 1955). Social schemas were assessed with self-reports on Narcissism by the Childhood Narcissism Scale (Thomaes et al., 2008), Mistrust by a subscale on the [blinded] Personality Inventory (Luteijn et al., 2005), and the emphasis on receiving Respect by a subscale on the Sensitivity to Disrespect-scale (MacDonald, 2008). SIP was assessed by a newly developed app for tablet computers showing videos of social problem situations. Youth answered on open-ended and multiple choice questions about interpretation of hostile intent, aggressive response generation, and self-efficacy for enacting aggressively.

Results showed that youth with MID had highest self-reports on narcissism (η2= .06; Table 1). Table 2 shows that in general youth with a higher mistrust for the world also had a higher self-efficacy for aggressive responses. Youth who placed higher emphasis on receiving respect showed higher hostile intent attribution. Furthermore, youth reporting higher narcissism had both higher hostile intent attribution and higher self-efficacy for aggressive responses. These relations between social schemas and SIP were found above and beyond the influence of IQ on SIP performance, and were not moderated by IQ, thus equal across cognitive level (Table 2).

Findings confirm that social schemas of Mistrust, Respect, and Narcissism were linked with SIP skills in youth with cognitive levels from MID, BIQ, to AIQ. Although causal directions have yet to be established, findings suggest to pursue the longitudinal links and test these relations as an avenue toward novel interventions. These results are important for treatment programs focusing on changing negative social schemas that youth on all cognitive levels may have developed due to negative social experiences, and that are related to their biased or impaired processing of social information in relations with peers or adults.

Authors

• Maaike Marijn Van Rest, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Maroesjka Van Nieuwenhuijzen, Research and Expertise Center William Schrikker Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Aart Vriens, Department for Psychology and Adult Care, RIBW
  Non-Presenting Author

• Carlo Schuengel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Walter Matthys, Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, and Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht
  Non-Presenting Author