This study examined relations between availability of control and psychobiological
and self-reported responses to interadult anger in 4-to 5 year-olds. Children heard
two angry interactions between adults, followed by a reconciliation, while their
heart rate, and skin conductance response, and level were monitored. Following
exposure to each episode they were also interviewed regarding their responses.
Control options made available to the experimental group subjects included: (1)
terminating exposure to one of the arguments; and (2) proposing an intervention for
an expenmenter to carry out. Children in the comparison group just listened to the
interactions. The availability of control was associated with greater physiological
reactivity to anger. On the other hand, children for whom control options were not
available more often perceived adults as distressed and showed a decline in
suggestions of control-oriented strategies over trials. The results demonstrate
that, in a multi-response investigation, some dimensions of responding varied as a
function of experimental manipulations of the availability of control.
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