Teaching teens that people can change reduces aggression in school
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 16:30
in Psychology & Sociology
In eight studies involving more than 1,600 diverse 8th-10th grade students, researchers show that teenagers who believe people can't change react more aggressively to a peer conflict than those who think people can change. Following these studies, researchers developed a brief intervention that taught teens that people have the potential to change. The intervention reduced the teens' tendency to see the offense as having been done on purpose, and reduced their desire for aggressive revenge.