Page 46 - How_Children_Learn_To_Hate_Their_Parents
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 The more lapsed contact, the more the child’s attitude is self- justified by the act of complaining.
As this process proceeds the link between attitude (“I don’t want to see my father. My father is bad.”) becomes more predictive of the behavior (“I refuse to see my father.”)
Peers or family members who elicit the attitude (People ask: “Why don’t you see your father.” The child answers: “My father is bad.”) further strengthen the attitude-behavior association.
Gibbons (1978), Froming and others (1982) showed that making people self-aware promotes consistency between their words and their deeds. The attitude, stamped in by the preferred parent, and assisted by lapsed contact, therefore becomes a powerful predictor of the behavior to continue refusing visitation and ultimately potentially getting to the point of expressing hatred for a parent.
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