Influence of positive reinforcement of aggression on subjects differing in initial aggression level.

60 females, who were ostensibly serving as assistants in a learning study, were required to deliver electric shocks as punishments for "errors" to a confederate of E. Ss selected the intensity of the shock they delivered. During a training period experimental Ss were verbally reinforced for delivering shocks of relatively high intensity. Pretest-to-posttest increases in intensity of shock were significantly greater for experimental Ss than for control, nonreinforced, Ss. This increase was, however, confined to Ss who used an intially high or medium level of intensity; Ss initially using low initial intensities were not influenced by the reinforcement procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of situational aggression cues: A quantitative review.

Meta-analytic procedures were used to assess the degree to which aggression-related cues present in the environment facilitate aggressive responding among negatively aroused subjects. The first study, which examined the so-called weapons effect, the effect of name-mediated cues, and other cue effects, showed clear evidence that aggression cues augment aggressive responses in negatively aroused subjects. This was true for the overall analysis and for name-mediated cues, but confirmation of the weapons effect was restricted to cases wherein subject sophistication and evaluation apprehension were low. A second study used partial correlation analysis to assess independently the effects of seven potential mediators of aggression cue effects. Of these, target-based facilitation and harm capacity of the aggressive response were found to mediate the magnitude of cue-facilitated aggression. A third study showed that these mediators augmented cue effects among neutral as well as negatively aroused subjects. These outcomes are interpreted as emphasizing the role of cognitive factors in the expression of both impulsive and nonimpulsive aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The functions of aggression by male teenagers.

A selectionist theory states that violence by males toward male peers originally served specific functions and violence to female peers served others. Differences in self-reported victimization and perpetration in studies of 1,452 high school students were hypothesized. In Study 1, male-to-male aggression was reported to be more prevalent than male-to-female aggression. For male-to-male aggression, perpetrator reports agreed with or exceeded victim reports, and victims were more often strangers than close friends. In contrast, for male-to-female aggression, there were consistently fewer reports from perpetrators than from victims, and victims were less often strangers than girlfriends. Study 2 obtained similar findings for reported frequency, number of victims and perpetrators, and sexual aggression. Study 3 showed that girls' aggression contrasted with that by boys with respect to intra- versus intersex aggression and perpetrator–victim agreement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of deindividuating situational cues and aggressive models on subjective deindividuation and aggression.

Demonstrated that a subjective state of deindividuation mediates the effect of deindividuating situational cues on aggression displayed by small groups of coacting aggressors. 72 male university students were instructed to administer shocks to another person in what they thought were studies of biofeedback and behavior modification. The deindividuated state was composed of 2 factors, Self-Awareness and Altered Experiencing, both of which had a causal influence on aggressive behavior. These data are interpreted in terms of deindividuation theories that assume that certain input variables reduce self-awareness and concern about social evaluation and thereby weaken the restraints against expressing antisocial behavior. As predicted, compared with a no-model control condition, a high-aggressive model disinhibited overt displays of aggression, whereas a low-aggressive model inhibited aggression among both individuated and deindividuated group members. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Olfactory cues and movement: Stimuli mediating intraspecific aggression in the wild Norway rat.

Established male sibling pairs of laboratory-bred wild rats (R. norvegicus) in enclosures and in 4 experiments observed their aggressive, amicable, and sexual behavior following the introduction of conspecifics. Intact male Ss behaved amicably toward familiar male conspecifics, both aggressively and sexually towards unfamiliar anestrous and estrous female conspecifics, and aggressively toward unfamiliar male conspecifics. Anosmic males exhibited amicable and sexual behavior toward unfamiliar males, but did not initiate aggression toward them. The storing of a member of a resident pair in a cage with or without wood shavings, urine, and feces from a foreign colony did not affect behavior toward him by his cage mate. The storing of a foreign male in the wood shavings, urine, and feces of a colony did not affect behavior of that colony toward him. Cessation of movement on the part of an intruder of either sex inhibited attack, while immobile anesthetized male intruders elicited aggression. When presented simultaneously with moving and anesthetized intruders, resident Ss attacked only the former. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Object names and object functions serve as cues to categories for infants.

Can object names and functions act as cues to categories for infants? In Study 1, 14- and 18-month-old infants were shown novel category exemplars along with a function, a name, or no cues. Infants were then asked to "find another one," choosing between 2 novel objects (1 from the familiar category and the other not). Infants at both ages were more likely to select the category match in the function than in the no-cue condition. However, only at 18 months did naming the objects enhance categorization. Study 2 shows that names can facilitate categorization for 14-month-olds as well when a hint regarding the core meaning of the objects (the function of a single familiarization object) is provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Till violence does us part: The differing roles of communication and aggression in predicting adverse marital outcomes.

Measures of communication and aggression, taken from 56 newlywed couples, were used to predict marital outcomes 4 years later. Aggression discriminated between separated or divorced couples and those who remained married. In contrast, communication discriminated between couples who were maritally satisfied after 4 years and those who were married but dissatisfied. Thus, over the 1st 4 years of marriage, marital satisfaction and dissolution appear to be predicted by separate factors. These results remained unchanged after controlling for initial marital satisfaction. Additional analyses showed that 68% of the marriages could be accurately classified into their outcome groups using communication and aggression variables. These results help to integrate prior marital research on communication and aggression, and they suggest that it may be necessary to focus on both factors in efforts to strengthen marriages and prevent divorce. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness and learned effectiveness: Effects of explicit response cues on individuals differing in personal control expectancies.

62 female undergraduates who scored as extreme internals or externals on the Mirels Personal Fate Control Scale participated in a partial replication of D. S. Hiroto's (see record 1974-24488-001) learned helplessness experiment. Lights were added to the treatment apparatus, which made explicit to Ss the contingency or noncontingency between their responses and the termination of an aversive tone. As predicted, the performance of internals was significantly impaired by uncontrollability (learned helplessness), while that of externals was facilitated by controllability (learned effectiveness). Externals performed as well as internals in the "escapable" condition, but their performance was inferior to that of internals in the control condition. Following "inescapable" treatment, internals performed more poorly than externals. Results support H. M. Lefcourt's (1967) explication. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The distinction between beliefs legitimizing aggression and deviant processing of social cues: Testing measurement validity and the hypothesis that biased processing mediates the effects of beliefs on aggression.

In 2 studies the authors examined knowledge and social information-processing mechanisms as 2 distinct sources of influence on child aggression. Data were collected from 387 boys and girls of diverse ethnicity in 3 successive years. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the discriminant validity of the knowledge construct of aggression beliefs and the processing constructs of hostile intent attributions, accessing of aggressive responses, and positive evaluation of aggressive outcomes. In Study 2, structural equation modeling analyses were used to test the mediation hypothesis that aggression beliefs would influence child aggression through the effects of deviant processing. A stronger belief that aggressive retaliation is acceptable predicted more deviant processing 1 year later and more aggression 2 years later. However, this latter effect was substantially accounted for by the intervening effects of deviant processing on aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal permissiveness toward aggression and subsequent TAT aggression.

To test the hypothesis that the effect of permissiveness towards the expression of aggression in childhood extends into adulthood, 2 groups of Ss (100 college girls), distinguished by the degree of maternal permissiveness towards the expression of aggression (derived from questionnaires answered by the mothers), were placed in an aggression-arousing situation (inducted by making highly insulting and deprecating comments to them). Subsequently, Ss were asked to respond to TAT cards (selected on the basis of being high or low in aggressiveness and presented on a screen for 20 sec.). Ss reared under conditions of high maternal permissiveness responded more frequently with aggressive responses to the "aggressive" cards than did the low permissive group. The low permissive group felt more uncomfortable and dysphoric than Ss reared under conditions of greater permissiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity and aggression.

We studied problems of identification in an experiment using a meta-contrast design. The first stimulus in the pair (A) was the word I shown subliminally. The second stimulus (B) depicted an aggressor and a victim facing each other. To manipulate the subject's identification, the subliminal A was flashed either on the victim or on the aggressor, or was completely withheld. Subjects were 28 16-year-olds of both sexes. They also took a perceptgenetic (PG) test measuring creativity and a test on anxiety and defensive strategies as revealed in the perceptual process (the meta-contrast technique or MCT). It was predicted that creative subjects would identify more openly with the aggressor than noncreative ones, when I was presented on the aggressor. Differences in the use of defenses were also expected. The results supported the predictions. It was concluded that creative subjects are more self-reliant than noncreative ones, more inclined to believe in the value of private impressions and ideas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol and aggression: A meta-analysis on the moderating effects of inhibitory cues, triggering events, and self-focused attention.

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 49 studies to investigate 2 explanations of how alcohol increases aggression by decreasing sensitivity to cues that inhibit it. Both the level of anxiety and inhibition conflict moderated the difference between the aggressive behavior of sober and intoxicated participants, but neither level adequately accounted for variation in effect sizes. Additional analyses of 3 social psychological moderating variables—provocation, frustration, and self-focused attention—showed that the aggressiveness of intoxicated participants relative to sober ones increased as a function of frustration but decreased as a function of provocation and self-focused attention. The authors also examined the moderating effects of dose. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Components of aggression in chickens and conceptualizations of aggression in general.

A refined analysis of the peck order in chickens is offered as a test of the notion that, for this species, different responses such as leaping and various types of pecking need not be interchangeable indexes of aggression. Tests showed that particular response types of the birds were differentially mediated by organismic or environmental factors. 36 pairs of male and female White Leghorn chicks were assigned to large cages, and 48 pairs were assigned to small cages. In large cages pecking at the body was most frequent by Ss that had a home-cage advantage. Contrarily, rates of aggressive leaping were independent of this influence, with males having an advantage over females. Males showed more head pecking than females, but the profile for this sex difference did not resemble the profile for leaping. Correlational analyses revealed that whereas head pecking between testmates was not matched in frequency, leaping was positively related. The behavior of Ss in small cages differed from that of large-cage Ss. Although there was more head pecking in small cages, males did not have an edge, and leaping was infrequent. Results indicate that these responses cannot be viewed as interchangeable indicators of aggression in fowl. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism and sexual aggression.

In Study 1, 198 men completed the Right Wing Authoritarianism, Sex Role Ideology, Hostility Towards Women, Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, and Rape Myth Acceptance scales, as well as measures of past sexually aggressive behavior and likelihood of future sexual aggression. As predicted, authoritarianism and sex role ideology were as closely related to self-reported past and potential future sexually aggressive behavior as were the specifically sexual and aggression-related predictors. Among 134 men in Study 2, authoritarianism and sex guilt positively correlated with each other and with self-reported past sexual aggression. In both studies, the relationship of authoritarianism and sexual aggression was larger in community than in university samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attribution and alcohol-mediated aggression.

48 males participated in an aggression task after receiving either alcoholic or placebo beverages and after being told that they had received either a high or a low dose of alcohol. All Ss in the alcohol group actually received the same dose. Measures of aggression were the intensity and duration of shock given to a bogus partner in a RT-pain perception task and a score on a posttask attitude questionnaire. Blood alcohol readings were taken 3 times during the session, and a locus of control scale was administered before and after drinking. For Ss in the alcohol conditions, blood alcohol levels averaged .079% before the task and .085% afterwards. Alcohol resulted in higher aggression scores only on the questionnaire measure, and an interaction between drug and attribution was found for the measure of shock duration. Attribution alone resulted in greater aggression on the measure of shock intensity. Ss in groups where the attribution was discrepant with the drug condition were the most aggressive on the measures of shock intensity and duration. These Ss became more external, reflecting a high correlation between their aggression and a stimulus tone. Results suggest that a person's increased aggressiveness when intoxicated results from an interaction between alcohol and an altered responsivity to provoking stimuli. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intellectual functioning and aggression.

In a 22-year study, data were collected on aggressiveness and intellectual functioning in more than 600 subjects, their parents, and their children. Both aggression and intellectual functioning are reasonably stable in a subject's lifetime and perpetuate themselves across generations and within marriage pairs. Aggression in childhood was shown to interfere with the development of intellectual functioning and to be predictive of poorer intellectual achievement as an adult. Early IQ was related to early subject aggression but did not predict changes in aggression after age 8. Differences between early IQ and intellectual achievement in middle adulthood were predictable from early aggressive behavior. A dual-process model was offered to explain the relation between intellectual functioning and aggressive behavior. We hypothesized that low intelligence makes the learning of aggressive responses more likely at an early age, and this aggressive behavior makes continued intellectual development more difficult. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arbitrariness of frustration and aggression.

Pastore (1952) suggested a revision to the frustration-aggression hypothesis of Dollard, et al, 1939, viz., whether or not aggression appears after a frustrating experience depends upon the perceived arbitrariness of the frustration. The present research tests this hypothesis under conditions of nonarbitrariness of frustration, adding the dimensions of reasonableness and expectedness of the frustration. Expectation of frustration alone and in interaction with reasonableness reduced the number of potential aggressive responses directed externally, and increased those directed against the self. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HJ83K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological aggression predicts physical aggression in early marriage.

Psychological aggression by self and partner, physical aggression by the partner, and marital dissatisfaction were examined as longitudinal predictors of first instances of physical aggression during marriage. Subjects who were not physically aggressive at a premarital assessment were selected from a sample of 393 engaged couples. Couples participated in three subsequent assessments over the first 30 months of marriage. As hypothesized, individuals' own psychological aggression predicted their initial incidents of physical aggression in marriage. Psychological aggression by their partners also predicted initial incidents of physical aggression. Prior physical aggression by their partners was inconsistently associated with first instances of physical aggression. Contrary to our hypothesis, previous levels of marital dissatisfaction did not predict initial incidents of physical aggression. These findings were consistent across sexes. The results underscore the progression from psychological to physical abuse and have clear implications for understanding the development and prevention of interspousal aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual effects in conditioning, latent inhibition, and habituation: Associative and retrieval functions of contextual cues.

Rats were used as subjects in four experiments to investigate the transfer of learning from one context to another. Subjects received two sessions of training each day, one in each of two different contexts. Experiment 1 showed that the habituation of the unconditioned response to a stimulus presented in one context was left intact when the stimulus was presented in another context, but that latent inhibition was attenuated when preexposure and conditioning phases occurred in different contexts. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that a conditioned response made on the basis of an appetitive reinforcer was diminished when conditioning and testing occurred in different contexts, but that aversive conditioning was not influenced by the context in which testing occurred. In Experiment 4, the presence of an aversive reinforcer during training did not preclude the occurrence of context-specific conditioning on the basis of an appetitive reinforcer. Associative and retrieval-based interpretations of the results are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)