Automatic cognitions and teen dating violence.

Objective: The present research examined whether the level of aggression in automatic cognitions was positively associated with teen dating violence after accounting for more consciously controlled, self-reported attitudes about dating violence. Method: At baseline, 95 teens who had been remanded to the juvenile court system because of antisocial behavior completed a word-completion task designed to measure the level of aggression in their automatic cognitions. Teens also completed questionnaire measures of attitudes about dating violence and dating violence perpetration during the previous three months, and then provided data on dating violence perpetration every two weeks over a 3-month follow-up period. Results: The level of aggression in automatic cognitions was positively associated with dating violence perpetration after accounting for teens' self-reported attitudes about dating violence. This pattern of results emerged with both concurrent and prospective associations. It is noteworthy that aggression in automatic cognitions also predicted changes in dating violence perpetration over the 3-month follow-up period, even after controlling for baseline levels of the perpetration of dating violence and teens' self-reported attitudes about dating violence. Conclusions: These findings suggest that theoretical models of teen dating violence should consider the role of automatic as well as more consciously controlled cognitive processes in the perpetration of teen dating violence. In addition, clinical efforts to reduce teen dating violence might benefit from targeting automatic as well as more controlled cognitive processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal relations between children's exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992.

Although the relation between TV-violence viewing and aggression in childhood has been clearly demonstrated, only a few studies have examined this relation from childhood to adulthood, and these studies of children growing up in the 1960s reported significant relations only for boys. The current study examines the longitudinal relations between TV-violence viewing at ages 6 to 10 and adult aggressive behavior about 15 years later for a sample growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Follow-up archival data (N=450) and interview data (N=329) reveal that childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both males and females. Identification with aggressive TV characters and perceived realism of TV violence also predict later aggression. These relations persist even when the effects of socioeconomic status, intellectual ability, and a variety of parenting factors are controlled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of risk-glorifying media exposure on risk-positive cognitions, emotions, and behaviors: A meta-analytic review.

In recent years, there has been a surge in the quantity of media content that glorifies risk-taking behavior, such as risky driving, extreme sports, or binge drinking. The authors conducted a meta-analysis involving more than 80,000 participants and 105 independent effect sizes to examine whether exposure to such media depictions increased their recipients' risk-taking inclinations. A positive connection was found for overall, combined risk taking (g = .41); as well as its underlying dimensions: risk-taking behaviors (g = .41), risk-positive cognitions and attitudes (g = .35), and risk-positive emotions (g = .56). This effect was observed across varying research methods (experimental, correlational, longitudinal); types of media (video games, movies, advertising, TV, music); and differing risk-related outcome measures (e.g., smoking, drinking, risky driving, sexual behavior). Multiple moderator analyses revealed 2 theoretically new boundary conditions for sociocognitive models. First, the effect was stronger for active (i.e., video games) than for passive (e.g., film, music) exposure to risk-glorifying media content. Second, the effect was stronger when there was a high degree of contextual fit between the media content and type of risk-taking measure. The theoretical, practical, and societal implications of the present research synthesis are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of TV viewing habits and aggressive behavior in children.

Information about TV habits, (a) length of time watched and (b) extent of violence in favorite programs, was obtained from 689 mothers and 522 fathers in individual interviews having to do with the psychosocial antecedents of aggressive behavior in their children. This information was related to ratings of aggressive behavior of 3rd-grade children made by their peers. It was found that there was a significant positive relationship between the violence ratings of favorite programs as reported by both mothers and fathers and aggressive behavior of boys as rated in school. Also there was a significant negative relation between total time watched by boys as reported by mothers and aggressive behavior. The results for fathers' reports in this latter case were in the same direction, although not significant. No consistent relationships were noted between girls' TV habits as reported by either mother or father and aggression as rated in school by the peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Book review: Media violence and its effects on aggression: Assessing the scientific evidence.

Review of book: Media violence and its effects on aggression: Assessing the scientific evidence, by Jonathan L. Freedman. Toronto: ON: University of Toronto Press, 2002, 227 pp. Hardcover. ISBN 0-8020-3553-1. Reviewed by Claire Crooks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men's media use, sexual cognitions, and sexual risk behavior: Testing a mediational model.

Efforts to link media use to adolescents' sexual initiation have produced somewhat inconsistent results, perhaps as a result of the limited framing of the question. This study sought to expand current approaches by sampling college students instead of high school students, by investigating a range of sexual behaviors and media formats, and by testing a model that featured sexual cognitions as mediators. We tested our model with a sample of 796 heterosexual, male college students who reported on their regular consumption of 4 media (prime-time TV programs, music videos, movies, and men's magazines); their attitudes toward abstinence, the male sexual role, and nonrelational sex; their perceptions of peer sexual behavior; and several aspects of their sexual behavior (e.g., number of sexual partners). Findings revealed strong support for our mediated model, with exposure to men's magazines and movies contributing most strongly to their sexual cognitions, and with men's cognitions, in turn, contributing heavily to their sexual behavior. Some direct connections from media use to sexual behavior also emerged. Together, the findings provide insight into both potential mechanisms for and new approaches to addressing this issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational citizenship behavior and workplace deviance: The role of affect and cognitions.

To investigate the role of affect and cognitions in predicting organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and workplace deviance behavior (WDB), data were collected from 149 registered nurses and their coworkers. Job affect was associated more strongly than were job cognitions with OCB directed at individuals, whereas job cognitions correlated more strongly than did job affect with OCB directed at the organization. With respect to WDB, job cognitions played a more important role in prediction when job affect was represented by 2 general mood variables (positive and negative affect). When discrete emotions were used to represent job affect, however, job affect played as important a role as job cognition variables, strongly suggesting the importance of considering discrete emotions in job affect research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between exposure to violence and social information processing among incarcerated adolescents.

Combining evidence from social learning theory with reports of the association between community violence exposure and aggressive behavior development, the authors examined the link between specific characteristics of violence exposure and social information-processing mechanisms (N. R. Crick & K. A. Dodge, 1994; K. A. Dodge, 1980, 1986) in a sample of highly aggressive, incarcerated adolescent boys (N?=?110). Results demonstrated that victimization by severe violence was significantly related to approval of aggression as a social response, problems with the interpretation of social cues, and maladaptive social goals. Witnessing severe violence, in contrast, was related to perceived positive outcomes for the use of aggression. These data suggest the importance of examining the severity and modality of exposure to community violence for understanding patterns of social–cognitive functioning among adolescents exposed to violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation between barrier scores and aggressive behavior.

A study by Fisher and Cleveland (1958) indicated that high barrier Ss express anger outwardly, yet other investigations have indicated low barrier Ss are more impulsive and aggressive. A study of barrier scores in a sample of 75 juvenile delinquents indicated that the delinquents had barrier scores significantly lower than nondelinquent adolescents; moreover the more seriously delinquent Ss had barrier scores significantly lower than the less seriously delinquent Ss. Correlational data also indicated some association between low barrier scores and aggressiveness. Adaptiveness of aggression in various situations and on the interpretation of the barrier score as an index of ego identity as opposed to ego diffusion are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The context of aggressive behavior in marriage: A longitudinal study of newlyweds.

Under what circumstances are spouses more or less likely to engage in aggressive behaviors? To address this question, the current study drew on multiple longitudinal assessments of 1st-married newlyweds to examine correlates of within-subject variability in aggressive behavior. Controlling for marital satisfaction, the authors found that spouses were more likely to engage in physical aggression at times when they engaged in higher levels of psychological aggression. Additionally, husbands reporting higher levels of chronic stress were more likely to engage in physical aggression overall and were more likely to engage in physical aggression when they were experiencing higher than average levels of acute stress. These results highlight how demands and supports in the context external to a marriage may affect processes within the marriage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exposure to violent media: The effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings.

Five experiments examined effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and hostile feelings. Experiments 1, 3, 4 and 5 demonstrated that college students who heard a violent song felt more hostile than those who heard a similar but nonviolent song. Experiments 2-5 demonstrated a similar increase in aggressive thoughts. These effects replicated across songs and song types (e.g., rock, humorous, nonhumorous). Experiments 3-5 also demonstrated that trait hostility was positively related to state hostility but did not moderate the song lyric effects. Discussion centers on the potential role of lyric content on aggression in short-term settings, relation to catharsis and other media violence domains, development of aggressive personality, differences between long-term and short-term effects, and possible mitigating factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between aggressive attributional style and violence by psychiatric patients.

The authors propose a new theoretical construct for understanding the risk of violent behavior by psychiatric patients: the aggressive attributional style. They propose that a cognitive style characterized by external hostile attributions increases the risk of violence by mentally ill persons. To evaluate this hypothesis, they administered several self-report measures relevant to the aggressive cognitive style, as well as measures of violent behavior in the community, to 110 psychiatric inpatients. Higher scores on several indicators of the aggressive attributional style were associated with violence. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the relationship between attributional style and violence held up when demographic and diagnostic characteristics and impulsiveness were controlled. The authors discuss implications for development of cognitive interventions to reduce violence risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review.

Meta-analytic procedures were used to test the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, empathy/desensitization, and prosocial behavior. Unique features of this meta-analytic review include (a) more restrictive methodological quality inclusion criteria than in past meta-analyses; (b) cross-cultural comparisons; (c) longitudinal studies for all outcomes except physiological arousal; (d) conservative statistical controls; (e) multiple moderator analyses; and (f) sensitivity analyses. Social–cognitive models and cultural differences between Japan and Western countries were used to generate theory-based predictions. Meta-analyses yielded significant effects for all 6 outcome variables. The pattern of results for different outcomes and research designs (experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal) fit theoretical predictions well. The evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior. Moderator analyses revealed significant research design effects, weak evidence of cultural differences in susceptibility and type of measurement effects, and no evidence of sex differences in susceptibility. Results of various sensitivity analyses revealed these effects to be robust, with little evidence of selection (publication) bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Framing public policy and prevention of chronic violence in American youths.

Metaphors can both inspire and mislead the public. Current metaphors for youth violence are inconsistent with scientific evidence about how chronic violence develops and evoke inaccurate or harmful reactions. Popular, problematic metaphors include superpredator, quarantining the contagious, corrective surgery, man as computer, vaccine, and chronic disease. Four new metaphors that more accurately reflect the science of child development are proposed to shape the field. Preventive dentistry offers a lifelong system of universal, selected, and indicated intervention policies. Cardiovascular disease offers concepts of distal risk factors, proximal processes, equifinality and multifinality, and long-term prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's public health model focuses on injury and the victim to elicit popular support. Public education for illiteracy offers concepts of long-term universal education coupled with specialized help for high-risk youths and goes beyond metaphor to represent a truly applicable framework. Research is proposed to test the scientific merit for and public receptivity to these metaphors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

If you can't join them, beat them: Effects of social exclusion on aggressive behavior.

Social exclusion was manipulated by telling people that they would end up alone later in life or that other participants had rejected them. These manipulations caused participants to behave more aggressively. Excluded people issued a more negative job evaluation against someone who insulted them (Experiments 1 and 2). Excluded people also blasted a target with higher levels of aversive noise both when the target had insulted them (Experiment 4) and when the target was a neutral person and no interaction had occurred (Experiment 5). However, excluded people were not more aggressive toward someone who issued praise (Experiment 3). These responses were specific to social exclusion (as opposed to other misfortunes) and were not mediated by emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of school-based intervention programs on aggressive behavior: A meta-analysis.

Research on the effectiveness of school-based programs for preventing or reducing aggressive behavior was synthesized with a meta-analysis. Changes in aggressive behavior between pretest and posttest were analyzed for developmental patterns and characteristics associated with differential effects. Control groups showed little change in aggressive behavior, but there were significant reductions among intervention groups. Most studies were conducted on demonstration programs; the few studies of routine practice programs showed much smaller effects. Among demonstration programs, positive outcomes were associated with a variety of study, subject, and intervention characteristics. Most notably, higher risk youth showed greater reductions in aggressive behavior, poorly implemented programs produced smaller effects, and different types of programs were generally similar in their effectiveness, other things equal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hostility in Rorschach content and overt aggressive behavior.

"The Rorschach was administered to 96 hospitalized psychotic veterans, 48 assaultive and 48 nonassaultive, under one of five conditions. Test records were scored for aggressive content… . It was predicted that there is a positive correlation between the behavioral and test measures of aggression, and that the test measure is influenced by the… power and status of the examiner. A significant positive correlation… was found." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Media as social influence: Racial differences in the effects of peers and media on adolescent alcohol cognitions and consumption.

Racial differences in the effects of peer and media influence on adolescents' alcohol cognitions and consumption were examined in a large-scale panel study. With regard to peer influence, results from cross-lagged panel analyses indicated that the relation between perceived peer drinking and own drinking was significant for both Black and White adolescents, but it was stronger for the White adolescents. With regard to media influence, structural modeling analyses indicated that exposure to drinking in movies was associated with more alcohol consumption 8 months and 16 months later. These effects were mediated by increases in the favorability of the adolescents' drinker prototypes, their willingness to drink, and their tendency to affiliate with friends who were drinking. Multiple group analyses indicated that, once again, the effects (both direct and indirect) were much stronger for White adolescents than for Black adolescents. The results suggest media influence works in a similar manner to social influence and that Whites may be more susceptible to both types of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and aggressive behavior under provoking and neutral conditions: A meta-analytic review.

The authors conducted a comprehensive review to understand the relation between personality and aggressive behavior, under provoking and nonprovoking conditions. The qualitative review revealed that some personality variables influenced aggressive behavior under both neutral and provocation conditions, whereas others influenced aggressive behavior only under provocation. Studies that assessed personality variables and that directly measured aggressive behavior were included in the quantitative review. Analyses revealed that trait aggressiveness and trait irritability influenced aggressive behavior under both provoking and neutral conditions but that other personality variables (e.g., trait anger, Type A personality, dissipation-rumination) influenced aggressive behavior only under provoking conditions. The authors discuss possible relations between these patterns of aggressive behavior and the personality dimensions of Agreeableness and Neuroticism and consider implications for theories of aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathic traits in a large community sample: Links to violence, alcohol use, and intelligence.

Numerous studies conducted with offender or forensic psychiatric samples have revealed that individuals with psychopathic traits are at risk for violence and other externalizing psychopathology. These traits appear to be continuously distributed in these samples, leading investigators to speculate on the presence of such traits in the general population. Nonetheless, few studies of psychopathy have been conducted with large random samples of individuals from the community. The community sample from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study provides an opportunity to examine the prevalence and structural nature of psychopathic traits, as well as their association with external correlates in an urban community. The community data (N = 514) represent a stratified random sample of persons between the ages of 18 and 40 who were assessed on the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL: SV) and also for violent behavior, alcohol use, and intellectual functioning. Structural equation model analyses revealed that a 4-factor model found in offender and forensic psychiatric samples fit the community data well and was invariant across sex and ethnicity. Also, a superordinate factor comprehensively accounted for the 4 psychopathy first-order factors and significantly predicted the external correlates. The findings offer insight into the dimensional nature of the psychopathy construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)