Some factors affecting the reduction of overt hostility.

2 assumptions were tested to explain observations that initial expressions of aggression may be followed by decline in such unfriendly attitudes. The "symbolic catharsis hypothesis" assumes the reduction of hostile attitudes due to vicarious (fantasy) expression of hostility; guilt theory assumes inhibition, rather than reduction, of hostile atitudes. Ss were fed information, supposedly opinions of each other, which encouraged unfriendly or friendly attitudes. Ss were then either allowed to associate to TAT cards or fed additional information so as to be made to feel guilty about unfriendly attitudes towards the other. Results were interpreted as supporting the guilt hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thematic hostility and guilt responses as related to self-reported hostility, guilt, and conflict.

Thematic hostility and guilt responses were investigated as a function of hostile cues and self-reported drive, guilt, and conflict over hostility. From a pool of 181 college males, extreme groups of 20 each were selected on each of the self-report measures. It was found that: (a) self-reported hostility across levels of guilt was directly related to TAT hostility on pictures of low relevance for hostility only; (b) TAT hostility across pictures was directly related to self-reported hostility when guilt was low and inversely when guilt was high; (c) TAT hostility was inversely, and TAT guilt directly, related to self-reported guilt; and (d) there was no evidence that conflict produces a simultaneous increase in drive related responses to cues of low relevance and decrease in drive related responses to cues of high relevance. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Belief in a just world and physical attractiveness stereotyping.

Just-world theory provides a possible explanation of physical attractiveness stereotyping, in that believing in a just world should lead to a positive bias toward "winners," such as the physically attractive. Several hypotheses derived from this premise were tested by having adults complete the Just World Scale and rate the personality traits and expected life outcomes of an attractive or unattractive stimulus person. Predictions for the personality trait ratings were borne out for male but not for female stimulus persons: (a) Believers in a just world perceived the personalities of attractive, male stimulus persons as more socially desirable than nonbelievers and also attributed more socially desirable personalities to male stimulus persons who were attractive rather than unattractive; and (b) no effects were found for female stimulus persons. Predictions for the life-outcome ratings and differences in correlations between personality and life-outcome ratings as a function of belief in a just world were clearly supported. Implications for just-world theory, status-characteristics theory, and physical attractiveness stereotyping are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions to unfavorable personal evaluations as a function of the evaluator's perceived adjustment.

"Pairs of Ss listened to two… persons… evaluate the personality of one member of the pair. One of the stimulus persons made derogatory remarks about the 'involved' member, the other was… noncommittal… . In one experimental condition the derogator was pre-identified as… maladjusted, the nonderogator as well-adjusted. In another condition the identifications were reversed." The hypothesis was supported that the combined information, maladjustment and derogation, summate for the bystander to produce a negative impression, but that for the involved S there is a tendency to cancel out hostility that would be arounsed by the derogation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cynical hostility and vulnerability to disease: Social support, life stress, and physiological response to conflict.

34 extremely high and 34 low scorers on the hostility (Ho) scale proposed by W. Cook and D. Medley (1954) were selected from a pool of male undergraduates. Consistent with previous findings, high-Ho Ss reported greater anger proneness and a more cynical view of others than did low-Ho Ss. The high-Ho group also tended to be more hostile and less friendly during role-played interactions involving high and low levels of interpersonal conflict. High-Ho Ss displayed greater diastolic blood pressure reactivity during interpersonal conflict and reported less social support and more negative life events and daily irritants then did low-Ho Ss. Results support the interpretations of the Ho scale as a measure of cynical hostility and are consistent with the hypothesis that hostility is related to disease by way of excessive physiological reactivity and a generally stressful, unsupportive social network. (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)     

Personality measures as predictors of smoking initiation and cessation in the UNC Alumni Heart Study.

MMPI data collected from a sample of college men and women during 1964–1967 were used to predict smoking initiation and cessation over a 20-yr follow-up period. People who subsequently began smoking were more rebellious, impulsive, sensation seeking, and hostile; were less likely to present a positive self-image; and were socially extraverted while in college. People who continued to smoke 20 yrs later were more hostile and sensation seeking. The personality variables that predicted smoking initiation and cessation were the same for men and women. Discussion centers on the potential role of hostility as a predictor of smoking cessation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of amount of possession of the trait of hostility on accuracy of perception of hostility in others.

Some theories of personality hold that an individual's perception of others is influenced by his own personality characteristics; more specifically, that a trait of low social value will be projected more into others, and that insight into the possession of these characteristics reduces this distortion. These 2 hypotheses were tested by having a group of college students rate each other (including themselves) on degree of friendliness or hostility. Agreement with group rating about self yielded the insight score. In general, the hypotheses were supported; the "friendly" Ss were most accurate in their perception of others, and insight was positively associated with accurate perception. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HL16M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gestalt therapy: Some aspects of self-support, independence and responsibility.

Administered tests devised to measure self-concept, expressed value system, and fantasy production (e.g., Leary Interpersonal Check List and TAT) to 7 college students before and after Gestalt awareness training and to 7 Ss who received no treatment. Experimental Ss showed increased positive self-concepts, but their personal values remained unaffected, and their fantasy productions reflected significantly less independence, self-support, and responsibility. Results are interpreted in 2 ways: (1) Training may affect individuals beneficially on only a superficial and mutable level of personality—self concept—while personal values remain unaltered; fantasy production may even contraindicate training. (2) Training may have the desired effect on all levels, but insufficient time prevented Ss from moving beyond the "impasse," the crucial time when resistance sets in and people "prevent" themselves from using their resources. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hostility, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption in the general population

Hostility has been associated with coronary heart disease, and hostility may affect coronary risk through its influence on risk factors such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. The objective of this study was to determine relationships between hostile personality, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption in the general population. The Edinburgh Artery Study comprises a cross-sectional survey of 1592 men and women aged 55-74 years sampled from age-sex registers of 10 general practices throughout the city. The Bedford-Foulds Personality Deviance Questionnaire was used to elicit extrapunitiveness (including hostile thoughts), dominance (including hostile acts) and intropunitiveness. Social class, age and deprivation score were controlled for in multivariate analyses. The hostile thoughts scale emerged as a significant independent predictor of alcohol consumption in men and women (P < or = 0.01), and the models accounted for 4-9% of the variance in alcohol consumption. Hostile acts were independently predictive of smoking in men (P < or = 0.001), with the model accounting for 5% of the variance in smoking. Hostile thoughts were independently predictive of smoking in women (P < or = 0.001), and the model accounted for 4% of the variance in their smoking. We conclude that hostility may affect coronary risk through its influence on lifestyle-related coronary risk factors, although in future further elucidation of hostility type and standard measurement of hostility are necessary.     

Longitudinal associations between parents' hostility and siblings' externalizing behavior in the context of marital discord.

This study examined longitudinal associations between parents' hostility and siblings' externalizing behavior in the context of interparental discord. The sample included 116 families (mothers, fathers, 2 siblings) assessed in middle childhood, when siblings were, on average, 8 and 10 years old, and in adolescence, at average ages of 14 and 16 years. Parents reported on their hostility toward each child and on each child's externalizing problems. Raters observed interparental hostility, and parents rated their marital quality. Results indicated both within-family and between-families effects. Specifically, the child who received more parental hostility than his or her sibling showed greater increases in externalizing problems than his or her sibling; this association was moderated by marital discord. In addition, the child who exhibited more behavioral problems than his or her sibling received greater increases in hostile mothering than did his or her sibling. Between-families effects were evident, in that children's externalizing problems were associated with increases in mothers' hostility toward both children in the family. Results support transactional models of development and family systems theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in and stability of hostile characteristics: Results from a 4-year longitudinal study of children.

Changes in and stability of hostility characteristics and their relationship to age, sex, and family support were examined among 108 10–18 yr olds in a 4-yr longitudinal study. Clinical ratings of Structured Interview potential for hostility, self-reported MMPI-derived hostile attitudes, and perceptions of family support were obtained at study entry and at follow-up when Ss were aged 15–21 yrs. Results showed relative stability of hostility rankings across 4 yrs, with males being more hostile than females. Both sexes increased in hostility over time, with the greatest increase in Ss who perceived low family support at follow-up and whose parents perceived high family support at study entry. Results are consistent with notions that early signs of hostility are risk factors for later development of coronary disease and that family environment influences development of hostility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empirical test of the "levels" hypothesis with five projective techniques.

Tested the "levels" hypothesis that there is an inverse relationship between the degree of stimulus structure in a test and the level of personality impulse-control system being tapped by the test, for 20 normal and 20 psychiatric Ss. As predicted, an inverse relationship between pathology and stimulus structure over 5 tests (from low-high structure Draw-a-Person, Rorschach, TAT, Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank, and Bender-Gestalt) was found for normals. Contrary to hypothesis, no such relationship appeared for psychiatric Ss. Other hypotheses that psychiatric Ss manifest more projection and more pathology than normals, and that there is a significant correlation between pathology and projection for every test for each group were confirmed. A new theory of projection of pathology as a function of the stimulus structure of tests is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Humor as aggression: Effects of motivation on hostility expressed in humor appreciation.

In 4 studies, the authors examined the hypothesis that relative to primed autonomy motivation, primed control would increase enjoyment of hostile (compared with nonhostile) humor as assessed by self-reported enjoyment and aversiveness and by nonverbal behavior. Results confirmed the hypothesis. Furthermore, initial state hostility moderated the effect such that high-hostility participants who were primed with control motivation especially enjoyed hostile humor. The 2 final studies showed that the effect was mediated by implicit aggression such that the combination of high initial state hostility and control priming led to implicit aggression, which in turn resulted in hostile humor enjoyment. Results are interpreted in terms of the effects of autonomy versus control motivation on intrapersonal self-regulatory processes, which influence interpersonal functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Status restoration and the reduction of hostility.

"The present study reports positive results on a test of the implications of a 'threat' theory of hostility, namely, that hostility is reduced by status restoration. Essentially, the experiments deals with techniques designed to restore the status or the integrity of the S, who has been subjected to the hostile arousing conditions, without permitting expression of aggression (catharsis or communication)." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cardiovascular and emotional responses in women: The role of hostility and harassment.

The relation of hostility and harassment to cardiovascular and emotional responses was examined by having 51 women (aged 18–26 yrs) high and low in hostility complete a task with or without harassment. Harassed high hostile Ss showed greater systolic blood pressure (SBP) increases during task and recovery periods than did harassed low hostile Ss and nonharassed Ss. Harassed low hostile Ss evidenced greater SBP increases during task and recovery periods than did nonharassed Ss. Among high hostile women, cardiovascular elevations during the task were associated with self-reported levels of negative affect. Antagonistic hostility, relative to neurotic hostility, was positively associated with harassment-induced SBP changes. These results support the hypothesis that hostile people exhibit excessive behaviorally induced cardiovascular responses to interpersonally challenging tasks that evoke anger-related emotional states. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult attachment style and individual differences in functional versus dysfunctional experiences of anger.

Three studies examined the association between adult attachment and anger. Study 1 examined attachment-style differences in self-reports of anger-proneness, anger expression, anger goals, and responses to anger. Study 2 assessed attachment style, physiological signs of anger, and attribution of hostile intent. Study 3 used a lexical-decision task for studying attachment-style differences in expected anger outcome. Secure persons scored lower in anger-proneness, endorsed more constructive anger goals, reported more adaptive responses and more positive affect in anger episodes, attributed less hostile intent to others, and expected more positive outcomes than insecure persons. For ambivalent persons, the anger experience also included lack of anger control and anger-in. For avoidant persons, it included high hostility, escapist responses, and lack of awareness of physiological signs of anger. The underlying action of working models is emphasized in the discussion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marijuana and hostility in a small-group setting

The authors used several indices to assess the relationship between marijuana and hostility as both inner affect and verbal behavior in a small-group setting. Marijuana subjects reported a small but statistically significant decrease in hostile feelings after the introduction of a frustration stimulus. They also showed significantly less verbal hostility than placebo subjects both before and after introduction of a frustration stimulus. The authors note that research findings on marijuana and hostility are not consistent and suggest a multidetermined relationship based on dose, environment, nature of the frustration stimulus, and intraindividual factors.