Similar nature of inhibition of mitochondrial respiration of heart tissue and malignant cells by methylglyoxal. A vital clue to understand the biochemical basis of malignancy

Aggressive responding was compared between 29 subjects with a history of substance dependence and 24 subjects with no drug use history, using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm. The hypothesis was that subjects from the substance dependence history group would emit more aggressive responses than subjects with no drug use history. The substance dependence history group emitted more aggressive responses per session than the non drug using group (F(1,49) = 14.867, P = 0.032). These results are consistent with previous studies that have reported an association between aggression and drug abuse or dependence.     

Differences in alcohol expectancy between aggressive and nonaggressive social drinkers

Previous reports have shown that drinkers with aggressive personalities not only hold the strongest beliefs that alcohol facilitates aggressive behavior, but they also display the greatest increases in laboratory aggression after receiving alcohol. Given that several studies have demonstrated that a portion of the behavioral and subjective effects of alcohol are due to psychological expectancy, this study explored whether aggressive drinkers have elevated intoxication expectancies from laboratory beverages with unknown alcohol content. The rates of aggressive responses emitted in a money subtraction aggression model under baseline conditions were used to select an aggressive group and a nonaggressive group, each with five male and five female participants. Subjects then ingested and rated each of three placebo (1 ml alcohol) beverages administered hourly during a subsequent laboratory visit, and rated a series of three 0.35 g/kg of alcohol beverages the following day. Whereas nonaggressive subjects clearly discriminated the relative alcohol content of alcohol and placebo drinks, aggressive subjects gave progressively elevated shot equivalent ratings to placebo drinks, similar to their ratings of alcohol doses. However, despite similar self-reported drinking histories, aggressive subjects reported anticipating only half the intoxication from the alcohol doses (and in fact achieved a lower peak breath alcohol concentration) than was expected by nonaggressive subjects.     

Psychopathy in instrumental and reactive violent offenders.

Can violent offenders who commit acts of instrumental aggression for goal-oriented purposes such as robbery be distinguished from those who commit acts of reactive (or hostile) aggression in response to provocation? Because violent offenders often have a history of both instrumental and reactive aggression, this study distinguished between offenders with a history of at least 1 instrumental violent offense and offenders with a history of reactive violent offenses. Two studies tested the hypothesis that instrumental offenders would score higher than reactive offenders and nonviolent offenders on R. D. Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist. The first study sample consisted of 106 violent and nonviolent offenders recruited from a medium-security correctional facility. The second study sample consisted of 50 violent offenders referred for pretrial forensic evaluation. In both samples, instrumental offenders could be reliably distinguished from reactive offenders on the basis of violent crime behavior and level of psychopathy. Group differences could not be attributed to participant age, race, length of incarceration, or extent of prior criminal record. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Desensitization to media violence: Links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior.

This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antisocial personality disorder and alcohol-induced aggression

This study compared the effects of alcohol on aggressive responding between subjects with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and subjects without ASPD. Eighteen alcohol drinking subjects (10 subjects without ASPD and 8 subjects with ASPD) underwent testing on a laboratory measure of aggression, the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm, after consumption of placebo and three doses of alcohol (0.25 g/kg, 0.5 g/kg, and 1.0 g/kg). There was a significant difference in the effect of alcohol on aggressive responding on the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm between subjects with ASPD and subjects without ASPD. Subjects with ASPD had a greater increase in aggressive responding after alcohol, compared with non-ASPD subjects. There was no difference between the two groups in the effect of alcohol on monetary-reinforced responding.     

Prediction of violent versus nonviolent recidivism from prior violent and nonviolent criminality.

Analyzed frequencies of prior violent and nonviolent criminal convictions among 198 adult male felony offenders (mean age 27 yrs) in relation to probation outcome defined as success, nonviolent failure, or violent failure. The probation follow-up was conducted after 32 mo. Only the results for prior nonviolent offenses were significant, and although nonviolent failures on probation were nearly 4 times more common than were violent failures, the nonviolent predictor set was equally sensitive to the 2 types of recidivism. The association between prior nonviolent offenses and probation outcome was attenuated by the influence of age. Persistent nonviolent criminality usually reflects a generalized propensity for social deviance and is therefore of some predictive value with heterogeneous groups of offenders. In contrast, because violence is often due to transitory psychological states that emerge in response to atypical circumstances, it is a relatively poor indicator of the likelihood of future similar behavior. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Television violence and children's aggression: Testing the priming, social script, and disinhibition predictions.

The effect of television violence on boys' aggression was investigated with consideration of teacher-rated characteristic aggressiveness, timing of frustration, and violence-related cues as moderators. Boys in Grades 2 and 3 (N?=?396) watched violent or nonviolent TV in groups of 6, and half the groups were later exposed to a cue associated with the violent TV program. They were frustrated either before or after TV viewing. Aggression was measured by naturalistic observation during a game of floor hockey. Groups containing more characteristically high-aggressive boys showed higher aggression following violent TV plus the cue than following violent TV alone, which in turn produced more aggression than did the nonviolent TV condition. There was evidence that both the violent content and the cue may have suppressed aggression among groups composed primarily of boys low in characteristic aggressiveness. Results were interpreted in terms of current information-processing theories of media effects on aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect, verbal content, and psychophysiology in the arguments of couples with a violent husband.

Studied the affect, psychophysiology, and verbal content of arguments in couples with a violent husband. On the basis of self-reports of violent arguments, there were no wife behaviors that successfully suppressed husband violence once it began; moreover, husband violence escalated in response to nonviolent as well as violent wife behaviors, whereas wife violence escalated only in reaction to husband violence or emotional abuse. Only wives were fearful during violent and nonviolent arguments. The observational coding of nonviolent arguments in the laboratory revealed that both battering husbands and their wives (DV) were angrier than their maritally distressed but nonviolent (DNV) counterparts. As predicted, on the more provocative anger codes, only DV men differed from their DNV counterparts. However, DV wives were as verbally aggressive toward their husbands as DV husbands were toward their wives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

I wish I were a warrior: The role of wishful identification in the effects of violent video games on aggression in adolescent boys.

This study tested the hypothesis that violent video games are especially likely to increase aggression when players identify with violent game characters. Dutch adolescent boys with low education ability (N=112) were randomly assigned to play a realistic or fantasy violent or nonviolent video game. Next, they competed with an ostensible partner on a reaction time task in which the winner could blast the loser with loud noise through headphones (the aggression measure). Participants were told that high noise levels could cause permanent hearing damage. Habitual video game exposure, trait aggressiveness, and sensation seeking were controlled for. As expected, the most aggressive participants were those who played a violent game and wished they were like a violent character in the game. These participants used noise levels loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage to their partners, even though their partners had not provoked them. These results show that identifying with violent video game characters makes players more aggressive. Players were especially likely to identify with violent characters in realistic games and with games they felt immersed in. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Varying forms of husband sexual aggression: Predictors and subgroup differences.

The relationships between two forms of husband sexual aggression (coercion and threatened/forced sex) and husband physical and psychological aggression were examined among a community sample of 164 couples. A stronger relationship between physical and sexual aggression was obtained than in previous research. Husbands' physical and psychological aggression predicted husbands' sexual coercion, but only physical aggression predicted threatened/forced sex. The more severely physically violent subtypes of the A. Holtzworth-Munroe et al. (2000) typology engaged in the most sexual coercion, and the most violent subtype (generally violent/antisocial) engaged in the most threatened/forced sex. In examining C. M. Monson and J. Langhinrichsen-Rohling's (1998) typology, the existence of a sexually violent-only subtype was documented, physically nonviolent husbands were found to engage in sexual coercion, and sexually and physically violent husbands engaged in the highest level of sexual aggression. The utility of using multiple measures, and both spouses' reports, to assess sexual aggression is emphasized. (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)     

Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life.

Two studies examined violent video game effects on aggression-related variables. Study 1 found that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men. Academic achievement was negatively related to overall amount of time spent playing video games. In Study 2, laboratory exposure to a graphically violent video game increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both studies, men had a more hostile view of the world than did women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Affective Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both the short term (e.g., laboratory aggression) and the long term (e.g., delinquency). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional catharsis and aggression revisited: Heart rate reduction following aggressive responding.

The authors tested two components of the catharsis theory of aggression: physiological tension reduction and aggressive drive reduction. On the basis of work in the stress-aggression literature, they also examined the moderating effect of impersonal stress exposure on cathartic reductions in heart rate following aggressive responding. Participants were instructed to administer nonaggressive (correct button) or aggressive (shock button) responses to a frustrating confederate in a laboratory aggression paradigm, and half the participants were exposed to an impersonal stressor (aversive air blasts) during the procedure. Heart rate was recorded before and after the participants administered the aggressive or nonaggressive response. Analyses revealed that participants exhibited reductions in heart rate following aggressive but not nonaggressive responding, but this was the case only for those not exposed to the impersonal stressor. Heart rate reductions during the experimental blocks actually predicted the most intense aggression in a subsequent block of trials. The results are considered in light of different theories of aggression by J. E. Hokanson (1974) and L. Berkowitz (1990) and have implications for interventions with anger-prone individuals. (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)     

CSF testosterone and 5-HIAA correlate with different types of aggressive behaviors

We studied the potential roles of testosterone and serotonin in various forms of aggressive and violent behaviors by measuring each biochemical and behaviour in free-ranging adolescent male nonhuman primates. Our results showed that (1) CSF free testosterone concentrations were positively correlated with overall aggressiveness, but not with measures of impulsivity. (2) CSF 5-HIAA concentrations were negatively correlated with impulsive behavior, and severe, unrestrained aggression, but not with overall rates of aggression. High rates of impulsive behavior were positively correlated with severe, unrestrained aggression, but not overall rates of aggression. (3) Dimensional analyses showed that while subjects with low CSF 5-HIAA exhibited high rates of aggression, high CSF testosterone further augmented rates and intensity of aggression in subjects with low CSF 5-HIAA. We conclude that high CSF free testosterone concentrations are associated with competitive aggression, while low CSF 5-HIAA concentrations are associated with severe aggression which results from impaired impulse control, and perseverance.     

Comparing the responses of maritally violent and nonviolent spouses to problematic marital and nonmarital situations: Are the skill deficits of physically aggressive husbands and wives global?

This study compared the competency of responses offered by spouses in violent and nonviolent marriages to problematic marital and nonmarital situations. Twenty-five maritally violent and distressed, 10 nonviolent but maritally distressed, and 23 nonviolent and nondistressed couples participated. Each spouse listened to narratives of marital and nonmarital (e.g., boss or friend) problematic situation vignettes. Participants were asked what they would say and do in each situation. A coding system designed with input from nonviolent, happily married individuals showed that violent spouses provided less competent responses than nonviolent spouses for both marital and nonmarital situations and for both 1st and 2nd responses. The findings suggest that violent-distressed spouses have particular difficulty with marital situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homicidal sex offenders: psychological, phallometric, and diagnostic features

Homicidal sex offenders represent an understudied population in the forensic literature. Forty-eight homicidal sex offenders assessed between 1982 and 1992 were studied in relation to a comparison group of incest offenders. Historical features, commonly used psychological inventories, criminal histories, phallometric assessments, and DSM diagnoses were collected on each group. The homicidal sex offenders, compared with the incest offenders, self-reported that they had more frequently been removed from their homes during childhood and had more violence and forensic psychiatric contact in their histories. On the self-report psychological inventories, the homicidal sex offenders portrayed themselves as functioning significantly better in the areas of sexuality (Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory) and aggression/hostility (Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory). However, on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), researchers rated the homiciders significantly more psychopathic than the incest offenders on Factor 1 (personality traits) and Factor 2 (antisocial history). Police records revealed the homicidal subjects also had been charged or convicted of more violent and nonviolent nonsexual offenses. The phallometric assessments indicated that the homicidal sex offenders demonstrated higher levels of response to pedophilic stimuli and were significantly more aroused to stimuli depicting assaultive acts to children, relative to the incest offenders. Despite the homiciders' self-reports of fairly good psychological functioning, DSM-III diagnoses reliably discriminated between the groups. A large number of homicidal sex offenders were diagnosed as suffering from psychosis, antisocial personality disorder, paraphilias, sexual sadism, sexual sadism with pedophilia, and substance abuse. Seventy-five percent of the homicidal sex offenders had three or more diagnoses compared with six percent of the incest offenders. The article addresses the role of "hard" versus "soft" measures in the assessment and treatment of violent sex offenders. In addition, the usefulness of phallometric assessments and the PCL-R and its subscales are considered.     

Temperature and aggression: Effects on quarterly, yearly, and city rates of violent and nonviolent crime.

The hypothesized relation between uncomfortably hot temperatures and aggressive behavior was examined in two studies of violent and nonviolent crime. Data on rates of murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft were gathered from archival sources. The first three crimes listed are violent; the latter four are less violent (labeled nonviolent). On the basis of previous research and theory (Anderson & Anderson, 1984), it was predicted that violent crimes would be more prevalent in the hotter quarters of the year and in hotter years. Furthermore, it was predicted that this temperature–crime relation would be stronger for violent than for nonviolent crime. Study 1 confirmed both predictions. Also, differences among cities in violent crime were predicted to be related to the hotness of cities; this effect was expected to be stronger for violent than for nonviolent crimes. Study 2 confirmed both predictions, even when effects of a variety of social, demographic, and economic variables were statistically removed. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extraction of carboxylic acids as adducts with trioctylphosphine oxide

Simulated jurors were asked to render judgements in a case involving either a violent or a nonviolent armed robbery. The defendent either did or did not have a stated history or previous psychiatric hospitalization. The former mental patient received fewer guilty verdicts than did the nonhospitalized defendant in the nonviolent robbery condition, while no difference existed in the violent robbery condition. It was predicted that, relative to the nonhospitalized defendant, subjects would be more punitive when the former mental patient was judged guilty of the violent crime than when he was judged guilty of the nonviolent robbery. This prediction was confirmed only for male subjects. The data suggest that while males responded in terms of conventional stereotypes about the mentally ill, females did not. Results are discussed in terms of attribution of responsibility and fear reactions toward the mentally ill.