Gender labeling and the adoption of sex-typed behaviors.

A gender-labeling task was used to test the ability of 21 girls and 22 boys ranging in age from 21 to 40 mo to discriminate between pictures of boys and girls and male and female adults. Ss who passed the gender task (mean age 30 mo) were compared with Ss who failed it (mean age 26 mo) on 3 behaviors most often categorized as sex typed (toy choice, aggression, and peer playmate selection). It was predicted that Ss who passed the task would choose more sex-typed toys and same-sex peers and that there would be a drop in aggression for girls who passed but no change for boys. Results confirm the predictions for aggression and peer choice but not for toy choice. The relation between the child's understanding of gender categories and environmental influences is discussed. (18 ref) (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)     

Effect of displaced aggression on systolic blood pressure.

80 college age Ss were placed in a 2 X 5 factorial design involving a high or low frustration experience followed by opportunity to express physical aggression towards objects varying in similarity to the frustrator. Postaggression systolic blood pressure elevation relative to prefrustration base level was the primary dependent measure. The results indicated that among frustrated Ss the expression of aggression directly to the frustrator resulted in a significant degree of "physiological tension" reduction relative to a no aggression control group; whereas the same amount of aggression expressed to substitute targets did not significantly reduce blood pressure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task difficulty, cardiovascular response, and the magnitude of goal valence.

Studied the impact of expected task difficulty on anticipatory cardiovascular (CV) responsiveness and the anticipatory reactivity under difficult task conditions in 64 female undergraduates. Ss performed an easy, moderately difficult, or extremely difficult memory task to earn a small incentive for good performance. CV and subjective measures were taken immediately prior to task performance. Both systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses and ratings of goal attractiveness were nonmonotonically related to expected task difficulty, with the most pronounced SBP elevations and highest goal attractiveness in the moderately difficult task condition. CV response measures revealed a strong positive association between systolic and diastolic pressure (but not heart rate) change in the easy condition, positive relationships among measures in the moderately difficult condition, and no significant correlations in the extremely difficult condition. Subjective measures of arousal were not affected by task difficulty. Principal findings are discussed in terms of J. W. Brehm's theory that motivation varies as a nonmonotonic function of the difficulty of goal attainment. Intercorrelations among CV response variables are considered in terms of their possible indication of the mechanisms underlying blood pressure changes associated with variations in motivation. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stressful events and individual beliefs as correlates of economic disadvantage and aggression among urban children.

Examined 3 factors that were hypothesized to increase risk for aggression among urban children: economic disadvantage, stressful events, and individual beliefs. Ss were 1,935 African American, Hispanic, and White elementary-school boys and girls assessed over a 2-yr period. Individual poverty (INP) and aggression were only significant for the White Ss, with significant interactions between individual and community poverty for the other 2 ethnic groups. A linear structural model to predict aggression from the stress and beliefs variables, INP predicted stress for African American Ss and predicted beliefs supporting aggression for Hispanic Ss. For all ethnic groups, both stress and beliefs contributed significantly to the synchronous prediction of aggression, and for the Hispanic children, the longitudinal predictions were also significant. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for preventive interventions in multiethnic, inner-city communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task and experimenter feedback on the self-reinforcement behavior of internals and externals.

Tested 24 internal and 24 external locus of control Ss on 3 verbal recognition memory tasks. Ss administered self-reinforcement for correct responses on the 1st and 3rd tasks, which had the same difficulty level. The 2nd task was either more or less difficult than the other 2 and was accompanied by E reinforcement. All Ss thus received external evaluation that had variable relevance to their self-evaluation. There were no differences in self-reinforcement base rate (reinforcement rate on the 1st task), but there were several significant and contrasting changes on the 3rd task. Internals attended to both task differences and external evaluation. Externals responded only to evaluation, apparently not attending to task factors. Results are discussed in terms of locus of control and in terms of self-reinforcement behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of film violence on inhibitions against subsequent aggression.

As a test of the possibility that recently-angered people can "purge" their anger through viewing filmed scenes of aggression, 160 college men and women were shown a 7-minute prize fight scene after having been either deliberately insulted or treated in a neutral fashion by a male graduate student. Just before the Ss saw the movie, E, a female graduate student, provided them with 1 or 2 synopses of the movie plot. In ? of the cases E told the Ss the film protagonist (who took a bad beating in the flight) was a downright scoundrel. The fantasy aggression witnessed by this group was presumably regarded as justified. The remaining Ss were told that the protagonist was not really bad, and they presumably came to regard the filmed aggression as less justified. All Ss rated the male graduate student after seeing the movie. In opposition to the thesis of vicarious hostility reduction, the authors had predicted that the justified fantasy aggression would produce heightened overt hostility toward the insulting male graduate student by lowering inhibitions against aggression. The questionnaire ratings support the prediction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aerobic fitness, psychological characteristics, and cardiovascular reactivity to stress.

Examined relations among aerobic fitness (AF), psychological characteristics, and cardiovascular reactivity, using 62 men (mean age 42 yrs) divided into highly fit and less fit groups based on a treadmill exercise test. Several psychological and physiological variables were measured, and Ss' cardiovascular reactivity was assessed during a mental arithmetic task and a video game task. Highly fit Ss showed a significantly smaller increase in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) and reported themselves to be less anxious and less angry than did less fit Ss. Controlling for Ss' scores on a scale assessing angry temperament reduced the relationship between AF and DBP reactivity to nonsignificant levels. Degree of dispositional anger, which covaries with increased fitness, may contribute to the relationship between AF and DBP, but not HR, reactivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflection–impulsivity and social reasoning.

28 reflective and 27 impulsive (determined by the Matching Familiar Figures Test) 2nd-grade males (mean IQ, as indexed by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, 110.4) were administered a social-reasoning task consisting of 6 social-conflict situations. Measures were taken of the types of responses to conflict that Ss considered to be most appropriate and also of decision latencies. Impulsive Ss considered the responses of yielding and appealing to authority to be appropriate responses to social conflict more frequently than did the reflective Ss, whereas the reflective Ss viewed assertion and physical aggression to be more appropriate than did impulsive Ss. Impulsive Ss also responded somewhat more quickly than the reflective Ss. Teacher ratings on the School Behavior Checklist yielded no differences between the 2 cognitive-style groups on measures of aggression, anxiety, need achievement, extraversion, academic disability, or hostile isolation. The fact that the reflective Ss evidenced a more direct approach than the impulsive Ss on the social-reasoning task is consistent with cognitive-style differences that have been found on nonsocial problem-solving tasks. Findings extend the potential relevance of the reflection–implusivity dimension to social reasoning. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task-related arousal of Type A and Type B persons: Level of challenge and response specificity.

To determine whether different levels of challenge had differential effects on the arousal levels of Type A (coronary prone) and Type B (noncoronary prone) persons, 30 Type A and 30 Type B male undergraduates worked on an intelligence test task (digits backwards recall) that was easy, moderately difficult, or extremely difficult. Arousal was measured in terms of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, pulse volume, skin resistance, and subjective arousal. Results indicate that, while working on the extremely difficult task, the Type A's evidenced reliably higher systolic blood pressure than did Type B's and that there were not reliable differences between Ss in systolic blood pressure at other levels of challenge or on other measures of arousal. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expression of interpersonal aggression by angered and nonangered persons with the Type A and Type B behavior patterns.

37 male undergraduates, who were classified on the student version of the Jenkins Activity Survey as showing the Type A (coronary prone) or Type B (noncoronary prone) behavior pattern, were first either angered or not angered in a problem-solving task by a confederate who posed as another S. In a subsequent bogus learning experiment, Ss had the opportunity to punish or reward the confederate. The effectiveness of the anger manipulation was attested to by the fact that angered Ss had reliably higher pulse rates and blood pressure. In the learning experiment, Type As who had not been angered gave the confederate reliably higher levels of punishment than did Type Bs, but there was no difference in the levels of punishment given by Type A and Type B Ss who had been angered. There was also no difference between Type A and Type B Ss in the levels of reward they gave the confederate. Results provide behavioral evidence for aggression in persons with the Type A behavior pattern. The fact that the difference in aggression was limited to nonangered Ss is interpreted in terms of differences in attributions of responsibility. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suggested ("hypnotic") visual hallucinations: Experimental and phenomenological data.

Tested 74 female student nurses' responses to a pretreatment hallucination suggestion to see an object that was not present. Each S was then exposed to either hypnotic induction procedure or task motivational instructions, and was again tested on response to an equivalent posttreatment hallucination suggestion. Next, each S was assessed on the Barber Suggestibility Scale (BSS) and on a self-rating of hypnotic depth measure. Finally, Ss were interviewed individually by a "blind" E to determine their phenomenological experiences during the posttreatment hallucination suggestion. There were significant positive correlations between scores on the posttreatment hallucination suggestion and scores on the BSS, self-ratings of hypnotic depth, and pretreatment hallucination suggestion. Similar phenomenological experiences were reported by Ss tested under the hypnotic induction and task motivational treatments, and by Ss who reported that they "saw" and those who reported that they "vividly imagined" the suggested object. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cardiovascular and testosterone responses to contested dominance in women.

Examined cardiovascular and testosterone responses of 10 dominant and 10 submissive female undergraduates to an acute stressor involving contested dominance. Ss rated their dominance to a predefined reference group, participated in a task that involved debating with a trained technician, and were continuously provided with bogus feedback throughout the task concerning biochemical substances in their blood that purportedly covaried with dominance. Dominant Ss were much more reactive to the stressor in several cardiovascular parameters than submissive Ss. Serum testosterone did not vary as a function of the experimental manipulation, and at each measurement point, dominant and submissive Ss had essentially identical serum levels of this hormone. Baseline testosterone for dominant Ss was related to changes in systolic blood pressure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral and physiological reactions to observed violence: Effects of prior exposure to aggressive stimuli.

80 male undergraduates first watched videotaped sequences that were arousing, but which contained different degrees of violence. Ss then observed either a 2nd videotape of a sequence of aggressive acts or no videotape. Ss who were shown the 2nd videotape were told that the aggressive acts they saw were either justified or not justified, or were given no information regarding justification. It was found that Ss who had first seen an arousing but less violent tape were subsequently more aggressive toward an antagonist if they had observed justified violence. Ss who had first watched the violent videotape showed no differences in aggression as a function of the justification of the 2nd set of aggressive acts. Analysis of blood pressure data showed that prior exposure to violence attenuated arousal in response to subsequently observed aggression. The results are discussed in terms of differential sensitivity to cues that inhibit or disinhibit aggression. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of cardiovascular responses to stress as a function of race and parental hypertension in men.

Investigated cardiovascular responses to 12 stressors known to elicit either beta-adrenergic (mental arithmetic) or alpha-adrenergic (forehead cold pressor) reactivity in 27 Black and 29 White normotensive male college undergraduates. Ss in each group were selected for presence or absence of parental hypertension. Based on previous research (e.g., F. M. Abboud and J. W. Eckstein [1966], H. Barcroft et al [1960]) Blacks were expected to show smaller cardiovascular responses to the beta-adrenergic mental arithmetic task and greater responses to the alpha-adrenergic cold pressor relative to the Whites. Unlike previous findings, no significant racial differences in cardiovascular responses were found during either task. However, Black participants had significantly higher systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure levels throughout the cold pressor periods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paternal stimulation during infancy: Effects upon aggression and open-field performance of mice.

Studied aggression in random-bred albino Tuck TT strain male mice from 1st matings, reared by both parents (n = 13) and from 2nd matings, reared only by the mother (n = 15). Prolonged isolation from weaning induced more aggression in Ss from 1st matings than in Ss from a 2nd mating. In a 2nd experiment, fathers of 40 Ss were removed (a) shortly after mating, (b) at the litters' birth, or (c) at weaning. In offspring isolated from weaning, Ss in condition c were significantly more aggressive than those in a, while those in b showed an intermediate response. These differences did not occur when the period of isolation was broken by 50 days of communal housing before aggression testing, although Ss in c defecated more in the open field. It is suggested that young mice "imprint" toward the same odors of adult males which in later life elicit intermale aggression. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Displaced aggression and its modification through exposure to antiaggressive communications.

This study explores the conditions under which displacement of aggression to delinquents takes place and the effect of exposure to group norms emphasizing nonaggresive responses to provocation. 55 college Ss were assembled in groups of 3 to discuss by notes the fictitious case of a juvenile delinquent. ? of these Ss received noncommittal, neutral communications, while ? received notes which stressed rational, constructive approaches to instigatory situations. ? of each group was subsequently insulted by the E. Ss exposed to neutral communications were significantly more punitive toward the delinquent following insult while those receiving the nonaggressive communications did not show this displacement effect and were also less negative toward the E than the neutral Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance impairment as a function of nitrogen narcosis.

The effects of nitrogen narcosis on the performance of several tasks was studied. 10 Ss were trained to a constant level of performance in a choice reaction time test, a motor coordination test, and a reasoning test. The amount of impairment was determined as a function of increased partial pressure of nitrogen, equivalent to 100 feet of sea water. The results indicated (a) significant decrease in performance for all Ss on all tests when compared with their individual sea level efficiencies, (b) a position relationship between degree of impairment and the complexity of the task; and (c) an initial loss in efficiency as pressure increased, with this level of impairment remaining relatively constant with increased duration of exposure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic functioning in process and reactive schizophrenia.

Compared the autonomic functioning of male process schizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, and normal ss (n = 30) under rest and arousal conditions. Ss were exposed to 6 arousal conditions: (a) white noise, (b) electric shock, (c) paired associate learning, (d) word activity test, (e) finger dexterity task, and (f) pursuit rotor task. Rest periods preceded each arousal condition. Heart rate, skin resistance, respiration rate, diastolic and systolic blood pressures were recorded under all 6 conditions. Results show that under stress the levels of physiological functioning for normal ss and reactive schizophrenics were similar on skin resistance and blood pressure, with process schizophrenics showing a higher level of arousal on skin resistance and a lower level on blood pressure. Reactive schizophrenics had the fastest heart rate, with process schizophrenics next, and normals the lowest. Respiration did not reliably differentiate among the groups. Reactive schizophrenics and normals generally showed greater increments to the arousal conditions (compared with prestress base lines) than the process schizophrenics in all measures except heart rate and skin resistance. In those 2 measures, reactive and process schizophrenics were similar in their reactions to the stress conditons, and both groups showed less reactivity in general than normals. (french summary) (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)