Displaced aggression in young children.

Young children played a card game in which some Ss associated losses with a child-figure card and winnings with a plain card, while others associated losses with a plain card and winnings with the child-figure card. Following the card game, Ss played a shooting game in which they selected targets from among pairs of figures that varied from the card game figure on a dimension of physical similarity. Both sexes showed a significant tendency to select, as targets, either figures more like or figures less like the card game figure. There were no differences in target choices as a function of conditions. Among Ss who lost to the card game figure, boys and girls differed, boys favoring more like figures and girls favoring less like figures. The Ss also shot the card game figure itself. Boys who lost the most to that figure shot the greatest number of times; those who lost less, the fewest numbers of times; and boys who won from the figure were in between. No differences were found for girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol's Effect on Triggered Displaced Aggression.

The authors examined alcohol's effect on triggered displaced aggression, the hostile reaction to a second provoking person after provocation from a first. Participants consumed an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage. Subsequently, one individual provoked all of them with moderate intensity. Then, 2 groups were studied: those who received or who failed to receive a second provocation of minimal intensity. Consistent with prior research, participants who received a second, minimal provocation displayed more aggression than those who did not. After participants drank alcohol, the magnitude of this difference was significantly greater, indicating that alcohol increases triggered displaced aggression. (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)     

Chewing on It Can Chew You Up: Effects of Rumination on Triggered Displaced Aggression.

Ruminating about a provocation increases the likelihood of displaced aggression following a minor annoyance (trigger). In Study 1, provoked participants who ruminated for 25 min were more aggressive toward a fumbling confederate than were distracted participants. Provocation-induced negative affect was positively related to aggression but only among those who ruminated. Study 2 conceptually replicated Study 1 and also found that the more negatively people reacted to the trigger, the more likely the trigger was to increase displaced aggression. Study 3 replicated the findings of Studies 1 and 2 by using an 8-hr rumination period. All 3 studies suggest that ruminating about a provocation increases the likelihood that a minor triggering annoyance will increase displaced aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression.

This study focuses on factors that contribute to abusive supervision, one form of nonphysical aggression, and the results of such abuse on subordinates and their family members. Using a "kick the dog" metaphor (As Marcus-Newhall, Pedersen, Carlson, and Miller (2000) state, this is a "commonly used anecdote to illustrate displaced aggression. . .a man is berated by his boss but does not retaliate because he fears losing his job. Hours later, when he arrives home to the greeting barks of his dog he responds by kicking it," p. 670), the authors investigated whether abusive supervision may be the result of a supervisor's displeasure with his or her organization. Using a sample of 210 supervisors, their subordinates, and the subordinates' family members or partners, the authors hypothesized that supervisors' reports of psychological contract violations, moderated by hostile attribution bias, would be associated with subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. In turn, the authors hypothesized that abused subordinates' family members would report sustained negative affect and negative evaluations directed toward them in the home. The hypotheses were supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models.

In a previous study (see 37: 856) children imitated the behavior of a model in the presence of the model. The present study investigated the degree of imitation when the model was not present. Degree to which like-sexed model behavior would be followed was also studied. Nursery school children exposed to aggressively behaving models tended to imitate not only their aggressiveness but other behavior as well. There was some confirmation of like-sex imitation. The results were related to the psychoanalytic theory of identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pathways from proactive and reactive aggression to substance use.

Childhood aggression is a known risk factor for adolescent substance use; however, aggression is a complex construct, and developmental researchers have identified a variety of subdimensions that may be germane to substance use. Very little research has examined risk pathways from subdimensions of aggression. The current study examined a developmental model and tested whether childhood proactive aggression, reactive aggression, or both were related to the development of substance use in adolescence in a sample of 126 children (mean age at initial assessment = 10.4 years, SD = 0.51). Peer rejection and peer delinquency were examined as potential mediators of these relations. The findings suggest that proactive aggression was indirectly associated with substance use through peer delinquency. Reactive aggression was also indirectly associated with substance use through a complex mediational chain, such that high levels of reactive aggression were associated with high levels of peer rejection, which in turn were associated with peer delinquency (p = .06), which subsequently predicted substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anality, aggression, and acquiescence.

Results of this experiment "clearly suggest that a response set to acquiesce, not the reported anality-aggression relationship, adequately accounts for Farber's findings." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frustration, aggression, and murder.

"… 51 male murderers and their 51 nearest-age brothers were investigated with respect to frustration in infancy, childhood, and adolescence… . The central hypothesis was: There is a significant positive relationship between the amount of frustration experienced by persons in infancy, childhood, and adolescence… and whether or not they later commit murder… . [The results showed that] significantly more murderers than control brothers scored high on the Indices of Physical, Psychological, and General Frustration." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repression and guilt in relation to aggression.

College men and women who were opposed to electric shock in research were instructed to deliver intense shock to others (victims). Before administering shock ? the Ss read a positive communication (shock is beneficial) and the other ?, a negative communication (shock is harmful). There was significantly less recall of the negative communication. For the same-sex pairs (male S-male victim and female S-female victim) the positive communication elicited significantly more guilt and opposition to shock than did the negative communication; for opposite-sex pairs the results were reversed. These findings could be explained by cognitive dissonance theory or by an identification hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitation of intermale aggression in mice through exposure to receptive females.

Examined intermale aggression after different exposures to receptive females. In Exp I, socially isolated or grouped CD-1 and Swiss-Webster mice each confronted a target male after either no exposure to or 3 intromissions with an estrous female. High levels of aggression were observed in isolated males after exposure to a female, provided the female was removed when the target male was introduced. In Exp II, variation of duration and quality of exposure to females indicated that aggression increased with more advanced prior sexual activity. In Exp III, sexual activity was not greatly influenced by prior aggressive activity. These data suggest a preparedness to fight following sexual activity, but a prepotence of sexual activity over aggression. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal relations between marital aggression and alcohol problems.

Relations between couples' (N = 158) marital aggression and alcohol problems were examined across a two-year period. Alcohol problems and aggression were assessed via self-report and partner-reports. Results support bidirectional relations between marital aggression and problem drinking. T1 wife problem drinking was associated with decreased T2 verbal aggression; T1 husband problem drinking was associated with increased T2 physical aggression. T1 physical aggression predicted increased T2 wife problem drinking; it predicted increased T2 husband problem drinking only when wife problem drinking was low. T1 verbal marital aggression predicted increased T2 husband problem drinking only when husbands engaged in greater problem drinking at T1. Results suggest that problem drinking may prevent couples from adequately handling marital disagreements, and that marital problems may lead to drinking as a form of coping with stress; couples in which the husband engages in greater problem drinking than the wife may be at increased risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical aggression in relation to different frustrations.

This study investigated the effect of 3 kinds of frustration on college students' aggression: task failure, interference with winning money, and interference with attaining a better course grade. The different frustrations did not generally lead to different intensities of aggresion, but all 3 led to more aggression than a control. Although frustration did elicit aggression, the effect was slight. This was explained by the mode of aggression (physical) and the fact that it had no instrumental value in overcoming frustration. It was suggested that instrumental value of aggression is a major determiner of the frustration-aggression relationship. Men were found to be more aggressive than women. Men aggressed more against men than against women, but the sex of the victum was unimportant for the female aggressors. Thus sex differences in aggression occur not only in the aggressor but also in the victum. (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)     

Psychosocial predictors of supervisor-, peer-, subordinate-, and service-provider-targeted aggression.

The authors investigate whether known person predictors (trait anger, trait aggression) and situational predictors (perceived interpersonal mistreatment, perceived organizational sanctions against aggression) of supervisor-targeted aggression also predict employee's aggression toward other workplace targets, namely peers, subordinates, and customers' aggression toward service providers. The authors also investigate the moderating impact of situational factors on the relationship between person factors and aggression. Participants (N = 308) were asked whether they had a conflict with their supervisor, a subordinate, a work peer, and/or a service provider in the past 6 months. Different patterns of main and interaction effects emerged across the 4 targets, suggesting the importance of accounting for the target of aggression in workplace aggression research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Definitions and methodology in the study of aggression.

Literature on aggression and hostility is viewed in the light of 2 major criticisms: (1) Definitions of terms with obvious denotations of hypothetical constructions are attempted in purely operational terms, (2) The phenotype of aggression has impaired a sound investigation of the many genotypic determinants of aggressive behavior. Present trends of studying aggression as an end result of a variety of stimulus, dispositional, and reward variables are considered, and some amplifications are suggested. (2 p. ref.) (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)     

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)     

Anti-semitism and the displacement of aggression.

"… an object's likelihood of receiving displaced aggression varies not only with the objective stimulus factors… but also with the personality characteristics of the angered person… . it was hypothesized… that highly anti-Semitic Ss would be more likely to displace aggression when angered than less anti-Semitic Ss. The results support the hypothesis. Several factors possibly accounting for this displacement are discussed." 17 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group approaches to reducing aggression and bullying in school.

This article provides a definition of and introduction to aggression and bullying as it occurs in the school environment. Following an analysis of the extent of the bullying problem in contemporary school systems, the authors present a series of interventions developed to reduce the incidence of aggression and bullying in schools. All of the programs presented have in common the utilization of a group approach, and vary in their orientation from being psychoeducationally based to having a counseling emphasis. Finally, the overall effectiveness of group work for reducing aggression in schools is examined, and based on the findings the authors provide several recommendations for school administrators, counselors, and other mental health professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)