Social cognition and adjustment in children at risk for psychopathology.

This study tested two models of how social cognition affects the link between child adjustment and two family risk factors, maltreatment and parental psychopathology. The mediation model proposed that social cognition mediates the link between the risk factors and maladjustment. The compensation model proposed that social cognition compensates for the risk factors. Social cognitive measures were social problem-solving competency and hostile attributional and response biases. In 83 Ss (7 to 14 years of age), maltreatment, but not parental psychopathology, predicted aggression and peer rejection. The adjustment of Ss with a disturbed parent depended on maltreatment status. Risk status did not predict social cognition, so the mediation model was not supported. Consistent with the compensation model, Ss with high social cognitive skills were better adjusted regardless of risk status. Implications for high-risk research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Boys with peer adjustment problems: Social cognitive processes.

30 4th-grade and 30 6th-grade males with positive (P) or negative (N) peer status were asked to generate alternative solutions to hypothetical problems, evaluate possible solutions, describe self-statements, and rate the likelihood of possible self-statements to investigate the hypothesis that maladjusted Ss (N peer status) would lack specific social cognitive skills. Hypothetical problems were presented in interviews that emphasized situations involving acts of aggression. Interviews were conducted in 2 parts, involving knowledge of interpersonal problem-solving strategies and attributional style assessment. Results indicate that N Ss generated fewer alternative solutions, proposed fewer assertive and mature solutions, generated more intense aggressive solutions, showed less adaptive planning, and evaluated physically aggressive responses more positively and positive responses more negatively than did P Ss. Data support the notion that boys with social adjustment problems are deficient in the cognitive problem-solving skill of generating multiple alternative solutions. Findings suggest that differences in knowledge and/or attitudes concerning normative social behavior may contribute to the more negative behavior patterns observed in socially maladjusted boys. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggression, need for social approval, and humor preferences.

This study investigated the humor preferences of Ss with extreme scores on need aggression and need for social approval under alcohol and nonalcohol conditions. Since aggression is disapproved by the middle class, conflict in the S was inferred by the relationships between these 2 scores. High-aggression Ss rated aggressive cartoons as funnier than did low-aggression Ss. Nonsense cartoons were rated higher by high need for social approval Ss than by low need for social approval Ss. Alcohol seemed to facilitate the expression of repressed aggressive needs in humor since the ratings of aggressive cartoons by high aggression-high need for social approval Ss were greater under alcohol than nonalcohol conditions. This difference was not found for high aggression-low need for social approval Ss, nor for the Ss with low need aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and personality factors in suicidal behavior.

Studied the role of aggression in suicidal behavior. The personality functioning of 20 suicide attempters, 20 nonsuicidal psychiatric controls, and 20 suicide completers was assessed using the Rorschach. There were 11 female and 9 male 21–63 yr old Ss in each group. M. Feffer's role-taking task (see record 1960-04380-001) provided a test of the cognitive functioning of the 1st 2 groups. All 3 groups experienced the breakthrough of more aggressive than libidinal drive derivatives, but no significant differences between the groups were found. Only the suicide attempters' aggressive responses were more primitive than their libidinal responses. On the role-taking task, the suicidal group's cognitive functioning in the neutral situation was superior to their functioning in the aggressive one. The control group yielded no such difference. The suicidal group's performance in the aggressive situation was also significantly inferior to the control group. Results are interpreted as underscoring the role of cognition in symptom choice. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive mediators of aggression in adolescent offenders: I. Assessment.

The role of cognitive mediators in identifying differences in aggression was examined. Male and female adolescents incarcerated for antisocial aggression offenses and high-school students rated as either high or low in aggression were compared in terms of two sets of cognitive mediators: skills in solving social problems and beliefs supporting aggression. Antisocial-aggressive individuals were most likely (and low-aggressive individuals were least likely) to solve social problems by: defining problems in hostile ways; adopting hostile goals; seeking few additional facts; generating few alternative solutions; anticipating few consequences for aggression; and choosing few "best" and "second best" solutions that were rated as "effective." Antisocial-aggressive individuals were also most likely to hold a set of beliefs supporting the use of aggression, including beliefs that aggression: is a legitimate response; increases self-esteem; helps avoid a negative image; and does not lead to suffering by the victim. The ways in which these findings further elaborate a model of social-cognitive development and extend it to antisocial-aggressive adolescents are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Information-Processing Skills Training to Promote Social Competence and Prevent Aggressive Behavior in the Third Grades.

This article describes a school-based study designed to promote social competence and reduce aggressive behavior by strengthening children's skills in processing social information and regulating emotions. Three successive cohorts of 3rd graders (N = 548) from 2 schools participated. In 2000-2001, children received a routine health curriculum; in 2001-2002, students received the Making Choices: Social Problem Solving Skills for Children (MC) program; and in 2002-2003, children received MC supplemented with teacher and parent activities. Compared with children in the routine condition, children in both MC conditions were rated lower on posttest social and overt aggression and higher on social competence. Moreover, they scored significantly higher on an information-processing skills posttest. The findings suggest that prevention programs can strengthen social- emotional skills and produce changes in aggressive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of counselor and peer-led group assertive training on Black adolescent aggression.

48 8th–9th grade Black males, selected for their aggressive classroom behavior, were randomly assigned to professional or peer counselor assertive training groups, professional or peer counselor discussion groups, and a no-treatment control group. All Ss were administered a pretest and posttest battery measuring assertive skill level, anger level, a projective assessment of aggression, and classroom aggressive behavior. Results suggest that professional counselors and peer counselors are equally effective in teaching assertive skills and that Ss who learn assertive responses will exhibit significantly less aggressive behavior. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social behavior of rats with chronic prefrontal lesions.

Studied the social behavior of adult male Wistar albino rats in 6 experiments following medial frontal (n = 20) or orbital frontal (n = 14) lesions. 34 Ss served as controls. While both lesion groups showed transient increases in emotionality, only the Ss with orbital frontal lesions showed changes in social behavior. They were more aggressive in male-male aggression and shock-induced aggression but failed to differ from controls on tests of gregariousness, territorial aggression, and predatory aggression. Data may provide support for C. M. Leonard's (1969) suggestion that the orbital frontal cortex of rats and monkeys is homologous. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-aggression and social aggression in laboratory-reared macaques.

Early rearing conditions had little differential effect on self-aggression (SA) during 6 tests carried out on 166 stumptailed macaques (Macaca arctoides) at 1.8 yrs of age. After over 2 yrs in a stable group, experimentally reared (ER) Ss changed from being primarily socially aggressive to being 4 times more self-aggressive. In contrast, feral- and group-reared Ss showed no SA, were more socially aggressive than the ER group, and participated in more instances of contagious social aggression. SA did not cause wounds, indicating that it should not be uncritically equated with self-injurious behavior (SIB) in humans. The relationship between monkey SA and human SIB is discussed. SA may be so frequent in adult ER animals because the absence of a retaliating or escaping victim allows more control over the expression of aggression. The self as an object of affiliative and aggressive behavior is probably learned during isolation in the 1st 3 mo of life and during social restriction throughout the 1st yr. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Demand characteristics and inferential processes in psychotherapeutic change.

Assigned 87 19–54 yr old unassertive Ss to 4 types of imaginary role playing: (a) roles based on personality attributes presenting demand characteristics for changing self-concepts, (b) social skills training, (c) exposure to stressful social situations, and (d) a neutral social situation control group. Pre- and post-role-playing scores on a self-concept instrument were determined. ANOVAs showed that Ss who participated in condition (a) increased significantly in assertiveness and self-esteem and decreased significantly in social discomfort compared to the control Ss. It is suggested that general therapeutic factors involve demand variables that cue Ss to alter their self-concepts. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social skills and cognitive-relaxation approaches to general anger reduction.

Inductive social skills training (ISST), skill assembly social skills training (SASST), and cognitive relaxation coping skills (CRCS) training were compared with a no-treatment control condition for general anger reduction. At 4-wk follow-up, compared with the control group, all treatment groups showed equivalent reductions of the amount of anger experienced in a wide range of situations. ISST and CRCS Ss reported less anger in their worst ongoing provocation than did control Ss, whereas SASST Ss did not differ from Ss of other groups. Treatment groups enhanced anger control equally relative to the control group, but only the CRCS group significantly lowered outward, negative expression of anger, and only the ISST group reduced anger suppression, although active treatment groups did not differ from one another on these measures. The ISST group lowered day-to-day anger more than other groups. No treatment effects were found for nontargeted trait anxiety and assertiveness. Results are discussed in terms of prior findings and the efficacy and flexibility of ISST. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It takes two to fight: A test of relational factors and a method for assessing aggressive dyads.

Observations of aggressive interactions in boys' laboratory play groups were used to evaluate the relative importance of relational and individual factors in accounting for aggressive acts. A classroom peer-rating method for identifying mutually aggressive dyads was validated in 11 5-session play groups, composed of 2 mutually aggressive boys and 4 randomly selected male classmates from 11 predominately African American 3rd-grade classrooms. When the social relations model was used, relationship effects accounted for equally as much of the variance in total aggression and proactive aggression as either actor or target effects. Mutually aggressive dyads displayed twice as much total aggression as randomly selected dyads. Members of mutually aggressive dyads attributed greater hostile intentions toward each other than did randomly selected dyads, which may serve to explain their greater aggression toward each other. The importance of studying relational factors, including social histories and social–cognitive processes, is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It's the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion.

Prior research has confirmed a casual path between social rejection and aggression, but there has been no clear explanation of why social rejection causes aggression. A series of experiments tested the hypothesis that social exclusion increases the inclination to perceive neutral information as hostile, which has implications for aggression. Compared to accepted and control participants, socially excluded participants were more likely to rate aggressive and ambiguous words as similar (Experiment 1a), to complete word fragments with aggressive words (Experiment 1b), and to rate the ambiguous actions of another person as hostile (Experiments 2-4). This hostile cognitive bias among excluded people was related to their aggressive treatment of others who were not involved in the exclusion experience (Experiments 2 and 3) and others with whom participants had no previous contact (Experiment 4). These findings provide a first step in resolving the mystery of why social exclusion produces aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social maladjustment and problem solving in school-aged children.

Examined the relationship between social adjustment and the cognitive skills of solving interpersonal problems. 68 popular, aggressive, or isolated boys at 2 grade levels (2nd–3rd and 4th–5th) were presented with 6 hypothetical problem situations and asked to generate alternative solutions to the problems. Ss were subsequently asked to evaluate the effectiveness of solutions presented to them by the experimenter. It was found that the popular Ss generated more solutions than either the aggressive or isolated groups, which did not differ. The initial solutions of all groups were rated as "effective," in most cases, by independent coders. Subsequent solutions, however, varied as a function of S status. Popular Ss continued to generate effective solutions, whereas deviant Ss generated aggressive and ineffective solutions. No differences among S groups were found in the evaluations of the effectiveness of given solutions. Data support the notion that deviant boys are deficient in the cognitive problem-solving skills of generating alternative solutions but are not deficient in the evaluation of presented solutions. (22 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)     

Children's normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior.

Normative beliefs have been defined as self-regulating beliefs about the appropriateness of social behaviors. In 2 studies the authors revised their scale for assessing normative beliefs about aggression, found that it is reliable and valid for use with elementary school children, and investigated the longitudinal relation between normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior in a large sample of elementary school children living in poor urban neighborhoods. Using data obtained in 2 waves of observations 1 year apart, the authors found that children tended to approve more of aggression as they grew older and that this increase appeared to be correlated with increases in aggressive behavior. More important, although individual differences in aggressive behavior predicted subsequent differences in normative beliefs in younger children, individual differences in aggressive behavior were predicted by preceding differences in normative beliefs in older children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social and developmental experience and interspecific aggression in rats.

Measured the aggressive behavior of a total of 176 male Long-Evans rats in 3 experiments. Ss raised in social isolation from weaning showed significantly more interspecific aggressive behavior than littermates raised with peers, as measured by the proportion initiating a killing attack against frogs in a 20-min arena test. Ss in 6 cross-species rearing conditions with frogs and cockroaches failed to form social attachments. When tested individually, these Ss killed the alien species as often as or more often than did controls. A significant number of adult Ss selected for nonagressive responses became killers after witnessing aggression in other Ss. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relocation of institutionalized elderly.

20 low- and 20 high-functioning nursing home residents (aged 37–88 yrs) were assessed prior to, immediately after, and 3 mo following relocation. Measures included the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire, Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale, and Face Hand Test. Half of the low-functioning Ss participated in a behavioral skills program, which consisted of graduated exposure to postmove stimuli and behavioral response training. Half of the high-functioning Ss participated in a cognitive skills program, which consisted of coping skills and problem-solving skills training. The influence of relocation proved to be less dramatic than indicated by several earlier investigations. As hypothesized, low-functioning Ss exhibited an increase in passive-withdrawn behaviors following relocation. High-functioning Ss, however, unexpectedly tended to exhibit an increase in active-outgoing behavior following relocation. Although the behavioral skills program overall led to favorable postrelocation changes, the cognitive skills program did not. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive models of criminal violence based upon intelligence and psychopathy levels.

Examined specific models of violence relating to psychopathic status by considering additional cognitive factors that might relate to intelligence and to the expression of physical aggression. 168 male prisoners (mean age 32.96 yrs) served as Ss. Three cognitive psychopathic models were suggested by the data: (1) An impaired-processing psychopathic model of violent crime, involving low-IQ psychopaths, would explain the highest risk factor for violence by a combination of poor impulse control and low empathy and the lack of inhibitions against physical aggression associated with poor socialization. (2) A sadistic, effective-processing psychopathic model of violence was suggested by the higher empathy and better impulse control of the high-IQ psychopath. It was proposed that empathy promoted sadistic reinforcement by enhancing the psychopath's awareness of the victim's pain and distress. (3) A defensive, impaired-processing, nonpsychopathic model of violence was proposed for the low-IQ nonpsychopaths: Effective self-reinforcement coupled with poor impulse control and low empathy placed them in hazardous situations that exceeded their cognitive skills. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggression and psychopathology in childhood firesetters: Parent and child reports.

Compared hospitalized disturbed children between 5 and 13 yrs of age identified as firesetters (n?=?31) and nonfiresetters (n?=?32) on several dimensions of aggressiveness and psychopathology. The Ss and a parent (mother or female guardian) were interviewed separately. The parent completed the Child Behavior Checklist, the Hostility-Guilt Inventory derived from the Buss-Durkee Hostility-Guilt Inventory, and an interview for aggression. The 2 aggression measures were also administered to the Ss. The study permitted separation of the influence of firesetting from a diagnosis of conduct disorder in contributing to the symptoms evinced by the Ss. Results indicate that firesetters engaged in more delinquent and antisocial behaviors than nonfiresetters. Firesetters also evinced social skills deficits and a broad range of aggressive behaviors beyond their primary symptom. These results were obtained even when analyses were restricted to Ss who were diagnosed as conduct disordered. The findings elaborate on the clinical picture of firesetting children and suggest that firesetting may emerge late in a sequence of antisocial symptoms involving more extreme overt and covert acts. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)