Effects of alcohol on aggression in male social drinkers.

Assigned 96 male undergraduates to 1 of 8 groups in a 2 * 2 * 2 factorial design. To control fully for expectation effects, 48 Ss were led to believe that they would be drinking alcohol (vodka and tonic), and 48 believed they would be drinking only tonic water. Within each of these 2 groups, 24 Ss actually received alcohol, but 24 were given only tonic. Following the beverage administration, 48 Ss were provoked to aggress by exposing them to an insulting confederate, whereas control Ss experienced a neutral interaction. Aggression was assessed by the intensity and duration of shocks administered to the confederate on a modified version of A. H. Buss's aggression apparatus. The only significant determinant of aggression was the expectation factor: Ss who believed they had consumed alcohol were more aggressive than Ss who believed they had consumed a nonalcoholic beverage, regardless of the actual alcohol content of the drinks. Ss receiving alcohol, however, showed a significant increase in a reaction time measure, regardless of the expectation condition. Provocation to aggress was also a significant determinant of aggression, but it did not interact with the beverage conditions. (31 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)     

Effects of nicotine deprivation and irritability on physical aggression in male smokers.

Thirty-five continuing male smokers were randomly assigned to either a deprived or a nondeprived condition. On the basis of self-reported irritability, participants were then assigned to 1 of 4 groups: deprived–high irritable, deprived–low irritable, nondeprived–high irritable, and nondeprived–low irritable. Aggression was measured with a modified version of the Taylor aggression paradigm. Self-reported smoking urge was assessed throughout the reaction time competition. Results indicated that the deprived—high irritable group displayed the highest levels of aggressive behavior. Positive associations between urge ratings and aggression indexes were detected only in the deprived—high irritable group. Results support the existence of an interactive effect of nicotine deprivation and trait irritability on physical aggression and highlight the role of smoking urge as an important factor in the deprivation-aggression link. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of physiological measurement and presence of others on ratings of erotic stimuli.

Conducted a study with 60 male undergraduates to establish the pornographic values of a set of erotic stimuli under several conditions. Ss participated individually and in groups, rating 27 sexual slides on 3 dimensions: pornographic-nonpornographic, stimulating-unstimulating, and pleasant-unpleasant. Results indicate that Ss were able to order the stimuli along these dimensions with very high reliability. No differences were found between the group and individual rating conditions. Ss who were attached to physiological recording devices saw the slides as more pornographic than Ss who were not although the ordering of the slides was the same in both conditions. Pornography ratings were also highly positively correlated with sexually stimulating ratings and negatively related to rated pleasantness, suggesting a tentative "meaning" of pornography, i.e., that a sexual stimulus is likely to be labeled "pornographic" to the extent that it is seen as highly sexually stimulating and relatively unpleasant. (French summary) (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biographical and self-report correlates of female guilt responses to visual erotic stimuli.

Divided 60 female undergraduates into high- and low-sex guilt groups on the basis of their responses to D. L. Mosher's True-False Guilt Inventory. All Ss reported an increase in state of sexual arousal after viewing erotic stimuli. None of the Ss reported any significant difference in state of guilt after viewing the stimuli. Low-sex guilt Ss rated the masturbation, coitus, and petting stimuli as more sexually arousing, better, more pleasant, safer, and more appealing than did high-sex-guilt Ss. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual arousal to erotic and aggressive stimuli in sexually coercive and noncoercive men.

Sexual arousal to erotic stimuli depicting various levels of force were examined among college men. Study 1 used phallometric indices to measure penile circumferential change during combined audiotape and slide presentations varying in degree of force. The results indicated that the sexually coercive group exhibited more penile tumescence than controls to scenes involving verbal pressure and verbal threats. Analyses across time blocks suggested that control participants inhibited sexual arousal with the introduction of force cues but that the sexually coercive group did not. Study 2 was a replication of Study 1 without slides. Both groups showed increases in penile tumescence in response to the consent scenario. Only the sexually coercive men demonstrated significant tumescence in response to force scenarios. The results indicated that the sexually coercive males had a lower threshold for arousal to sexual cues and did not inhibit sexual arousal when force cues were introduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The functions of aggression by male teenagers.

A selectionist theory states that violence by males toward male peers originally served specific functions and violence to female peers served others. Differences in self-reported victimization and perpetration in studies of 1,452 high school students were hypothesized. In Study 1, male-to-male aggression was reported to be more prevalent than male-to-female aggression. For male-to-male aggression, perpetrator reports agreed with or exceeded victim reports, and victims were more often strangers than close friends. In contrast, for male-to-female aggression, there were consistently fewer reports from perpetrators than from victims, and victims were less often strangers than girlfriends. Study 2 obtained similar findings for reported frequency, number of victims and perpetrators, and sexual aggression. Study 3 showed that girls' aggression contrasted with that by boys with respect to intra- versus intersex aggression and perpetrator–victim agreement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect, sex guilt, gender, and the rewarding-punishing effects of erotic stimuli.

40 male and 40 female college students were classified as high or low in sex guilt (HSG and LSG, respectively) using the Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory. Experimental Ss were shown erotic slides following each "correct" choice in a discrimination task and nonerotic slides following each "incorrect" choice. Controls were shown nonerotic slides following all choices. HSG Ss made fewer choice responses leading to erotica than did LSG Ss, and females made fewer erotica-producing choices than did males. HSG and female Ss were less positive in their affective reactions to the erotica than were LSG and male Ss. Correlational and regression analyses revealed that sex guilt and gender differences in choice behaviors leading to erotica were predicted solely on individual differences in intensity of positive affective responses. Regardless of sex guilt and gender, for those high in positive affect, the erotic stimuli functioned as rewards, but for those low in positive affect, the stimuli functioned as punishers. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coexpression of sexual behavior and maternal aggression: The ambivalence of sexually active mother rats toward male intruders.

The sexually active female rat solicits the male to approach for copulation, while the maternal dam displays aggression to expel him from the nest, suggesting that both behaviors are mutually exclusive. However, the rat has a postpartum estrus during which she is sexual and maternally motivated. Can she perceive the male as attractive and aversive, soliciting and attacking him at the same time? This study shows that postpartum estrous females exhibit a merge of sexual and maternal aggressive responses toward male intruders in the home cage. The concurrent expression of these behaviors did not affect their intensities, although the stimulation of maternal behavior increased maternal aggression without modifying sexual solicitation. These results indicate that the postpartum estrous rat can optimally express two opposite and independently regulated motivations, and that the male can be perceived as an ambivalent stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional selection is biased toward mood-congruent stimuli.

One can exert significant volitional control over the attentional filter so that stimuli that are consistent with one's explicit goals are more likely to receive attention and become part of one's conscious experience. Here we pair a mood induction procedure with an inattentional blindness task to show that one's current mood has a similar influence on attention. A positive, negative, or neutral mood manipulation was followed by an attentionally demanding multiple-object tracking task. During the tracking task, participants were more likely to notice an unexpected face when its emotional expression was congruent with participants' mood. This was particularly true for the frowning face, which was detected almost exclusively by participants in the sad mood induction condition. This attentional bias toward mood-congruent stimuli provides evidence that one's temporary mood can influence the attentional filter, thereby affecting the information that one extracts from, and how one experiences the world. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shock-elicited copulation and aggression in male rats.

Assigned 112 male Sherman naive albino rats to 12 experimental and 2 no-shock groups. Ss were presented with a receptive female, a nonreceptive female, or a male rat in a whole or 1/2 of a circular chamber. Copulatory and aggressive responses (fighting and attack) were elicited by electric shock applied to the tail. The probability of obtaining either response could be experimentally shifted by manipulating cage size, shock frequency, and sex of the stimulus animal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familial correlates of aggression in nondelinquent male children.

An extension of the Sears' studies of lower class families based on a 5-year period of direct home observation of the family group. The aggressive children were more closely supervised by parents, had dominant mothers, were exposed to inconsistent methods of discipline, and had parents who were punitive but placed low demands on the children. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3FG79M. (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)     

Homophobia and physical aggression toward homosexual and heterosexual individuals.

This study examined the relationship between homophobia (defined as self-reported negative affect, avoidance, and aggression toward homosexuals) and homosexual aggression. Self-identified heterosexual college men were assigned to homophobic (n?=?26) and nonhomophobic (n?=?26) groups on the basis of their scores on the Homophobia Scale (HS; L. W. Wright, H. E. Adams, & J. A. Bernat, 1999). Physical aggression was examined by having participants administer shocks to a fictitious opponent during a competitive reaction time (RT) task under the impression that the study was examining the relationship between sexually explicit material and RT. Participants were exposed to a male homosexual erotic videotape, their affective reactions were assessed, and they then competed in the RT task against either a heterosexual or a homosexual opponent. The homophobic group reported significantly more negative affect, anxiety, and anger-hostility after watching the homosexual erotic videotape than did the nonhomophobic group. Additionally, the homophobic group was significantly more aggressive toward the homosexual opponent, but the groups did not differ in aggression toward the heterosexual opponent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of aggression toward sexual minorities in a community sample.

Objective: Sexual prejudice and masculine gender role stress were examined as mediators of the associations between adherence to different male gender norms and aggression toward sexual minorities. This study also sought to extend past research to a community sample and use multiple methods to assess aggression. Method: Participants were 199 heterosexual men between the ages of 18 and 30 who were recruited from a large southeastern U.S. city. Participants completed measures of adherence to male gender role norms, sexual prejudice, masculine gender role stress, and aggression toward sexual minorities. Results: Associations between adherence to the status and antifemininity norms and aggression toward sexual minorities were mediated by sexual prejudice but not masculine gender role stress. The portion of unique association between adherence to the antifemininity norm and aggression toward sexual minorities was about three times larger than the portion mediated by sexual prejudice and masculine gender role stress. Conclusion: Findings provide the first multivariate evidence from a community-based sample for determinants of aggression toward sexual minorities motivated by gender role enforcement. These data support intervention programming and preventative intervention studies aimed at reducing sexual prejudice and facilitating less stereotypic attitudes about the male gender role, particularly surrounding the antifemininity norm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multivariate models of mothers' and fathers' aggression toward their children.

Multivariate, biopsychosocial, explanatory models of mothers' and fathers' psychological and physical aggression toward their 3- to 7-year-old children were fitted and cross-validated in 453 representatively sampled families. Models explaining mothers' and fathers' aggression were substantially similar. Surprisingly, many variables identified as risk factors in the parental aggression and physical child abuse literatures, such as income, unrealistic expectations, and alcohol problems, although correlated with aggression bivariately, did not contribute uniquely to the models. In contrast, a small number of variables (i.e., child responsible attributions, overreactive discipline style, anger expression, and attitudes approving of aggression) appeared to be important pathways to parent aggression, mediating the effects of more distal risk factors. Models accounted for a moderate proportion of the variance in aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors associated with marital aggression in male alcoholics.

Male alcoholics who were physically aggressive toward their wives in the year before alcoholism treatment (n?=?71) were compared with nonaggressive counterparts (n?=?36). Two key patterns were associated with marital aggression: (a) binge drinking linked with coercive marital conflicts and (b) markers of a severe early onset alcoholism syndrome. Maritally aggressive men were younger and exhibited more binge drinking, higher prevalence of arrest, more verbal aggression, greater alcohol problem severity, earlier alcohol problem onset, more alcoholism among male biological relatives, less maternal alcohol use, less confidence in their ability to manage interpersonal conflict without drinking, and stronger beliefs that alcohol causes marital problems. Marital adjustment levels were not associated with marital aggression, and very few differences were found between moderate and severe violence groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-control treatment of aggression in a 16-yr-old male.

Describes the treatment procedure for an adolescent male with an 11-yr history of severe temper outbursts. He was apparently successfully treated by a self-control treatment program. The case demonstrates that self-control training is a useful approach when environmental control is very limited, and it shows the relevance of A. Bandura's reciprocal interaction model of behavior as a rationale for the conduct of self-control training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-validation of MMPI scales of aggression on male criminal criterion groups.

Cross-validated the 13 basic MMPI scales, 21 experimental scales of hostility and control, and 4 response-bias scales on 168 male criminals assigned to 4 aggressive criterion groups (nonviolent, threat, battery, and homicide). All but 1 of the 17 hostility scales showing group differences confirmed E. I. Megargee's prediction of lower scores on hostility measures and higher on control for aggressive individuals. However, a more parsimonious interpretation in terms of a naysaying response style in the aggressive groups accounted for all group differences. Balancing of item scoring on experimental MMPI scales is suggested until such time as the issue of acquiescence response style on true/false tests is resolved. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)