Putative behavioral history effects and aggression maintained by escape from therapists

Differentially higher rates of aggression in treatment sessions occurred in the presence of two staff members who had previously worked with the participant at another facility. Adding an edible reinforcer for compliance and the absence of aggression in sessions conducted by these two staff members decreased aggression to rates similar to those obtained with less familiar therapists. Results suggest that embedding positive reinforcement within a demand context may reduce the aversiveness of therapists correlated with a history of demand situations.     

Prompting procedures as establishing operations for escape‐maintained behavior

In the current study, we report on a young man with Nager's Syndrome, mild mental retardation, and deafness who exhibited severe problem behavior during demand situations. Initial functional analysis suggested that problem behavior was maintained by gaining escape from instructional demands. However, further analysis suggested that the individual was responding to escape the prompting procedure rather than the work tasks themselves. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The evaluation and treatment of aggression maintained by attention and automatic reinforcement.

In the current investigation, we used direct and indirect methods to assess and treat several topographies of aggression that were hypothesized to have separate operant functions in a young boy with severe mental retardation and pervasive developmental disorder. First, a functional analysis of aggression, using the methods described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994), was conducted and produced inconclusive results. Next, indirect methods were used to develop a second functional analysis, which showed that chin grinding (firmly pressing and grinding his chin against the skin and bones of others) persisted independent of social contingencies and that the other topographies of aggression (e.g., hitting, kicking) were maintained by social positive reinforcement (attention). A treatment designed to decrease aggression maintained by attention—functional communication training with extinction—reduced all forms of aggression except chin grinding. This latter topography of aggression, which we hypothesized was maintained by automatic reinforcement, was reduced when the response-reinforcer relation was interrupted through response blocking and the child was provided with an alternative form of chin stimulation.     

Behavioral and self‐reported aggression as a function of domain‐specific self‐esteem

On the basis of a domain‐specific theory of self‐esteem, it was hypothesized that functionally distinct domains of self‐esteem would predict aggression differentially. Participants completed self‐report measures of self‐perceived superiority, mate value, social inclusion, and global self‐esteem, as well as of aggression. Self‐assessed mate value emerged as a reliable, positive predictor, and social inclusion as a reliable inverse predictor, of self‐reported hostility and aggression. In a subsequent laboratory experiment, in which participants had an opportunity to aggress against the source of positive or negative feedback about a personal essay that they had written, mate value again predicted increased aggression, whereas global self‐esteem predicted decreased aggression. These main effects were moderated by the feedback manipulation, such that their respective simple effects were only present among participants that received negative feedback. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–11, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Functional analysis and treatment of aggression maintained by preferred conversational topics

After an initial functional analysis of a participant's aggression showed unclear outcomes, we conducted preference and reinforcer assessments to identify preferred forms of attention that may maintain problem behavior. Next, we conducted an extended functional analysis that included a modified attention condition. Results showed that the participant's aggression was maintained by access to preferred conversational topics. A function-based intervention decreased aggression and increased an appropriate communicative response.     

The effects of negative reinforcement for irritable aggression on resident-intruder behavior

This experiment demonstrated that rats trained to display elevated levels of shock-induced aggression in a negative reinforcement paradigm displayed more boxing behavior than yoked control groups in a later test in which intruder rats were placed in the home cage of resident rats. Resident or intruder status did not affect the influence of the negative reinforcement procedure on the observed resident-intruder behavior of trained animals; however, naive intruders paired with trained residents displayed increased defensive behavior, suggesting that negative reinforcement for shock-induced aggression affected the behavior of these residents.     

Further investigation of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior without extinction for escape‐maintained destructive behavior

Previous research indicates that manipulating dimensions of reinforcement during differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) for situations in which extinction cannot be implemented is a potential approach for treating destructive behavior. Therefore, we replicated and extended previous research by determining (a) the conditions under which DRA without extinction decreased and maintained low levels of destructive behavior and (b) whether intervention effects maintained during reinforcement schedule thinning for the alternative response (i.e., compliance). Results showed that effective treatments were developed in the absence of extinction by manipulating the quality of reinforcement for compliance for 2 participants and by combining manipulations of the magnitude and quality of reinforcement for compliance for the other 2 participants. However, maintaining treatment effects during reinforcement schedule thinning required combining the magnitude and quality of reinforcement for 3 of the 4 participants. We discuss the clinical utility of this approach, review limitations of the study, and suggest directions for future research.     

Status‐based expectancies for aggression,with regard to gender differences in aggression in social psychological research

Meta‐analyses of social psychological research have identified gender differences in aggression [Bettencourt and Miller, 1996; Eagly and Steffen, 1986], which have been understood to date in terms of social role theory [Eagly, 1987]. The present studies examined the hypothesis that women's lower status relative to men can account for these observed differences. Participants in Study 1 were presented low‐ and high‐status targets, with status unconfounded with gender, and reported their perceptions of these targets' aggression. Perceptions were for features addressed in the meta‐analyses. As expected, low‐ relative to high‐status individuals were generally perceived in a manner analogous to how women relative to men are portrayed in the meta‐analyses. Participants in Study 2 reported on their perceptions of women's and men's aggression; findings also generally conformed to those of the meta‐analyses. Findings are discussed in terms of a status account of gender. Aggr. Behav. 31:000–000, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Social‐cognitive mediators of the relation of environmental and emotion regulation factors to children's aggression

Tested a theoretical model in which social cognitions about aggression partially mediated the relation of environmental and emotion regulation factors to children's aggressive behavior. An ethnically diverse sample of 778 children (57% girls) in grades 4–6 from both urban and suburban schools participated. Measures included exposure to aggression (seeing/hearing about aggression, victimization), emotion regulation (impulsivity, anger control), social cognitions about aggression (self‐evaluation, self‐efficacy, retaliation approval, aggressive fantasizing, caring about consequences), and aggressive behavior. Results supported the hypothesis that social cognitions mediate the relations of exposure to aggression and anger control to aggressive behavior. Also, social cognitions about direct and indirect aggression differentially predicted the respective behaviors with which they are associated. That is, social cognitions about direct aggression were mediators of direct aggressive behavior, whereas social cognitions about indirect aggression were mediators of indirect aggressive behavior. Finally, gender moderated the relations among the variables such that for girls, retaliation approval beliefs were a strong mediator, whereas for boys, self‐evaluation was more important. Aggr. Behav. 30:389–408, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Sexual‐perception processes in acquaintance‐targeted sexual aggression

This study analyzes data from seven published studies to examine whether three performance‐based indices of men's misperception of women's sexual interest (MSI), derived from a self‐report questionnaire, are associated with sexual‐aggression history, rape‐supportive attitudes, sociosexuality, problem drinking, and self‐reported MSI. Almost 2000 undergraduate men judged the justifiability of a man's increasingly unwanted advances toward a woman on the Heterosocial Perception Survey‐Revised. Participants self‐reported any sexual‐aggression history, and some completed questionnaires assessing rape‐supportive attitudes, sociosexuality, problem drinking, and self‐reported MSI. A three‐parameter logistic function was fitted to participants’ justifiability ratings within a non‐linear mixed‐effects framework, which provided precise participant‐specific estimates of three sexual‐perception processes (baseline justifiability, bias, and sensitivity). Sexual‐aggression history and rape‐supportive attitudes predicted: (a) reduced sensitivity to women's affect; (b) more liberal biases, such that the woman's affect had to be more negative before justifiability ratings dropped substantially; and (c) greater baseline justifiability of continued advances after a positive response. Sexual‐aggression history and attitudes correlated more strongly with sensitivity than baseline justifiability; remaining variables showed the opposite pattern. This work underscores the role of sexual‐perception processes in sexual aggression and illustrates the derivation of performance‐based estimates of sexual‐perception processes from questionnaire responses.

     

Explaining cross‐national differences in peer‐directed aggression: A quantitative synthesis

A quantitative review was conducted of cross‐national studies on peer‐directed aggression to determine whether cross‐national differences in aggression could be predicted from differences in national values. Cross‐national differences on dimensions of cultural‐level values derived from the works of Hofstede [1980, 1983], Bond [Chinese Culture Connection, 1987], and Schwartz [1994] were used to predict effect sizes of cross‐national differences in aggression for 185 comparisons between pairs of cultures from a total of 36 studies. Each of the three classification systems of national values were found to predict differences in aggression, providing support for their use in future studies. In general, cultures characterized by collectivistic values, high moral discipline, a high level of egalitarian commitment, low uncertainty avoidance, and which emphasize values that are heavily Confucian showed lower levels of aggression than their counterparts. Aggr. Behav. 31:00–00, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Male alcohol‐related aggression as a function of type of drink

The present study tested the so‐called type‐of‐drink effect on aggression, that is, the idea that moderate acute alcohol intoxication elicits more aggression when the alcohol is drunk in the form of spirits than in the form of beer or wine. A computerized version of the Taylor “aggression machine” was used. Spirits‐drinking subjects drank 1.0 ml of 100% alcohol per kg body weight. To compensate for the lower alcohol concentration, beer‐ and wine‐drinking subjects drank 20% more. No significant differences were found between drinkers of different beverages in terms of blood alcohol levels. Results indicated that spirits elicited more direct physical aggression than either beer or wine. Three different possible explanations for this finding were discussed. Aggr. Behav. 25:401–408, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Predicting dating behavior from aggression and self‐perceived social status in adolescence

We investigated the longitudinal associations between self‐reported aggression, self‐perceived social status, and dating in adolescence using an intrasexual competition theoretical framework. Participants consisted of 536 students in Grade 9 (age 15), recruited from a community sample, who were assessed on a yearly basis until they were in Grade 11 (age 17). Adolescents self‐reported their use of direct and indirect aggression, social status, and number of dating partners. A cross‐lagged panel model that controlled for within‐time covariance and across‐time stability while examining cross‐lagged pathways was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that direct aggression did not predict dating behavior and was negatively associated with self‐perceived social status in Grade 10. Self‐perceived social status in Grade 9 was positively associated with greater use of indirect aggression in Grade 10. Regarding dating, in Grade 9, self‐perceived social status positively predicted more dating partners the following year, while in Grade 10, it was higher levels of indirect aggression that predicted greater dating activity the following year. Overall, there were no significant sex differences in the model. The study supports the utility of evolutionary psychological theory in explaining peer aggression, and suggests that although social status can increase dating opportunities, as adolescents mature, indirect aggression becomes the most successful and strategic means of competing intrasexually and gaining mating advantages.

     

A review of environmental enrichment as treatment for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement

We reviewed studies that used environmental enrichment as treatment for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. A search of behavior analytic journals produced 71 publications with a total of 265 applications of environmental enrichment used alone or in conjunction with alternative behavior manipulations (e.g., prompting, reinforcement) and problem behavior manipulations (e.g., blocking, restraint). Environmental enrichment, as a sole intervention, was efficacious in 41% of the sample. Alternative behavior manipulations, problem behavior manipulations, and a combination of both improved the overall efficacy of environmental enrichment. We discuss factors that may influence the efficacy of environmental enrichment, current trends in research on this topic, and implications for both practitioners and researchers.     

Evaluating the heat‐aggression hypothesis: The role of temporal and social factors in predicting baseball related aggression

We examined the role that season progression and social threats play in the heat‐aggression hypothesis within Major League Baseball put forward by Reifman, Larrick, and Fein (1991). Box score data from 38,870 Major League Baseball games between the years of 2000 and 2015 was used to test the heat‐aggression relationship, while accounting for temporal and social factors that may be simultaneously exerting influence on player behavior. Controlling for a number of other variables, we observed that the effect of temperature on aggressive behavior is partially contingent on the point of the season in which the game took place. Aggressive behavior was also more likely to occur when teams played divisional (compared to league and inter‐league) rivals, however this relationship was contingent on season progression. We provide potential boundary conditions relating to the heat‐aggression relationship, indicating this may not be a ubiquitous phenomenon.

     

The staff observation aggression scale–revised (SOAS‐R)

Proper assessment of aggressive behavior is essential for an understanding of its causes. In 1987, Palmstierna and Wistedt [Acta Psychiatr Scand 76:657‐663] introduced the Staff Observation Aggression Scale (SOAS), an instrument for monitoring the frequency, nature, and severity of aggressive incidents. In the present study, the validity of the SOAS severity scoring system was examined, and the severity scores were refined. The SOAS was used to record aggression on six closed wards of three psychiatric hospitals. The SOAS severity scores of 556 aggressive incidents were compared with severity estimates given on Visual Analogue Scales (VASs) by staff members. The original SOAS scores were found to be moderately correlated with the estimates of severity given by staff on the VAS. The SOAS severity scoring system was refined on the basis of the staff severity estimates. The revised scoring method and other refinements in the contents of the instrument led to the construction of the SOAS‐R. The SOAS‐R seems to be a promising tool for monitoring a wide range of (self‐) destructive acts on psychiatric wards. Aggr. Behav. 25:197–209, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.