Dominance status predicts social fear transmission in laboratory rats

Acquiring information about stimuli that predict danger, through either direct experience or inference from a social context, is crucial for individuals’ ability to generate appropriate behaviors in response to threats. Utilizing a modified demonstrator–observer paradigm (fear conditioning by proxy) that allows for free interaction between subjects, we show that social dominance hierarchy, and the interactive social behaviors of caged rats, is predictive of social fear transmission, with subordinate rats displaying increased fear responses after interacting with a fear-conditioned dominant rat during fear retrieval. Fear conditioning by proxy conserves some of the pathways necessary for direct fear learning (e.g., lateral amygdala) but is unique in that it requires regions necessary for emotional regulation (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex), making this paradigm an important tool for evaluating learning and behavior in the laboratory setting.     

The social endocrinology of dominance: basal testosterone predicts cortisol changes and behavior following victory and defeat

Past research suggests that individuals high in basal testosterone are motivated to gain high status. The present research extends previous work by examining endocrinological and behavioral consequences of high and low status as a function of basal testosterone. The outcome of a competition--victory versus defeat--was used as a marker of status. In Study 1, high testosterone men who lost in a dog agility competition rose in cortisol, whereas high testosterone men who won dropped in cortisol. Low testosterone men's cortisol changes did not depend on whether they had won or lost. Study 2 replicated this pattern of cortisol changes in women who participated in an experimental laboratory competition, and Study 2 extended the cortisol findings to behavior. Specifically, high testosterone winners chose to repeat the competitive task, whereas high testosterone losers chose to avoid it. In contrast, low testosterone winners and losers did not differ in their task preferences. These results provide novel evidence in humans that basal testosterone predicts cortisol reactivity and behavior following changes in social status. Implications for the social endocrinology of dominance are discussed.     

Context-specific freezing and associated physiological reactivity as a dysregulated fear response

The putative association between fear-related behaviors and peripheral sympathetic and neuroendocrine reactivity has not been replicated consistently. This inconsistency was addressed in a reexamination of the characterization of children with extreme fearful reactions by focusing on the match between distress behaviors and the eliciting context. Eighty 24-month-old children were observed in 4 mildly threatening contexts, and the relations among different measures of fear-related behaviors, reactive and basal cortisol levels, and baseline cardiac measures of heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and preejection period (PEP) were examined. The hypothesis that only behaviors under the less threatening context would be associated with higher cortisol and sympathetic cardiac activity was confirmed; only task-specific freezing behavior predicted higher reactive and basal cortisol levels and resting PEP measured 1 week later. Implications for the conceptualization of dysregulated fear behaviors in the classification of extremely fearful children are discussed.     

Learning strategies during fear conditioning

This paper describes a model of fear learning, in which subjects have an option of behavioral responses to impending social defeat. The model generates two types of learning: social avoidance and classical conditioning, dependent upon (1) escape from or (2) social subordination to an aggressor. We hypothesized that social stress provides the impetus as well as the necessary information to stimulate dichotomous goal-oriented learning. Specialized tanks were constructed to subject rainbow trout to a conditioning paradigm where the conditioned stimulus (CS) is cessation of tank water flow (water off) and the unconditioned stimulus (US) is social aggression from a larger conspecific. Following seven daily CS/US pairings, approximately half of the test fish learned to consistently escape the aggression to a neutral chamber through a small escape hole available only during the interaction. The learning curve for escaping fish was dramatic, with an 1100% improvement in escape time over 7 days. Fish that did not escape exhibited a 400% increase in plasma cortisol and altered brain monoamine response to presentation of the CS alone. Elevated plasma cortisol levels represent classical fear conditioning in non-escaping fish, while a lack of fear conditioning and a decreased latency to escape over the training period in escapers indicates learned escape.     

Permanent and transient effects of repeated preweaning stress on social and sexual behaviors of rats

We have reported that exposure of preweaning male and female rats to a model of unpredictable mild physical stressors (Neo-A) can decrease the behavioral and hormonal responses to acute and chronic stress as adults. In this paper we have analyzed the effect of Neo-A on development of social behaviors, including aggressiveness, social dominance, and sexual behavior in adulthood. The subjects were divided into two groups: Neo-A (daily exposed to unpredictable mild stresses- from day 2 up to day 15 of suckling; n = 30 litters) and controls (C) (undisturbed rats, except for testing, during the same period of life; n = 26 litters). When day 6 pups were submitted to a social clustering test the Neo-A group showed a higher rate of litter-mate clustering than C. The 35 days Neo-A males and Neo-A females submitted to a social behavior test after 24 h of social isolation also showed higher scores of time spent in active social interaction than controls, as well as a higher ratio of animals showing aggressive playing. A second social behavior test performed after 48 h of social isolation at days 75-80 of age revealed that only Neo-A females displayed increased social behavior and aggressive behaviors, whereas controls did not. A water competition test performed at 24 and 48 h after water deprivation showed that Neo-A adult males spent more time in possession of the drinking device and drank more frequently than C. When adult proestrous females were exposed to a sexual behavior test, the Neo-A group showed shorter latency and higher scores of lordosis quotient. These results support the view that exposure to this model of repeated mild stress early in life stimulates the development of social behavior, dominance and sexual behavior.     

A Daily Diary Investigation of the Defective Self Model Among College Students With Recent Self-Injury

The Defective Self Model of self-injury (Hooley, Ho, Slater, & Lockshin, 2010) asserts that individuals choose to self-injure to gratify the desire for self-punishment associated with a self-critical cognitive style. Specifically, self-injury is used to regulate negative self-directed thoughts and emotions and is made accessible via the belief that the individual deserves punishment. This study sought to test primary assumptions of the Defective Self Model using a 2-week daily diary protocol. It was hypothesized that trait self-criticism would predict daily self-injury urge intensity and behaviors directly, as well as indirectly, through daily thoughts about deserving punishment. We also posited that guilt would predict self-injury urge intensity and behaviors beyond sadness, hostility, and fear. Support for primary hypotheses was mixed. Self-criticism did not directly predict self-injury outcomes, but did indirectly predict urge intensity through daily thoughts about punishment. Daily guilt predicted self-injury urge intensity beyond daily sadness, hostility and fear and was the only type of negative affect associated with self-injury behavior. Results are primarily contextualized through a social cognitive lens in which self-injury urge is precipitated by the activation of a self-critical schema in daily life. Alternatively, self-criticism may serve as a gateway to initial self-injury but lack the sensitivity to predict individual self-injury episodes. Treatments designed to reduce self-critical thoughts and bolster self-compassion may decrease self-injury urge intensity, thereby affecting the frequency of self-injury episodes.     

Who’s got the Upper Hand? Hand Holding Behaviors Among Romantic Couples and Families

The hand holding behavior of romantic couples and family dyads (n?=?886) in public locations around Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was observed. Over 90 % of males in heterosexual romantic couples, parents in parent child pairs, and older siblings in child sibling pairs tended to place their hand on top when holding hands, displaying what we consider social dominance. Women holding hands with men in romantic relationships placed their hand under their partner’s hand, and women switched to have their hand on top when holding hands with a child. Results are discussed in relation to social dominance theory and social role theory, along with implications for equality among the sexes.     

The roles of aggressive and affiliative behaviors in resource control: A behavioral ecological perspective

Extant literature in developmental psychology has documented the co-occurrence of aggressive and affiliative behaviors with various measures of social dominance. While these findings have been taken as evidence for the functional value of aggression, they have not been integrated into a more general theoretical frame accounting for contextual variation. In this paper the literature on aggression, agonism, affiliation, and social dominance is reviewed in light of behavioral ecological theory suggesting that different forms of competition (scramble and contest) determine, respectively, the use of affiliative and aggressive strategies. Results generally support the hypotheses advanced by this theory. In order to further integrate these findings suggestions for the study sequences of behavior, where reconciliations follow aggression, are made.     

黑暗人格特质与知识共享敌意的关系：员工关系和人际信任的链式中介作用

为了考察黑暗人格、员工关系、人际信任与知识共享敌意之间的关系,研究基于“特质-心理状态-行为”模型,采用问卷对307名企业员工进行调查研究。结果表明：（1）黑暗人格能显著负向预测情感性关系,显著正向预测工具性关系和知识共享敌意;（2）情感性关系显著正向预测人际信任,人际信任显著负向预测知识共享敌意;工具性关系显著正向预测知识共享敌意;（3）情感性关系和人际信任在黑暗人格与知识共享敌意之间起链式中介作用;工具性关系在黑暗人格与知识共享敌意之间起中介作用。     

Social dominance and priority of access to drinking in Lemur macaco

Social dominance was analyzed in a group of Lemur macaco over a one-year period. A gonistic dominance was assessed by computing a dominance index for each individual in baseline conditions and in a competitive drinking situation, where success was measured as the amount of time in possession of the resource (a hottle of fruit juice). Dominance indexes during drinking competition were significantly correlated with baseline dominance indexes but were not correlated with individual drinking success. Adult females were agonistically do, omsmy over all other individuals, but were frequently challenged by juveniles of both sexes for access to the drinking bottle. In males, there was a significant negative correlation between age and dominance indexes during competition tests, and between age and drinking success. Results are analysed in the ligh of recent theories concerning the emergence of female social dominance. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Early Exposure to Parental Depression and Parenting: Associations with Young Offspring’s Stress Physiology and Oppositional Behavior

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to stress is posited to play a role in the intergenerational transmission of risk for psychopathology and other negative outcomes in the offspring of depressed parents. We tested the hypothesis that the joint, interactive effects of exposure to parental depression during early childhood and parental hostility impact the development of young children’s stress physiology and early emerging behavior problems. A sample of 165 preschool-age children (81 boys, 84 girls), of whom 103 had a parent with a history of depression, was exposed to a stress-inducing laboratory task, and five salivary cortisol samples were obtained. Parents completed clinical interviews and an observational parent–child interaction task. We found that the offspring exposed to maternal depression during early childhood and whose parents displayed hostile parenting behaviors during an observational task evidenced high and increasing cortisol levels in response to a laboratory stressor. In addition, the total amount of exposure to maternal depression over the child’s life exerted a dose–response effect on the positive relation between parental hostility and child observed oppositional behavior. This study underscores the importance of the early rearing environment on young children’s stress physiology and early emerging behavior problems.     

Tolerance of Sexual Harassment: An Examination of Gender Differences,Ambivalent Sexism,Social Dominance,and Gender Roles

In this study we examined the effects of gender, gender roles (masculinity and femininity), ambivalent sexism, and social dominance orientation with regard to tolerance of sexual harassment. It was predicted that women would be less tolerant than men of sexual harassment, however, men and women who were tolerant of sexual harassment would share ambivalence and hostility toward women, and they would exhibit higher levels of social dominance and masculinity. Results partially supported the hypotheses. Women were significantly less tolerant of harassment than men were, however, regression analyses showed that ambivalent sexism and hostility toward women accounted for the majority of total variance (35%), followed by gender (5%), social dominance (1%), femininity (0.7%), and nonsexism (0.6%). Masculinity and benevolent sexism were not significant predictors. Results suggest that ambivalence and hostility toward women are much greater predictors of tolerance of sexual harassment than is gender alone.     

Social anxiety and fear of bodily sensations in panic disorder and agoraphobia: A matched comparison

This study tests the hypothesis that social anxiety and fear of bodily sensations are associated with the development of agoraphobic avoidance behavior in panic disorder patients. Twenty patients with panic disorder were compared to 20 patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia, matched by sex and duration of disorder. The two groups did not differ on measures of fear and frequency of assertive social responses. However, the agoraphobics scored higher on measures of interpersonal sensitivity, depression, feelings of inadequacy, and hostility. They also reported higher fear of bodily sensations. Although definitive conclusions need to be postponed until prospective studies have been conducted, there is evidence suggesting that the development of agoraphobia in panic patients is associated with hypersensitivity to bodily sensations and interpersonal situations.This research was supported by Grant 560-268-009 of the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research.     

Linking questionnaire reports and observer ratings of young couples' hostility and support

Past studies have correlated observer ratings with questionnaire self- and partner-reports of behaviors in close relationships. However, few studies have actually proposed and tested longitudinal models that link observer ratings to past behaviors and to questionnaire self- and partner-reports of behaviors during an observational task. Using data from a panel of 324 young couples, we demonstrate that (a) observer ratings of hostility and support are significantly related to couple reports of the same behavior in the relationship two years earlier, and (b) respondent and partner questionnaire reports of hostility and support during the observational task converge with observer ratings of the same behavior even after controlling for earlier self- and partner-reports. These findings demonstrate that observer reports based on brief discussion tasks reflect the tenor of the relationship over a relatively long period of time. They also demonstrate that couple reports of interactions reflect observable behaviors beyond that attributed to earlier self- and partner-reports. Consistent with previous research, effect sizes are larger for hostility than support but there are few differences between men and women.     

Typology of violence derived from ratings of severity and provocation

Two exploratory studies examined ratings of the severity of violence of several behaviors. In Study 1, a very consistent ordering of the behaviors by severity was obtained from two groups of participants. The stated justification for the behaviors was manipulated, and both mitigation and aggravation effects were observed. Study 2 found that essentially the same ordering of behaviors could be obtained in a provocation-rating task, and that both the severity ratings and the provocation ratings yielded four interpretable types of violence upon factor analysis: more severe physical (V1), less severe physical (V2), more severe nonphysical (V3), and less severe nonphysical (V4). Individual profiles of severity ratings across these four types yielded two interpretable groupings of participants upon cluster analysis: a violence-sensitive group and a violence-tolerant group. The violence-tolerant group had lower severity ratings for three of the four types of violence. These empirical distinctions help to illuminate what appear to be different meanings of the term violent for different behavior categories and for different individuals.     

Exploring Moderators of Gender Differences: Contextual Differences in Door‐Hoiding Behavior1

The simple behavior of holding a door for another person can be interpreted as gender‐neutral, helpful, or benevolently sexist. Each interpretation leads to competing hypotheses predicting no gender differences in door holding, consistent door holding by men as chivalrous helpers, and door holding by men in the gender‐salient context of dating but not in everyday interactions, respectively. Observations of 769 college‐aged, female‐male dyads found a strong pattern of male door holding in dating but not in everyday contexts. This pattern highlights social role theory's emphasis on understanding contextual moderators of apparent gender differences, changes in door‐holding behavior in everyday contexts across the past 20 years, and the benevolent sexism subtly conveyed by male dominance in door holding in dating contexts.     

睾酮素与反社会倾向未成年犯的攻击行为：敌意注意偏向的中介和皮质醇的调节作用

为考察睾酮素与反社会倾向未成年犯攻击行为的关系,在整合攻击行为生物激素视角和社会认知视角的基础上,探究敌意注意偏向的中介作用与皮质醇的调节作用。对84名未成年犯的激素水平、敌意注意偏向以及攻击行为进行调查。结果显示：(1)敌意注意偏向(注意不稳定性、注意回避)在睾酮素对攻击行为的影响中起完全中介作用;(2)皮质醇调节睾酮素与敌意注意偏向的关系,仅在高皮质醇水平下,敌意注意偏向的中介效应显著。基于生物激素影响攻击行为的中介机制和调节机制,可尝试从增加对敌意刺激的注意回避和提高皮质醇水平两个方面对反社会倾向未成年犯的攻击暴力行为进行干预。     

Anger and testosterone: Evidence that situationally-induced anger relates to situationally-induced testosterone

Testosterone has been shown to relate to power, dominance, social status, and aggression. However, no research has related situationally induced changes in testosterone to subjective emotional experience. Based on the fact that anger relates to power, dominance, social status, and aggression, we predicted that testosterone would be uniquely related to the subjective experience of anger. In this study, salivary testosterone and cortisol were measured both prior to and following an anger-inducing event. In line with predictions, anger was associated with increased testosterone but not cortisol. These results provide the first evidence of a subjective emotional experience linked with changes in testosterone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Social dominance in preschool classrooms

The authors examined preschoolers' aggressive and cooperative behaviors and their associations with social dominance. First and as predicted, directly observed aggressive interactions decreased across the school year, and same-sex aggression occurred more frequently than cross-sex aggression. Next, the authors examined the relation between aggression and reconciliation, cooperation, and social display variables. Teacher ratings of children's aggression related to observed aggression but not to observed "wins" of aggressive bouts. Instead, wins were related to cooperation and display variables. Finally, they examined the relative power of wins and cooperation in predicting 2 measures of social dominance. After age was controlled, wins alone predicted teacher-rated social dominance. Results are discussed in terms of different forms of competition and how school ethos affects these forms.     

Dominance interactions in young adult paper wasp (Polistes dominulus) foundresses: a playlike behavior?

The idea that insects play has often aroused skepticism. Nevertheless, the authors investigated the occurrence of a playlike behavior in young individuals of a paper wasp. Polistes dominulus foundresses hibernate in aggregations and found associative nests in the spring. In aggregations, wasps exhibit most of the rank-dependent behaviors that they will use in the nest 6 months later. In aggregations, precocious dominance interactions are performed with exaggerated frequencies, whereas aggression and trophallaxis are rare. Dominance behavior in aggregations is apparently useless, but it probably allows wasps to assess their dominance potential without any apparent reproductive competition. Surprisingly, these interactions may be best interpreted as play because dominance behavior in aggregations shares several features with mammalian play fighting.