How impulsiveness, trait anger, and extracurricular activities might affect aggression in school children

Individual differences in personality traits such as impulsivity and trait anger as well as environmental variables have an impact on aggressiveness. We tested a model incorporating the related variables of impulsiveness, trait anger, and aggression and incorporated the possible mediating influences of leisure-time activities. Regression analyses of data from 1129 pre-adolescents and 1093 adolescents (55.4% females) from a study evaluating the Spanish version of the Buss and Perry aggression questionnaire (AQ; Santisteban, Alvarado, & Recio, 2007) showed a relation between impulsiveness (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale) and aggression (AQ). Trait anger (Spielberger’s State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory), the time spent watching TV and playing video games, and the time spent doing homework (all related to impulsiveness) also are related to physical, as well as verbal aggression (with low to moderate coefficients). Multiple mediation analyses confirm that media violence exposure and homework, respectively, can have aggravating and attenuating effects on self-reported aggression. These results provide key variables for longitudinal studies which could reveal the causal nature of the results found with our cross-sectional design.     

Partisan Provocation: The Role of Partisan News Use and Emotional Responses in Political Information Sharing in Social Media

Citizens increasingly rely on social media to consume and disseminate news and information about politics, but the factors that drive political information sharing on these sites are not well understood. This study focused on how online partisan news use influences political information sharing in part because of the distinct negative emotions it arouses in its audience. Using panel survey data collected during the 2012 U.S. presidential election, we found that use of proattitudinal partisan news online is associated with increased anger, but not anxiety, directed at the opposing party's presidential candidate and that anger subsequently facilitated information sharing about the election on social media. The results suggest partisan media may drive online information sharing by generating anger in its audience.     

Gender role masculinity and angry aggression in women

The extent to which gender role masculinity is related to degree of women's angry retaliation was investigated. The study also examined whether the relationship between gender role masculinity and anger is mediated by gender role differences in reactivity to provocation, or to differences in the labeling of anger. It was expected that the influence of gender role masculinity on affect and aggression would be greatest when the nature of the affective arousal is ambiguous. Sixty undergraduate women (predominantly upper middle class and white) were given a placebo pill. They were either given ambiguous information about the pill's effects, or were told it was a vitamin or a stimulant. They then were either provoked or not provoked, and finally received an opportunity to retaliate. The participants had been divided by median split into high- and low-masculinity groups based on their scores on Spence and Helmreich's (1978) Personal Attributes Questionnaire. As expected, when provoked, high-masculinity subjects were more aggressive than low-masculinity subjects but only in the ambiguous drug information condition. Although they reported more arousal-related sensations, they did not rate themselves higher in anger. The results are discussed in terms of gender role influences on the experience of anger and the expression of aggression.     

Anger,Exposure to Violence,and Intragroup Conflict: A “Lab in the Field” Experiment in Southern Israel

I examine how anger stemming from violence in the Israel‐Palestine conflict influences intragroup retaliation. In July 2010 I conducted a series of experiments in two cities in the Southern District of Israel affected to varying degrees (high and low) by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. For each experiment, subjects were partnered anonymously with a member of their community. They were then exposed to one of two emotional manipulations: one that induced anger or one that did not. Finally, each subject was given an opportunity to keep an endowment or allocate it towards destroying a portion, or all, of their partner's income (“pay to punish”) in retaliation for their partner having taken money from them previously. This decision to “pay to punish” was designed to closely mimic the costly nature of conflict. The findings suggest that anger has a conditional effect on decisions to pay to punish: in Sderot (most affected by rocket fire), anger decreases punishment, while in Ofakim (less affected), it increases punishment. Additionally, higher exposure to violence made subjects more likely to engage in negative reciprocity.     

Threats to Enabling Contexts: Exploring Adolescents' Experiences of Aggression

This article explores adolescents' experiences of aggression in a secondary, multi-cultural school context in South Africa. The study group comprised of boys (n=24) and girls (n=17), attending grades 8–12. An inductive qualitative research approach was chosen where participants wrote about their experiences and participated in focused semi-structured interviews. Central themes were derived by means of a thematic content analysis. The results revealed that adolescents experienced negative feelings about aggression at school and that aggression was related to individual characteristics, the adolescent developmental stage, socialization, status, competition, home environment, prior experiences, learnt behaviour and the effect of the media and music. Exposure to aggression had emotional consequences such as feelings of anger, fear, depression, being controlled and a loss of self-content. Behavioural responses included retaliation, pacifism, vandalism and suicide. The findings suggest that learner involvement, conflict resolution skills and school guidance are necessary to manage aggression in the secondary school context.     

Picture This: The Influence of Emotionally Valenced Images,On Attention,Selection, and Sharing of Social Media News

Social media platforms have become the primary conduits to news for many consumers, yet little is known about how the content in social media posts is viewed and evaluated by consumers or how it shapes their decisions about selecting and sharing this information. A within-subjects eye-tracking experiment (N = 60), was conducted to examine the influence of image presence and valence on attention to and engagement with news stories on social media. Participants viewed a series of 29 social media posts of news stories, each of which was either paired with no image, a positively valenced image, or a negatively valenced image. Participants attention to the images was captured via eye tracking, and they answered dependent measures to gauge level of emotion and arousal, and intention to click and share. The results show that posts containing positive images elicited a higher level of visual attention than those with negative or no images, which led to higher intentions to click and share posts with positive images. The results provide a deeper understanding of the importance of images in driving news consumption, and offer practical implications for journalists, news organizations and groups using social media to spread a message.     

Social sanction and threat explanations of gender effects on direct and indirect aggression

The present study examined two explanations for gender differences in expression of direct and indirect aggression. The social sanction model suggests that aggressor and target gender effects may be accounted for in terms of social sanctions against behaving aggressively; indirect aggression is the likely outcome of inhibitions against expression of direct aggression. The threat argument suggests that high levels of direct aggression in male‐male dyads as well as apparent inhibitions against harming females might be accounted for by the fact that males are more threatening targets than are females. Research participants completed a questionnaire measure of direct and indirect aggression twice, once with reference to their behavior toward a same‐gender target and once with reference to their behavior toward an other‐gender target. Although most direct aggression was reported by male aggressors toward male targets, gender of target did not relate to indirect aggression. Males reported approximately equal levels of indirect and direct aggression. Although females reported using more indirect than direct aggression, they did not differ from males in their reports of the frequency of use of indirect aggression. These results provided some support for both models of gender effects on human aggression and suggest the appropriateness of a relatively complex model of gender effects on aggression. Aggr. Behav. 25:425–434, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Development and Evaluation of a Measure of Dangerous,Aggressive, Negative Emotional,and Risky Driving1

The Dula Dangerous Driving Index (DDDI) was created to measure drivers’ self‐reported likelihood to drive dangerously. Each DDDI scale (DDDI Total, Aggressive Driving, Negative Emotional Driving, and Risky Driving scales) had strong internal reliability and there was also evidence for the construct validity of the scales. The DDDI was used to examine the relation between dangerous and aggressive driving and dispositional aggression and anger among 119 college students. Males reported significantly more aggressive, risky, and angry driving than did females. Males and females reported similar levels of dangerous driving and negative emotions while driving. Dangerous driving was positively related to traffic citations and causing accidents. The DDDI will be useful as a research instrument to examine dangerous driving.     

“So Happy I Could Shout!” and “So Happy I Could Cry!” Dimorphous expressions represent and communicate motivational aspects of positive emotions

Happiness can be expressed through smiles. Happiness can also be expressed through physical displays that without context, would appear to be sadness (tears, downward turned mouths, and crumpled body postures) and anger (clenched jaws, snarled lips, furrowed brows, and pumped fists). These seemingly incongruent displays of happiness, termed dimorphous expressions, we propose, represent and communicate expressers’ motivational orientations. When participants reported their own aggressive expressions in positive or negative contexts, their expressions represented positive or negative emotional experiences respectively, imbued with appetitive orientations (feelings of wanting to go). In contrast, reported sad expressions, in positive or negative contexts, represented positive and negative emotional experiences respectively, imbued with consummatory orientations (feelings of wanting to pause). In six additional experiments, participant observers interpreted that aggression displayed in positive contexts signalled happy-appetitive states, and sadness displayed in positive contexts signalled happy-consummatory states. Implications for the production and interpretation of emotion expressions are discussed.     

Social anxiety and the experience of positive emotion and anger in everyday life: an ecological momentary assessment approach

Abstract

A few recent studies have found evidence showing that social anxiety is associated with diminished positive affect and elevated anger. However, prior work has relied on trait self-report measures of global positive mood or anger. In this preliminary study, we examined how trait social anxiety relates to moment-to-moment positive and angry emotional states as people navigate through their natural environment in a given day. Of additional interest was whether any associations were limited to social situations or were evident more broadly in non-social situations as well. For 14 days, 38 non-clinical community adults carried electronic diaries to assess their experience of positive emotions, anger, and their current social context and activity. Participants were randomly prompted up to four times per day, leading to 1702 observations. Results showed that social anxiety was associated with less time spent feeling happy and relaxed and more time spent feeling angry throughout the day. In general, people felt happier when they were with other people compared to being alone. Interestingly, people with relatively higher levels of social anxiety reported fewer and less intense positive emotions and greater anger episodes across social and non-social situations.     

Violent video games and anger as predictors of aggression

Considerable research has demonstrated that playing violent video games can increase aggression. The theoretical framework upon which a good deal of this research has rested is known as the General Aggression Model (GAM; [Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27–51]). The current study tested an assumption of the GAM by examining if the dispositional trait of anger moderated the relation between violent video games and aggression. A total of 167 undergraduate students (79 females, 88 males) first completed a measure of anger and were then randomly assigned to play either a non-violent or violent video game. After the video game play period, participants completed ambiguous story stems in order to assess aggression. Consistent with predictions of the GAM, anger significantly moderated the effect of video game violence on aggression. Specifically, participants who were angry were more affected by violent video games than participants who were not angry.     

The Effects of Trait Driving Anger, Anonymity, and Aggressive Stimuli on Aggressive Driving Behavior

We examined the effects of trait driving anger, aggressive stimuli, and anonymity on aggressive driving behavior in a driving simulation task. High and low driving anger participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (a) anonymous vs. identifiable driver; and (b) exposure to aggressive stimuli versus nonaggressive stimuli. Participants drove more aggressively when they were anonymous (d = .28) and exposed to aggressive stimuli (d = .05). Males drove more aggressively than did females (d = .06). No main or interaction effects were found for trait driving anger. Results suggest that situational factors affecting other forms of aggression are also important in aggressive driving.     

Deterring Anger and Anger-Motivated Behaviors

Two experiments were carried out to explore an anger-reducing strategy based on Brehm's emotional intensity theory. According to this theory, anger can be reduced indirectly by interfering with the feeling of anger rather than by dealing directly with the source of anger. One strategy involves providing the angered person with a reason for feeling happy. We predicted that anger intensity would be reduced not only by a large reason for feeling happy, such as a large gift, but also by a small reason, like a tiny gift. A medium-size gift was expected to maintain anger at approximately its instigated level. Both experiments instigated anger by personal insult and then measured the intensity of felt anger and retaliation after either no further treatment, or a small, a moderate, or large irrelevant gift was presented. The results for felt anger and retaliation confirmed our theoretical expectations.     

Do Big Five personality traits associated with self-control influence the regulation of anger and aggression?

This study examined whether Big Five personality traits associated with the ability to exhibit self-control would moderate the anger–aggression link. A total of 126 participants (63 women) completed personality measures. In a separate experimental session, participants wrote an essay and then received either positive or negative feedback from a fictitious participant. Participants were given the opportunity to aggress against the supposed other person. Baseline and post-experimental emotions were assessed. EEG was recorded to measure activity in midfrontal, lateral-frontal, and parietal areas. Results replicated previous findings that anger is associated with left relative to right prefrontal asymmetry and aggression. Conscientiousness was negatively associated with anger and relative left prefrontal asymmetry. Conscientiousness also moderated the link between anger and aggression. Agreeableness was positively associated with anger, but only when levels of conscientiousness were low.     

Aggressor's response to the victim's facial expression of emotion

Male college students (N = 96) were met by an experimental confederate who either agreed or disagreed with their opinion. The subjects were then given an opportunity to deliver electric shock to the confederate (victim), who responded to the shock with a facial expression of anger, fear, joy, or neutrality. The opinion condition had no effect, but the victim's facial expressions were clearly perceived by the subjects and two of them significantly influenced the amount of shock delivered to the victim by the subjects. The expression of enjoyment (smile) increased aggression while that of anger decreased aggression. The effects of the fear and neutral expressions did not differ from each other, and neither had a consistent significant effect on the amount of shock administered by the subjects.     

Anger rumination: an antecedent of athlete aggression?

Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between anger rumination (the propensity to think almost obsessively over past experiences that have provoked negative affect in the form of anger) and athlete aggression. It was predicted that high levels of anger rumination would be associated with an increased propensity to aggress.Method. A questionnaire comprising the Anger Rumination Scale (Sukhodolsky, Golub, & Cromwell, 2001), aggression and demographic questions was distributed to 305 male and female competitive athletes of varying ability who represented several team and individual sports.Results. Principal component factor analysis revealed a single rumination factor rather than the four-factor solution previously described. No differences in Anger Rumination Scale score were found between males and females, team and individual sport players or competitive level. Provocation and anger rumination were significantly correlated with athletes’ reported aggressive behaviour. Aggression was higher in males compared to females. Type of sport was also related to incidence of aggression; athletes who participated in individual sports reported lower levels of aggression than athletes who played team sports.Conclusions. It was concluded that provocation and anger rumination were significant predictors of subsequent aggression and suggestions for preventing rumination, such as thought stopping and thought switching, were made.     

Relationship between affect and memory: motivation-based selective generation.

Two experiments examined the influence of anger and retaliatory motivation on memory for negative material. In the 1st study, 60 male undergraduates memorized words with positive, negative, and neutral semantic connotations. It was found that angered men who expected to retaliate against their provocateur recalled more negative words than other words, and more than Ss in all other affect and evaluation conditions. Angered men in the nonretaliation condition displayed no differences in negative word recall. The 2nd experiment investigated memory for details of a provoking experience. Angered men who expected to retaliate more accurately recalled the details of their provocation, but whether they were given the retaliation information before or after provocation had no bearing on memory for these details. Results are discussed in terms of a motivation-based selective generation hypothesis for the relationship between anger and memory.     

The personality basis of aggression: The mediating role of anger and the moderating role of emotional intelligence

High neuroticism and low agreeableness have been found to predict higher levels of aggression through an increase of negative emotions such as anger. However, previous research has only investigated these indirect associations for physical aggression, whereas evidence for such indirect effects on other types of aggression (i.e., verbal or indirect aggression) is currently lacking. Moreover, no previous work has investigated the moderating role of Ability Emotional Intelligence (AEI), which may buffer against the effects of anger on aggression. The present study (N = 665) directly addresses these gaps in the literature. The results demonstrate that high neuroticism and low agreeableness were indirectly related to higher levels of physical, verbal, and indirect aggression via increased chronic accessibility to anger. Importantly however, the associations with physical aggression were significantly weaker for those higher (vs. lower) on AEI, confirming the buffering role of AEI. We discuss the implications of our findings for theoretical frameworks aiming to understand and reduce aggression and violent behavior.     

Family expressiveness and parental emotion coaching: their role in children's emotion regulation and aggression

In this study, we explored the relations between positive and negative family expressiveness, parental emotion coaching, child emotion regulation, and child aggression. The sample included 120 fourth-grade children and their mothers. Mothers completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist, the Family Expressiveness Questionnaire, and a portion of the meta-emotion interview to assess their awareness and acceptance of, and instruction in managing their child's anger and sadness (3 dimensions of parental emotion coaching). Teachers rated each child's aggression and completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist for each child. The 3 dimensions of parental emotion coaching and positive and negative family expressiveness were not directly related to child aggression. However, both negative family expressiveness and the mother's acceptance of the child's negative emotions were indirectly related to child aggression through the child's emotion regulation.