Predictors and outcomes of workplace violence and aggression

The authors developed and assessed the psychometric properties of an instrument measuring risk for workplace violence and expanded a model linking (a) risk and experience of violence and aggression from the public and (b) experience of aggression from coworkers to emotional well-being, psychosomatic well-being, affective commitment, and turnover intentions. Using data from 254 employees representing 71 different occupations, the measure demonstrated acceptable within-occupation and 1-month test-retest reliability. The data supported the model and showed that public-initiated violence and aggression and coworker-initiated aggression were differentially associated with personal and organizational outcomes.     

A relational model of workplace victimization: social roles and patterns of victimization in dyadic relationships

This article proposes a model of the ways in which dyadic interactions between employees who occupy 1 of 4 archetypal social roles in organizations can lead to either episodic or institutionalized patterns of victimization. The model shows how the occurrence of victimization involving these 4 role types is influenced by organizational variables such as power differences, culture, and access to social capital. The model integrates behavioral and social structural antecedents of victimization to develop a relational perspective on the dynamics of harmful behavior in the workplace.     

Interpersonal conflict and sarcasm in the workplace

Violence and aggression in the workplace are problems that most Americans confront on a daily basis. The present study is an exploration of the predisposition to conflict in a work environment in which personality traits responsible for increased sarcasm and increased anger in response to sarcasm are identified. Participants represented two subdepartments within a city general hospital. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (D. Keirsey, 1998) test for departmental temperament and a sarcasm survey designed by the author were used to test for frequency of sarcasm and anger in relation to differing categories of sarcasm. Angry reactions were gauged in relation to sarcasm directed at job performance, personal life, behavior, and appearance. Conclusions from this study point to many variables as causes for workplace anger; these include influences from organizational culture, work environment, psychological defense mechanisms, leadership decisions, stress, task orientation, and personality differences. Sarcasm trigger points leading to anger may be predicted based on a work group's personality composition. A homogeneous personality composition within a work group may involve factors such as personality characteristics common to a particular profession, organizational demands, and hiring practices.     

Hostile attribution in perceived justification of workplace aggression

A 10-item Hostile Attribution Scale was developed to test the hypothesis that hostile attribution is predictive of support for aggression in frustrating workplace situations in which a supervisor's motivation is ambiguous. The Hostile Attribution Scale showed good test-retest reliability (.80), but weak internal consistency (alpha=.60). For one workplace scenario (Steve), hostile attribution predicted aggression in the ambiguous but not the definite version of the scenario. For the other scenario (Dan), however, hostile attribution in both the ambiguous and definite versions was equally predictive of aggression. Ambiguous situations are the most problematic for generating workplace aggression so research should focus on individual differences in hostile attributions.     

A renewed look at Miller's conflict theory of aggression displacement.

The present study is the first to examine Miller's theoretical assumptions of displaced aggression using human subjects. Subjects in the present study either served as nonangered controls, were angered by the experimenter's confederate, or were both angered by and led to fear the confederate. All subjects were then able to three targets: the confederate, a person described as a friend of the confederate, and a person having no association with the confederate. Targets received the most intense aggression from angered subjects. The difference between the aggression gradients for high-anger-low-fear and control subject. Frightened subjects gave their most intense aggression to the displaced targets. Results also support the suggestion that direct aggression is most likely if the aggressor can first extinguish some of his fear by attacking more indirect targets.     

Self-esteem moderates the response to forgiveness instructions among women with a history of victimization

The present study examined whether self-esteem would moderate women’s affect after being exposed to brief instructional interventions tapping into two dimensions of forgiveness: an interpersonal dimension focusing on forgiving the offender, and an intrapersonal dimension focusing on letting go of one’s negative affect toward the offender. The positive and negative affect of 79 women with a history of victimization was assessed after they listened to instructions for either granting forgiveness, letting go of their negative affect, or relaxation (control). Results indicated differential effects of the instructions on emotions directed toward themselves versus toward the offender. Women had more negative emotions about themselves when they received the granting forgiveness instructions, but they had greater positive emotions toward their offenders. Women’s responses were moderated by self-esteem in that there was no differential effect of the instructions among women low in self-esteem, but women high in self-esteem had a relatively positive response to the letting-go instructions and a generally negative reaction to the traditional forgiveness instructions.     

Mother and father self-reports of corporal punishment and severe physical aggression toward clinic-referred youth

Examined the extent to which 359 mothers and 140 fathers of clinic-referred youth (ages 2 to 17) reported using corporal punishment and severe physical aggression when asked directly via intake screening questionnaires at a community mental health center; higher prevalence rates emerged compared to families in the general population. Clinic-referred parents reported greater use of corporal punishment for younger relative to older youth, sons relative to daughters, and by single relative to married mothers. In cases with reports from both parents, mothers used corporal punishment more frequently than fathers. Demographic factors were not linked to severe physical aggression, except for mothers' treatment of sons versus daughters. After controlling for demographic factors, maternal and paternal reports of child externalizing behavior accounted for significant variance in their own and their partner's use of corporal punishment, and in mothers' use of severe physical aggression.     

Anxiety and aggression of high and low assertive persons following conflict

This experiment examined changes in anxiety and differences in aggression for high and low assertive women when different degrees of conflict were encountered. As predicted, low assertive women were intially more uneasy or anxious than high assertive women when they were placed in a conflictual situation. When the level of actual conflict was low, the level of anxiety of low assertive women decreased. However, when the actual level of conflict was high the anxiety level of low assertive women remained unchanged. These results were taken as support for the fear of conflict hypothesis which predicted that the reduction in anxiety for low assertive persons is contingent upon whether or not the anticipated conflict is actually encountered. The results also indicated that high assertive women were not significantly more aggressive than low assertive women. This finding provided support for Galassi's position that assertiveness and aggression are distinct concepts.     

Preschoolers' aggression and parent-child conflict: a multiinformant and multimethod study

This multiinformant and multimethod study (N=47) investigated the link between the parent-child relationship system and the display of physical and relational aggression with peers at school during early childhood. Children (mean age=43.54 months, SD=8.02) were observed (80min/child) during free play, and parents and teachers were asked to complete several standard measures. Intercorrelations between aggression subtypes revealed moderate to high levels of correlation for parents and teachers and no significant association for observations of physical and relational aggression. Interinformant agreement was examined, and teachers and parents were found to significantly agree for both physical and relational aggression, and teachers and observers also significantly agreed for both subtypes of aggression. Results of regression analyses suggest that parent-child conflict was uniquely associated with relational aggression among peers when controlling for physical aggression and gender. Ways in which these findings build on the extant literature are discussed.     

Kicking the digital dog: a longitudinal investigation of young adults' victimization and cyber-displaced aggression

Abstract Using the general strain theory as a theoretical framework, the present longitudinal study investigated both face-to-face and cyber victimization in relation to cyber-displaced aggression. Longitudinal data were collected from 130 (70 women) young adults who completed measures assessing their victimization (face-to-face and cyber), cyber aggression, and both face-to-face and cyber-displaced aggression. Findings indicated that victimization in both social contexts (face-to-face and cyber) contributed to cyber-displaced aggression 6 months later (Time 2), after controlling for gender, cyber aggression, face-to-face displaced aggression, and cyber-displaced aggression at Time 1. A significant two-way interaction revealed that Time 1 cyber victimization was more strongly related to Time 2 cyber-displaced aggression when young adults had higher levels of face-to-face victimization at Time 1. Implications of these findings are discussed as well as a call for more research investigating displaced aggression in the cyber context.     

Exploring the role of individual differences in the prediction of workplace aggression

This study investigates the relationship between individual differences and the incidence of workplace aggression in a sample of employees from a transportation company and a public school system. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that measures of trait anger, attribution style, negative affectivity, attitudes toward revenge, self-control, and previous exposure to aggressive cultures accounted for 62% of the variance in the participants' self-reported incidence of workplace aggression. Further research on workplace aggression is advocated, focusing on the role of individual differences and their interactions with organizational and group-level variables.     

Democracy justifies the means: political group structure moderates the perceived legitimacy of intergroup aggression

The present research tested the hypothesis that the political structure of conflicting groups moderates perceived legitimacy of intergroup aggression. In two experiments, participants read scenarios of fictitious summer camps in which members of one group aggressed members of another group. The political structure of both the perpetrator and the victim groups was described as either egalitarian (defined with democratic decision-making procedures) or hierarchical (authoritarian decision-making procedures). Results of both experiments showed that aggressions perpetrated by members of egalitarian groups at the expense of members of hierarchical groups were evaluated as less illegitimate than aggressions committed in the three remaining conditions. This effect is discussed as a function of the higher social value attributed to democratic groups.     

Evaluations of relational aggression as a function of relationship type and conflict setting

The present study examined influences on girls' evaluations of relational aggression situations. Second‐, third‐, fifth‐, and sixth‐grade girls evaluated four relational aggression conflict scenarios in terms of attributions of aggressor's intentions, evaluator's behavioral response, evaluator's affective state, and how likely the situation was to actually occur. Girls evaluated intentions of a best friend more positively, reported being more mad at an enemy, and perceived conflict to be more likely to occur with an enemy than a best friend. Aggressor intentions in direct conflict scenarios (aggressor said something mean to evaluator) were perceived as more negative than aggressor intentions in indirect conflict scenarios (aggressor said something mean about evaluator to another peer). Younger girls reported intentions of their enemy as being more positive than did older girls. Further, older girls reported intentions of their best friend as being more positive than intentions of their enemy. Older girls also were more accurate in conceptualizing variations in the conflict setting (direct, indirect) and responding in a context‐consistent manner. Findings are discussed in terms of the social‐relational and social‐situational processes that influence children's evaluations of relational aggression and how the current study extends previous research on relational aggression. Aggr. Behav. 26:179–191, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Perceived risk of female infidelity moderates the relationship between men’s personality and partner-directed violence

We hypothesized that men’s personality traits interact with men’s perceived risk of partner’s infidelity to predict men’s partner-directed violence. Moderation analyses of data provided by 467 men in a committed relationship indicated that: (1) men with lower emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and men who perceived greater risk of partner infidelity perpetrated more partner-directed violence, and (2) the relationship between men’s personality traits and partner-directed violence depends on their perceptions of the risk of partner infidelity. Simple slope analyses indicated that: (a) men’s emotional stability and agreeableness predict partner-directed violence only when perceived risk of partner infidelity is low, and (b) men’s conscientiousness predicts partner-directed violence only when perceived risk of partner infidelity is high.     

Workplace violence and workplace aggression: Evidence on their relative frequency and potential causes

Recent news reports have focused attention on dramatic instances of workplace violence—extreme acts of aggression in work settings. It is suggested here that such actions, while both tragic and frightening, are only a small part of a much larger problem of workplace aggression—efforts by individuals to harm others with whom they work or the organizations in which they are employed. The present study investigated two major hypotheses with respect to such aggression: 1) contrary to what media reports suggest, most aggression occurring in work settings is verbal, indirect, and passive rather than physical, direct, and active; 2) recent changes in many organizations (e.g., downsizing, increased workforce diversity) have generated conditions that may contribute to the occurrence of workplace aggression. A survey of 178 employed persons provided partial support for both predictions. Verbal and passive forms of aggression were rated as more frequent by participants than physical and active forms of aggression. In addition, the greater the extent to which several changes had occurred recently in participants' organizations, the greater the incidence of workplace aggression they reported. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Perceived size and distance as a perceptual conflict between two processing modes

Three different sized squares were successively presented at the same physical distance under three observational conditions which provided different information about distance in the visual field. The 60 observers in each observational condition were asked to give verbal absolute judgments of perceived size and perceived distance for each of the squares. The results showed that in a full-cue situation a ratio of perceived absolute sizes is equal to that of the corresponding visual angles, with perceived distances appearing equal to each other; in a reduced-cue situation an object of smaller perceived size is judged to be farther away than one of larger perceived size, with the observers tending to assume the two objects as the same object or identically sized objects. These results were analyzed in terms of the perceptual conflict between primary perception and secondary perception.