A Review of “Mind to Mind: Infant Research,Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis”

Abstract

This article examines current research pertaining to the relationship between a mother and her children, and how this relationship may affect sibling interactions. Issues such as temperament, gender, and the age gap between children are also explored to ascertain their impact on the sibling relationship.

The displacement of the first-born child and the ensuing sense of loss and anger he may experience as a result of this is explored. The mother's second pregnancy is also discussed in regard to the impact of unresolved issues relating to her own sibling relations. The mother's interactions with each child, her role as a model for identification, and marital relations are discussed in light of their impact on sibling relations.

The evolution of a positive attachment between siblings is explored. Rivalrous behavior between siblings is also discussed, particularly in association to the mother's treatment of her own children and the manner in which the mother deals with her own aggression.     

French Adaptation and Validation of The Bullying Attitude Questionnaire in a sample of Primary School Teachers

IntroductionTeachers are the most likely people to intervene in bullying situations in primary schools. An effective and inexpensive way to measure the quality of their interventions during these incidents is the hypothetical scenario. However, there is no such validated measurement tool available in French.ObjectiveThe study objective was therefore to translate, adapt, and validate The Bullying Attitude Questionnaire among francophone primary school teachers.MethodThe participants were 37 female primary school teachers who completed the adapted version of The Bullying Attitude Questionnaire, translated in French by bilingual experts, as well as other scales used as external criteria.ResultsThe translated and adapted version of The Bullying Attitude Questionnaire showed good concurrent validity. Moreover, previous study conclusions using the same measurement tool were replicated in this study.ConclusionHypothetical scenarios represent a convenient way to measure the quality of teacher's interventions in bullying situations. In line with previous studies, teachers tend to perceive relational aggression as less severe than physical and verbal aggression. In such situations, they are less empathetic toward the victims, less upset with the perpetrator, and less likely to intervene.     

Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts

Using a longitudinal design, prior experience with violence as a victim and opportunity to aggress were examined as predictors of college women's verbal and physical aggression toward romantic partners. Five additional categories of predictors identified in previous research (experienced and witnessed parental aggression during childhood, attitudes accepting of aggression, aggressive/impulsive personality attributes, psychopathology, and prior use of aggression) were also examined. Blockwise hierarchical regression analyses were performed to reveal the best predictors of verbal and physical aggression during the first year of college. Significant predictors of verbal aggression were prior use of verbal aggression in heterosexual conflicts during adolescence, witnessed parental aggression, level of adolescent sexual victimization, being a target of rational conflict strategies during adolescence, and use of physical aggression in romantic adolescent relationships, as well as self-reported verbal aggression as an index of personality, weak emotional ties, number of sexual partners, and approval of sexual intimacy in many types of relationships. Significant predictors of physical aggression were prior use of physical aggression during adolescence, witnessing and experiencing parental aggression, being a victim of physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships, weak emotional ties, low levels of alcohol/drug use, and opportunity to aggress. A developmental model of aggression in which childhood experiences with family violence contribute to the likelihood of subsequent involvement in relationship violence seems appropriate. Past experience with aggression may be particularly important for women. Cultural expectations about women's roles do not provide the social support for female aggression that is provided for male aggression. Adolescent sexual victimizations and general involvement in conflictual relationships (as target and perpetrator) predicted subsequent verbal aggression, whereas experiencing family violence and sustaining physical aggression in romantic relationships predicted subsequent physical aggression. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Atmosphere in an urban nightlife setting: A case study of the relationship between the socio‐physical context and aggressive behavior

Aggression is strongly influenced by the surrounding socio‐physical context, and the development of aggressive behavior is best understood through a continuous cycle of ongoing person‐environment interactions. Empirical studies, nevertheless, have been predominantly conducted in the laboratory, studying aggression as a short‐lived phenomenon, emerging from and within an individual, and – with situational factors studied in isolation – devoid of its context. The present field study, conducted in an urban nightlife area, complements this research. A qualitative, multi‐method approach was followed by thematic analysis to investigate ongoing behavioral patterns of the crowd vis‐à‐vis the changes in the context that co‐occurred with the development of unwanted behaviors, including aggression. In our study, we identified atmosphere as a dynamic and mood‐like, but extra‐individual state of the socio‐physical setting related to the development of aggression. Our results suggest that atmosphere affects the behavior of groups and individuals by emerging from and feeding into ongoing interactions between people and the environment. At the individual level, it appears to play its part as proximate determinant of behavior; at the crowd level it reflects the synergetic product of all those persons’ states, behaviors and interactions. Implications for aggression theory and for applications aimed at curbing aggression are discussed.     

Intrafamily Aggression in Turkey: Frequency,Instigation, and Acceptance

Abstract

The present study was designed (a) to determine the frequency of aggression within different pairs of family members, (b) to define actions that may be construed as instigations of intrafamily aggression when committed by different members of the family, and (c) to investigate acceptance rates for different types of aggression from and toward different family members as reactions to different instigations. Questionnaires were administered verbally to 185 Turkish men and women between the ages of 14 and 75. The reported frequency of aggression was highest in mother-child relationships. Reported frequencies were higher for milder acts of aggression than for harsher acts. Content analyses of definitions of different actions that could be construed as instigations for aggression varied, depending on the person performing the act. Variations were consistent with power differences within the family and with gender stereotypes. The acceptance rate for intrafamily aggression was higher for verbal than for physical aggression and showed variations, depending on the nature of the instigation. Discussion focused on the relationship between intrafamily aggression and control.     

Teacher and Parent Perceptions of Relational and Physical Aggression During Early Childhood

Although links have been found between parents’ and teachers’ (caregivers’) attitudes about aggressive behavior, their responses to aggressive behaviour in children, and those children’s own use of aggressive behaviour, most research has focused on primary and secondary school contexts and has examined the influence of parents and teachers separately. The current study explored both parents’ and teachers’ beliefs and intervention strategies for relational and physical aggression in early childhood settings. Teachers (N?=?18; Mage?=?34.8 years) and parents (N?=?68; Mage?=?32.2 years) were presented with vignettes portraying relational and physical aggression. Following each vignette, their perceptions of the seriousness of the act, empathy for the victim, likelihood to intervene, and intervention strategies used to respond to each vignette were assessed. Teachers were also interviewed about examples of aggression that have been seen in preschool age children. Results indicated that caregivers viewed relational compared to physical aggression as more normative, and had less empathy for, and were less likely to intervene in instances of relationally aggressive behaviour. They also recommended more passive intervention strategies towards relationally aggressive children and more direct strategies towards physically aggressive children. Interview responses indicated that teachers perceived the primary cause of aggression to be related to developmental characteristics of the child. Implications for how these findings about adult–child interactions impact the development of relational and physical aggression are discussed.     

Don’t look back in anger: A cross-sectional and dyadic examination of the Dark Triad,anger, and aggression in athletes

ObjectivesThe Dark Triad (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) has been linked to anti-social behaviour in sport, and while anti-social behaviour often involves aggression and violence, no research to date has examined the relationship between the Dark Triad and anger and aggression in athletes. The current two-sample study sought to address this gap.DesignMulti-sample cross-sectional design.MethodSample 1 included 224 athletes (M_AGE = 23.85) and Sample 2 included 98 coach-athlete dyads (196 total; athlete M_AGE = 18.15, coaches M_AGE = 34.84). In both samples, facets of the Dark Triad were related to anger and aggression.ResultsIn Sample 1, regression analyses indicated that psychopathy positively predicted both anger and aggression and Machiavellianism positively predicted aggression. In Sample 2, actor-partner interdependence models indicated a combination of dyadic relationships (i.e., both actor [coach and athlete personality predicted their own anger and aggression] and partner effects [coach and athlete personality predicted the other’s anger and aggression]). In this regard, actor effects were found between psychopathy and both anger and aggression and narcissism and aggression. Coach to athlete partner effects were found for narcissism and anger and Machiavellianism and aggression.ConclusionsOverall, the findings provide evidence for personal and interpersonal relationships between the Dark Triad and anger and aggression and highlight the potential for the darker side of both athlete and coach personality to influence athlete emotions.     

Time-Out for Sibling Aggression: An Analysis of Effective Durations in a Natural Setting

Abstract

Time-out is a ubiquitous strategy to reduce problem behaviors. The current study sought to find the shortest effective duration(s) of time-out for sibling aggression in a community sample of girls ages 3–7. All participants reached a minimum reduction in sibling aggression of 60% after experiencing a 1-minute time-out. The majority (75%) of participants also demonstrated clear reversals of behavior when returned to the baseline condition. The current findings suggest that a 1-minute time-out may be sufficient for low-level sibling aggression in children as old as seven. Limitations include the presence of a graduate assistant during sibling play and unclear generalizability.     

The Proof is in the Punch: Gender Differences in Perceptions of Action and Aggression as Components of Manhood

Two studies test the hypotheses that men, relative to women: 1) see manhood as a more elusive, impermanent state than womanhood, and 2) understand aggression as a means of proving or re-establishing threatened manhood, but not threatened womanhood. In Study 1 (N?=?175 Northeastern U.S. undergraduates), men’s (but not women’s) sentence completions revealed tendencies to define manhood by actions and womanhood by enduring traits. In Study 2 (N?=?113 Southeastern U.S. undergraduates), men were more likely than women to explain a man’s physical aggression in primarily situational terms, whereas men and women did not differ in the attributions they made for a woman’s physical aggression. Results suggest that men perceive active and aggressive behaviors as integral parts of manhood and its defense.     

Beyond the aggregate score: Using multilevel modeling to examine trajectories of laboratory-measured aggression

Aggression is often measured in the laboratory as an iterative “tit-for-tat” sequence, in which two aggressors repeatedly inflict retaliatory harm upon each other. Aggression researchers typically quantify aggression by aggregating across participants’ aggressive behavior on such iterative encounters. However, this “aggregate approach” cannot capture trajectories of aggression across the iterative encounters and needlessly eliminates rich information in the form of within-participant variability. As an alternative approach, I used multilevel modeling (MLM) to examine the slope of aggression across the 25-trial Taylor Aggression Paradigm as a function of trait physical aggression and experimental provocation. Across two preregistered studies (combined N = 392), participants exhibited a modest decline in aggression. This decline reflected a reciprocal strategy, in which participants responded to an initially-provocative opponent with greater aggression that then decreased over time to match their opponent's declining levels of aggression. Against predictions, trait physical aggression and experimental provocation did not affect participants’ overall trajectories of aggression. Yet, exploratory analyses suggested that the participants’ tendency to reciprocate their opponent's aggression with more aggression was greater at higher levels of trait physical aggression and attenuated among participants who had already been experimentally provoked by their opponent. These findings (a) illustrate several advantages of an MLM approach as compared with an aggregate approach to iterative laboratory aggression paradigms; (b) demonstrate that the magnifying effects of trait aggression and experimental provocation on laboratory aggression are stable over brief time-frames; and (c) suggest that modeling the opponent's behavior on such tasks reveals important information.     

Simulating Natural History: Walking with Dinosaurs as Hyper-Real Edutainment

Abstract

Real-world experiments that test new technologies can affect policy and practice by introducing new objects of intervention through tinkering; the ad hoc work of realigning relations in the face of frictions, surprises, and disturbances that occur when introducing a technology. In a pilot study on aggression detection, tinkering moved aggression in and out of the human body. In the end, the pilot defined aggression as a set of acoustic-physical variables representing the aroused human body, alongside other signals of aggression. How aggression as an object intervention was shaped by tinkering is relevant because it involved inclusions and exclusions by the authorities who identified aggression, the methods they applied, and mandate for intervention. A focus on relations that are tinkered within a real-world experiment permits critical engagement with this format. Although the real-world experimental format is credited with producing knowledge about a technology's ‘actual’ performance, actors and events at the pilot study location were made only selectively relevant. Analyses of real-world experiments should therefore explain how experiments selectively make the world relevant, giving only particular objects of intervention a truth status.     

Distancing and Solidarity as Resistance to Sexual Objectification in a Nude Dancing Bar

ABSTRACT

Drawing on observation and interviews in a mid-Atlantic nude dancing bar, I examine front-stage customer-dancer relations as well as dancers' discourse among themselves backstage. I use James Scott's theoretical framework regarding subordinate group resistance strategies to analyze dancers' attempts to resist customers' harassment. On the micro-level dancers exercise agency, reconstructing their identities within the larger context of macro-level oppression. Dancers' front stage tactics include spatial distancing, verbal one-liners, physical aggression, calling on customers, and united action with other dancers. Backstage, dancers reframe the public text, articulating their own identity construction by creating a social site for solidarity and desexualizing the body.     

Measuring aggressiveness and anger,but not aggression? A response to the CAAS critique

ObjectivesThe Competitive Aggressiveness and Anger Scale (CAAS) was developed to measure antecedents of aggression in sport. The critique attacks the CAAS on three points: (1) the definition of aggression in sport adopted, (2) the “one size fits all” element in the thinking behind the scale's development, (3) the nature of the CAAS Anger and Aggressiveness items. The objectives of this response is to address misunderstandings in the critique.MethodsWe identified a number of false assumptions that undermine the validity of the critique and attempt to clarify our position with respect to the criticisms made.Results(1) The CAAS is being criticised for a definition that it did not use. (2) We accepted that the CAAS may not be suitable for everyone in our limitations section and fully accept the limitations of any scale. We have since undertaken a large research project to establish whether the scale is valid across and within specific sports. (3) The fundamental misunderstanding inherent throughout the critique is that the CAAS was designed as a measure of aggression, rather than anger and aggressiveness, rendering the critique of its items redundant.ConclusionsThe critique misrepresents the authors of the CAAS and fails to present a coherent argument against its use. We hope to clarify our position here. The evidence to date suggests that the CAAS is a valid measure of anger and aggressiveness in many sports and that these concepts reliably differentiate players who admit unsanctioned aggression from those who do not.     

Daily relations between social perceptions and physical activity among college women

ObjectivesThere is a need to develop more effective physical activity (PA) promotion programs for college women. Theory and evidence suggest that perceptions of the social environment play a role in college women’s PA, though little is known about how these perceptions are associated with PA at the day level. The goal of this study was to examine relations between changes in college women’s daily social perceptions and objectively assessed PA over seven days.DesignDaily diary method.MethodCollege women (n = 80, M_Age = 20, M_BMI = 23.1 kg/m²) wore Fitbit wristbands and completed daily self-reports of (1) the quantity and perceived intensity of their social interactions (positive/negative), and (2) the occurrence of social comparisons (based on appearance/health/status) for seven days.ResultsMultilevel models showed daily variability in predictors and outcomes (ps < 0.0001), as well as relations between within-person changes in social perceptions and PA. Increases in negative interactions (particularly those with friends) were consistently associated with decreases in daily PA, whereas increases in positive interactions showed limited relations (srs = −0.22-0.34). Days with health comparisons were days with greater PA for women who had stronger overall interest in comparisons, but were days with less PA for women with weaker overall interest (srs = 0.22–0.33). PA did not differ between days with vs. without appearance comparisons.ConclusionsSocial perceptions show meaningful day-to-day variability and relations with college women’s daily PA, and specific associations may be useful for improving tailored interventions for college women.     

Is the relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression necessarily U-shaped?

Recent research by Perez, Vohs, and Joiner [Perez, M., Vohs, K. D., & Joiner, T. E., Jr. (2005). Discrepancies between self- and other-esteem as correlates of aggression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 607–620] has supported a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression in a sample of 140 undergraduates. The present study attempted to replicate this effect with a sample size more than 12 times larger. Thus, 1781 undergraduates completed items from Rosenberg’s [Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University] Self-Esteem Scale and from the Physical Aggression subscale of Buss and Perry’s [Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. (1992). The Aggression Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 452–459] Aggression Questionnaire. The results did not support a U-shaped relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression; if anything, they supported an inverted U-shaped one, such that the simple relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression became more negative and as self-esteem increased. Controlling for gender strengthened these effects, consistent with a pattern of mutual suppression between gender and self-esteem.     

When winning is everything: On passion, identity, and aggression in sport

ObjectivesTo examine the interplay between harmonious and obsessive passion and aggressive behavior in sports. It was hypothesized that players who are obsessively-passionate about basketball should report higher levels of aggressive behaviors than harmoniously-passionate players in general, and especially under self threat.MethodsUsing the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al. (2003), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 756–767) as a guiding framework, basketball players indicated their level of passion and aggression during typical basketball situations using a self-reported questionnaire.ResultsIn Study 1, results demonstrated that athletes with a predominant obsessive passion for basketball reported higher levels of aggression on an aggression scale than athletes with a harmonious passion. In Study 2, harmoniously-passionate and obsessively-passionate athletes were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: self-threat and self-affirmation. We predicted that under self-threat, obsessively-passionate players should report higher levels of aggressive behavior than harmoniously-passionate players. However, no differences were expected between obsessively and harmoniously-passionate players in the self-affirmation condition. These hypotheses were supported.ConclusionsThe present findings reveal that having an obsessive passion is associated with aggressive behavior, especially under identity threat. Thus, the love for one's sport may lead to some maladaptive interpersonal behavior, especially if such love is rooted in a sense of identity that is contingent on doing well in that sport.     

Is bad intent negligible? Linking victim justice sensitivity,hostile attribution bias,and aggression

The hostile attribution bias (HAB) is a well‐established risk factor for aggression. It is considered part of the suspicious mindset that may cause highly victim‐justice sensitive individuals to behave uncooperatively. Thus, links of victim justice sensitivity (JS) with negative behavior, such as aggression, may be better explained by HAB. The present study tested this hypothesis in N = 279 German adolescents who rated their JS, HAB, and physical, relational, verbal, reactive, and proactive aggression. Victim JS predicted physical, relational, verbal, reactive, and proactive aggression when HAB was controlled. HAB only predicted physical and proactive aggression. There were no moderator effects. Injustice seems an important reason for aggression irrespective of whether or not it is intentionally caused, particularly among those high in victim JS. Thus, victim JS should be considered as a potential important risk factor for aggression and receive more attention by research on aggression and preventive efforts.

     

The Effect of Social and Situational Factors on the Intended Response to Aggression Among Adolescents

ABSTRACT

In this study, I explored intended response to aggression among adolescents. I drew hypotheses from social identity theory, cost/benefit considerations, and social information processing model. I asked 217 Jewish and Muslim male adolescents in this study to assess their intended use of aggression in 12 hypothetical conflict situations (vignettes), in which I manipulated the opponent's religion, gender, acquaintance, and severity of aggression. I mainly found that male adolescents respond to aggression by same-religion opponents more moderately than to cross-religion aggression; their response is more moderate to cross-gender aggression than to same-gender aggression; response is more moderate to the aggression of familiar opponents than to that of unfamiliar ones; and response is less severe toward moderate than toward severe aggression.     

Boys’ and Girls’ Relational and Physical Aggression in Nine Countries

Distinguishing between relational and physical aggression has become a key feature of many developmental studies in North America and Western Europe, but very little information is available on relational and physical aggression in more diverse cultural contexts. This study examined the factor structure of, associations between, and gender differences in relational and physical aggression in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Children ages 7–10 years (N = 1,410) reported on their relationally and physically aggressive behavior. Relational and physical aggression shared a common factor structure across countries. In all nine countries, relational and physical aggression were significantly correlated (average r = .49). Countries differed in the mean levels of both relational and physical aggression that children reported using and with respect to whether children reported using more physical than relational aggression or more relational than physical aggression. Boys reported being more physically aggressive than girls across all nine countries; no consistent gender differences emerged in relational aggression. Despite mean‐level differences in relational and physical aggression across countries, the findings provided support for cross‐country similarities in associations between relational and physical aggression as well as links between gender and aggression. Aggr. Behav. 38:298‐308, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.