Temper, temperature, and temptation: heat-related retaliation in baseball

In this study, we analyzed data from 57,293 Major League Baseball games to test whether high temperatures interact with provocation to increase the likelihood that batters will be hit by a pitch. Controlling for a number of other variables, we conducted analyses showing that the probability of a pitcher hitting a batter increases sharply at high temperatures when more of the pitcher's teammates have been hit by the opposing team earlier in the game. We suggest that high temperatures increase retaliation by increasing hostile attributions when teammates are hit by a pitch and by lowering inhibitions against retaliation.     

Ethnicity,gender, and evaluations of aggression

In order to investigate some of the ways in which ethnicity and gender influence interpretations of aggression, 363 Anglo and Hispanic university students responded to a questionnaire soliciting their evaluations of aggression in three situations. Consistent with previous research and with the stereotype of machismo, Hispanics, particularly Hispanic males, were more likely to endorse some aggressive behaviors than Anglos. However, the same pattern of gender influences emerged for both ethnic groups. As predicted, males were more aggressive and more supportive of fighting back and punishing an aggressor than females, whereas females were more likely to show self-control about aggression and to endorse restraint. Respondents, particularly males, said that they would behave more aggressively toward a male, and they encouraged a male to behave more aggressively. These results are consistent with the social constructionist view that performance and evaluations of aggression are largely influenced by cultural factors. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Frequency-dependent performance and handedness in professional baseball players (Homo sapiens)

I used data on handedness and pitching and hitting performance in annual cohorts of professional baseball players (1957-2005) to test the hypothesis that handedness among pitchers was subject to negative frequency-dependent selection. As predicted by this hypothesis, right-handed pitchers were more successful (i.e., opposing batters hit more poorly against them) when they were relatively rare in the population. Contrary to the predictions of this hypothesis, however, left-handed pitchers were more successful when they were relatively common. Both right- and left-handed batters performed better in years dominated by right-handed pitchers, despite the fact that right-handed batters perform relatively poorly against right-handed pitchers. I suggest that batters form cognitive representations based on pitcher handedness, and that these representations are strengthened by repeated exposure or priming. When the pitcher handedness polymorphism is more balanced (e.g., 67% right-handed, 33% left-handed), these cognitive representations are less effective, which leads to decreased batting averages and improved performance by all pitchers. Furthermore, these cognitive representations are likely to be more critical to the success of right-handed hitters, who have reduced visuomotor skills relative to left-handed hitters.     

Violence and race in professional baseball: Getting better or getting worse?

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between race and violence in the context of professional baseball. Specifically, I used the number of times a batter was hit by a pitch (per plate appearance) as an indicator of being the victim of an indirect violent act. Archival data were gathered from 4,273 players from 1950 to 1997, yielding 27,022 individual records. Even after controlling for player ability and league rules, race was a significant predictor of being hit. Specifically, from 1950 to 1997, the rate at which Blacks were hit was approximately 7.5% greater than the rate for Whites. The rate at which Hispanics were hit was approximately 7.6% greater than the rate for Whites. Testing year as a moderator revealed that the Black‐White difference was much greater in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1970 to 1989, race was not a significant predictor of being hit. Contrary to the hypotheses, from 1990 to 1997, Whites and Hispanics were hit at a significantly higher rate than Blacks (23.0% and 29.0%, respectively). Additional analyses revealed no relationship between pitcher race and batter race in hit‐by‐pitch events from 1997 to 1999. The findings are discussed with respect to group threat theory and the distinction between covert and overt aggression. Aggr. Behav. 28:109–116, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

No expectation bias in elite-level cricket umpires’ leg-before-wicket (LBW) decisions according to batting order position

ObjectivesPrevious studies have shown that sport officials’ decisions can be impacted by biases associated with expectations. The aim of this study was to determine whether elite cricket umpires’ decisions are also influenced by expectations associated with batter skill.MethodsLBW decisions (n = 5578) from actual elite level cricket matches in Australia between 2009 and 2016 were analysed in a multi-level binomial logistic regression paradigm. In our first model, we predicted the likelihood that an umpire will answer ‘out’ for batters in the top order (1–4), middle order (5–7), and low order (8-11). In our second model, we controlled for the correctness of a decision.ResultsUmpires were more likely to respond ‘out’ as the batting order progressed, however this did not appear to be due to biased decision-making. Instead, as batting order progressed, batters were more likely to actually be ‘out’.ConclusionsCricket umpires do not seem to be impacted by expectation bias associated with batting order. This study highlights the importance of controlling for the correctness of a decision when exploring bias in sport officials’ decisions.     

Correlations for weight, height and two measures of batting performance.

The hypothesis that heavier baseball players are better batters was examined in two correlational studies of major league baseball players' performance. Neither height nor weight was significantly correlated with batting average. Both variables correlated significantly and positively with the number of home runs hit by American League players in the 1997 season. After partial correlations were computed, only the correlation between weight and number of home runs hit remained significant.     

Investigating honesty-humility and impulsivity as predictors of aggression in children and youth

Among adult and adolescent populations, the personality trait of honesty-humility (HH) has been linked to aggression. For example, adults low in HH have been found to exhibit higher levels of workplace delinquency and revenge motivation, and adolescent low in HH are more likely to bully others. However, there is a paucity of research examining this relationship in children and youth, and how these relationships develop over time. The current study addressed these gaps in the literature by assessing whether HH and impulsivity are independently associated with aggression in children Grades 3 through 8 (N = 1201). Using data from the two waves of a longitudinal project, autoregressive crossed-lagged path analysis was used to examine the bidirectional relationships between HH, impulsivity, and aggression over a 1-year period. Results revealed significant bidirectional relationships between HH and aggression, such that lower scores of HH at Time 1 were associated with higher scores of aggression at Time 2 and vice versa. Similarly, higher scores of impulsivity at Time 1 were associated with higher scores of aggression at Time 2 and vice versa. In addition, these relationships were strongest in boys and at higher ages. Consistent with research in other populations, these results indicate that low HH and high impulsivity are linked to aggression in children and youth. Further, our results demonstrate that HH and impulsivity bidirectionally impact aggression as one age, suggesting a need for early intervention.     

Anger,aggression, and risky behavior: a comparison of high and low anger drivers

This research tested hypotheses from state-trait anger theory applied to anger while driving. High and low anger drivers drove equally often and as many miles, but high anger drivers reported more frequent and intense anger and more aggression and risky behavior in daily driving, greater anger in frequently occurring situations, more frequent close calls and moving violations, and greater use of hostile/aggressive and less adaptive/constructive ways of expressing anger. In low impedance simulations, groups did not differ on state anger or aggression; however, high anger drivers reported greater state anger and verbal and physical aggression in high impedance simulations. High anger drivers drove at higher speeds in low impedance simulations and had shorter times and distances to collision and were twice as likely to crash in high impedance simulations. Additionally, high anger drivers were more generally angry. Hypotheses were generally supported, and few gender differences were noted for anger and aggression.     

Frustration,attribution of blame,and aggression

In contrast to most recent studies of human aggression, multiple measures of naturally occurring aggressive behavior were examined in a realistic and involving setting. Consistent with attributional formulations, it was found that aggression increased in accord with attributions of blame, and that more blame was attributed to another in response to inadequately justified thwartings than to adequately justified thwartings. As anticipated, anger, other-directed attributions of blame, and other-directed aggression were greatest in response to unjustified (illegitimate) thwartings. Justified (legitimate) thwartings produced intermediate anger and intermediate levels of blame and aggression internally and externally. Self-caused (internal) thwartings, ostensibly caused neither by the other's disposition nor by situational factors, produced the least anger and other-directed aggression but the most self-blame/self-aggression. In addition, unexpected thwartings produced independently more anger than did expected thwartings, and high-drive thwartings produced independently less other-directed aggression than did low-drive thwartings. The results are discussed with reference to both the need and the potential for studies of human aggression which employ more ecologically valid settings and measures of aggressive behavior.     

Justification of interpersonal aggression in Japanese,American, and Spanish students

Six hundred and thirty‐two university students of both sexes—242 Japanese (137 males and 105 females), 190 Spanish (71 males and 119 females), and 200 American (100 males and 100 females)—completed a questionnaire that examined their attitudes toward various kinds of aggression directed at other people in different situations that ranged from self‐defense to a method of overcoming communication problems. Factor analysis revealed three factors: physical aggression (killing, torture, and hitting), direct verbal aggression (shouting and rage), and indirect verbal aggression (being ironic and hindering). The basic factor structure of the Japanese, the Spanish, and the USA samples was similar. In all samples, men showed a higher justification of physical aggressive acts in any situation and of indirect verbal aggression in nondefensive circumstances. Cultural differences were found in the degree of justification of the three factors: in all kinds of situations, Japanese students showed a lower justification of indirect verbal aggression but a higher justification of direct verbal aggression than USA and Spain samples. Physical aggression in defensive situations is justified more by Americans than by Japanese and Spanish students. These findings suggest the existence of a common basic moral code about physical aggressive acts, but there seems to be a cultural influence on moral codes concerning verbal aggressive acts. Oriental cultures, with an interdependent construal of self, seem to be more permissive of direct verbal aggression compared with Western cultures, but they have less tolerance for indirect verbal aggression. There were practically no significant differences between American and Spanish scores. Aggr. Behav. 25:185–195, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Sex,race, and experiences of aggression

Most previous research on sex differences in experienced aggression has confounded the sex of the aggressor and of the target by considering married or dating couples. In the present study, black and white male and female college students were asked about specific acts of aggression which they had received from or directed toward a male or female. As predicted, males were likely to have both received and exhibited more forms of aggressive behavior, although females were somewhat more likely to have been honked at, to have been forced by a male to have sex, and to have slapped someone. Few racial differences were found, but it appeared that blacks might have been relatively more likely to exhibit physical aggression and whites to exhibit nonphysical aggression. Some differences were found in specific behaviors directed toward and received from males and females, but in general subjects said that they received more aggressive behaviors than they directed toward others. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Staying alive: evolution, culture, and women's intrasexual aggression

Females' tendency to place a high value on protecting their own lives enhanced their reproductive success in the environment of evolutionary adaptation because infant survival depended more upon maternal than on paternal care and defence. The evolved mechanism by which the costs of aggression (and other forms of risk taking) are weighted more heavily for females may be a lower threshold for fear in situations which pose a direct threat of bodily injury. Females' concern with personal survival also has implications for sex differences in dominance hierarchies because the risks associated with hierarchy formation in nonbonded exogamous females are not offset by increased reproductive success. Hence among females, disputes do not carry implications for status with them as they do among males, but are chiefly connected with the acquisition and defence of scarce resources. Consequently, female competition is more likely to take the form of indirect aggression or low-level direct combat than among males. Under patriarchy, men have held the power to propagate images and attributions which are favourable to the continuance of their control. Women's aggression has been viewed as a gender-incongruent aberration or dismissed as evidence of irrationality. These cultural interpretations have "enhanced" evolutionarily based sex differences by a process of imposition which stigmatises the expression of aggression by females and causes women to offer exculpatory (rather than justificatory) accounts of their own aggression.     

Cyberbullying,cyber aggression,and cyber victimization in relation to adolescents’ dating and sexual behavior: An evolutionary perspective

This study examined adolescents’ cyberbullying, cyber aggression, and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending previous research showing that traditional forms of bullying, aggression, and victimization are associated with reproductively relevant outcomes. Consistent with hypotheses based on theory and research linking bullying and aggression to intrasexual competition for mates, results indicated that cyber victimization was positively associated with a number of dating and sexual partners. Findings for cyber aggression were more complex, depending on the degree of cyber victimization experienced by the perpetrator, and the balance of power between the perpetrator and victim. Specifically, nonbullying cyber aggression by perpetrators with equal or less power than the victim had stronger positive relations with the number of dating or sexual partners when perpetrators experienced a high level of cyber victimhood. In contrast, cyberbullying by perpetrators with more power than the victim was negatively associated with the number of dating partners when the perpetrators’ exposure to cyber victimization was low. Although cyber aggression and cyber victimization are new forms of aggression that involve the use of modern electronic devices, the results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of viewing this behavior from an evolutionary perspective and show that adolescents are likely to use cyber aggression against rivals in the context of intrasexual competition for mates.     

Perception-action coupling and anticipatory performance in baseball batting

The authors examined 10 expert and 10 novice baseball batters' ability to distinguish between a fastball and a change-up in a virtual environment. They used 2 different response modes: (a) an uncoupled response in which the batters verbally predicted the type of pitch and (b) a coupled response in which the batters swung a baseball bat to try and hit the virtual ball. The authors manipulated visual information from the pitcher and ball in 6 visual conditions. The batters were more accurate in predicting the type of pitch when the response was uncoupled. In coupled responses, experts were better able to use the first 100 ms of ball flight independently of the pitcher's kinematics. In addition, the skilled batters' stepping patterns were related to the pitcher's kinematics, whereas their swing time was related to ball speed. Those findings suggest that specific task requirements determine whether a highly coupled perception-action environment improves anticipatory performance. The authors also highlight the need for research on interceptive actions to be conducted in the performer's natural environment.     

Associations between self-reported mindfulness,driving anger and aggressive driving

Anger and aggression on the roads is associated with how drivers evaluate the driving situation and the behaviour of other drivers. Consequently, both can be exacerbated when these evaluations are made superficially and/or when drivers have pre-existing negative schemas regarding certain types of road situations or users. Mindfulness is likely to have negative associations with anger and aggression because it promotes opposing appraisals. That is, it encourages emotion-regulation and involves acceptance of, but not reaction to, the current situation. To examine these associations, a total of 309 drivers responded to an online questionnaire assessing mindfulness, driving anger and aggressive driving. The results showed that mindfulness shared negative relationships with driving anger and self-reported aggressive driving. However, when these relationships were examined simultaneously using Structural Equation Modelling, mindfulness was found to relate only to anger and this, in turn, predicted aggressive driving. Further analysis showed that driving anger mediates the relationship between mindfulness and aggressive driving. These results suggest that mindfulness training may provide a promising intervention for drivers prone to driving anger and subsequent aggression.     

Withdrawal,matching, withdrawal-matching,and variable-matching strategies in reducing attack-instigated aggression

Several studies have investigated strategies that a participant in dyadic aggression may use to reduce the aggression of the other participant. In one set of these studies the subject is instigated to aggression by an opponent who sets maximum shocks for the subject to receive during the first block of six trials. Following attack-instigation, opponents shift to withdrawal and matching strategies for 18 trials. The withdrawal strategy is an abrupt shift to the lowest levels of shock possible. The matching strategy is the exact matching by an opponent of the shock set by the subject on the previous trial. With these procedures the withdrawal strategy has been the most effective method to reduce aggression. These results led to the suggestion that the effectiveness of the withdrawal strategy may be due to immediate, unambiguous communication by the opponent of his willingness to reduce attack. This hypothesis was tested in the present study by creating a matching condition modified to include immediate, unambiguous communication of willingness to reduce attack. In this withdrawal-matching condition the opponent followed attack with two trials of the lowest levels of shock before shifting to a matching strategy. Although the withdrawal-matching strategy did not lead to shock settings that were significantly lower than the matching strategy, there was evidence that subjects interacting with withdrawal-matching opponents did reduce their shock settings from block 1 to block 4 more rapidly than subjects interacting with matching opponents. A variable matching strategy was also used to provide a more realistic analogy of matching in the mundane world. While subjects with variable-matching opponents also did not set shock levels during blocks 2, 3, and 4 that were significantly lower than the matching strategy, there was evidence that subjects in this condition reduced their shock levels more rapidly than subjects with matching opponents. Although the effects were not as strong as expected, the results do provide some support for the interpretation that the effectiveness of the withdrawal strategy may be due to unambiguous communication of willingness by the opponent to reduce his or her aggression. The effectiveness of the variable-matching strategy was attributed to interrupting the tendency of the subject and his or her opponent to match each other's responses. Consistent with earlier attack-instigated aggression studies, the withdrawal strategy in the present study led to a rapid reduction in aggression.     

Emotional expressivity in men and women: Stereotypes and self-perceptions

Three studies were conducted to assess prevalent stereotypes regarding men's and women's emotional expressivity as well as self-perceptions of their emotional behaviour. Emotion profiles were employed to assess both modal emotional reactions and secondary emotional reactions to hypothetical events and personal experiences. In Study 1 we asked how men and women in general would react to a series of hypothetical emotional events. In Study 2 we asked how participants themselves expected to react to these same situations and in Study 3 we asked participants to report a personal emotional event in narrative form. Two gender differences emerged across all three studies. Specifically, women were expected to be more likely to react with sadness to negative emotion-eliciting events in general. They also expected themselves to be more likely to react with sadness as well as to cry and to withdraw more when experiencing negative emotional events. Finally, women report more sadness when describing personal events. In contrast, men were expected to react with more happiness/serenity during negative emotional situations. Also, they expect themselves to react more frequently this way as well as to laugh and smile more and to be more relaxed in negative situations. Finally, men tend to report more happiness when describing negative personal events. In sum, the present study gives a more detailed portrayal of how men and women are expected and expect themselves to react to specific emotional situations and presents some evidence that these expectations may influence the way they reconstruct emotional events from their past.     

Deindividuation,anonymity, and violence: findings from Northern Ireland

The author examined the relation between anonymity and aggression in violent interpersonal assaults that occurred in Northern Ireland. Of the 500 violent attacks that the author studied, 206 were carried out by offenders who wore disguises to mask their identities. The findings revealed that significant positive relationships existed between the use of disguises and several measures of aggression. Disguised offenders inflicted more serious physical injuries, attacked more people at the scene, engaged in more acts of vandalism, and were more likely to threaten victims after the attacks. The author discussed these results within the framework of deindividuation theory.     

Cross-modal source monitoring confusions between perceived and imagined events

Two experiments tested the prediction based on the source monitoring framework that imagination is most likely to lead to false memories when related perceived events have occurred. Consistent with this, people were more likely to falsely remember seeing events when the events had been both imagined as seen and actually heard than when they were just heard, just visually imagined, or imagined both visually and auditorily. Furthermore, when people considered potential sources for memories or more carefully evaluated features of remembered events, source errors were reduced. On average, misattributed ("false") memories differed in phenomenal qualities from true memories. Taken together, these findings show that as different qualities of mental experience flexibly enter into source attributions, qualities derived from related perceptual events are particularly likely to lead to false claims that imagined events were seen, even when the event involves a primary modality (auditory) different from the target event (visual).