The Hand Test and Other Aggression Indicators in Emotionally Disturbed Children

The Hand Test is a projective technique yielding an Acting Out Score (AOS) which the test authors feel is useful as a predictor of aggressive, acting-out behavior. This study produced data regarding the stability of AOS, the relation of AOS to another projective device used to assess aggressive potential and the ability of AOS to predict teacher ratings of acting-out behavior among emotionally disturbed pre-adolescents. Results indicate that for this sample of Ss the AOS lacks stability as a measurement construct, does not correlate with another projective measure of aggressive potential and is not a useful predictor of acting-out behavior as rated by teachers of emotionally disturbed pre-adolescents.     

Prediction of Recidivism among Juvenile Delinquents with the Hand Test

In a preliminary investigation of the predictive validity of the Hand Test, the AOS significantly differentiated delinquent recidivists from non-recidivists, correctly categorizing 66 per cent of the Ss. The AGG score also significantly differentiated the two groups.     

Hand test AGG and AOS variables: relation with teacher rating of aggressiveness

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the Hand Test (Wagner, 1983) variables Aggression (AGG) and the Acting Out Score (AOS) were able to differentiate a group of children who were identified as aggressive and referred for psychological assessment by their teachers from a nonreferred, control group. Hand Test scores of 37 children who had consecutive referrals for psychological assessment because of aggressiveness were compared to the Hand Test scores of 37 children, matched on age and sex, from a nonreferred group. Through the use of an analysis of variance, AOS and AGG were found to significantly differentiate between the two groups. Spearman (rho) correlations between AGG and AOS scores with aggressive-referred status were rho = .45, p = .0001, and rho = .32, p = .006, respectively. Also, diagnostic efficiency statistics demonstrated moderate to high overall correct classification rates for AOS > or = 0 and AGG > or = 2 in identifying children in the aggressive-referred group. The results of this study provide support for the validity of the AGG and AOS scores in the assessment of aggressive behavior in children and demonstrate the utility of the Hand Test to identify aggressive tendencies in children.     

Validation of Two Hand Test Indices of Aggressive Behavior an Institutional Setting

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness of the Hand Test (Wagner, 1962/1983) in differentiating among mentally retarded adults placed in community housing versus those discharged from an institution due to violent and destructive behavior. Hand Test protocols of 24 mentally retarded adults who were discharged from an institution for violent and destructive behavior were compared with those of 12 mentally retarded adults who were placed in community housing, with regard to the presence of two indices of aggressive behavior (the acting-out score, AOS, and the movement response, ACT-MOV). Results indicated that 20 of the 24 residents discharged for aggressive behavior manifested one or more of the signs, whereas only 3 of the 12 residents discharged to a less restrictive environment exhibited one or more of the signs. The findings further demonstrate the usefulness of the Hand Test in predicting violent and destructive behavior in an institutional setting.     

Validation of two Hand Test indices of aggressive behavior in an institutional setting

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness of the Hand Test (Wagner, 1962/1983) in differentiating among mentally retarded adults placed in community housing versus those discharged from an institution due to violent and destructive behavior. Hand Test protocols of 24 mentally retarded adults who were discharged from an institution for violent and destructive behavior were compared with those of 12 mentally retarded adults who were placed in community housing, with regard to the presence of two indices of aggressive behavior (the acting-out score, AOS, and the movement response, ACT-MOV). Results indicated that 20 of the 24 residents discharged for aggressive behavior manifested one or more of the signs, whereas only 3 of the 12 residents discharged to a less restrictive environment exhibited one or more of the signs. The findings further demonstrate the usefulness of the Hand Test in predicting violent and destructive behavior in an institutional setting.     

Hand Test indices of violent and destructive behavior for institutionalized mental retardates.

The Hand Test (Wagner, 1962) and the maladaptive behavior scale of the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale (ABS) were administered to 78 institutionalized retardates (46 males and 32 females) in order to investigate the relationship between violent and destructive behavior and two purported indicants of violent and destructive acting-out behavior on the Hand Test, the acting-out-score (AOS and movement-content response (ACT-MOV). Significant correlations between the two Hand Test indices and the number of types of violent and destructive behavior evinced during a three-month period were obtained.     

The Factor Structure of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: An Alternative View

Wagner and Copper (1963) reported high discriminative power for one score (the ACTivity score) of the Wagner Hand Test between (unskilled and semi-skilled) workers at Goodwill Industries, Akron, Ohio who had been rated “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory” by their superiors.

An attempt to crossvalidate this finding, in a three-group design, in a large Western Canadian Plywood mill failed to produce the expected relationship; neither the ACT score, nor any of the other scores derived from this test showed any consistent trend in terms of postdicting activity level, or general acceptability of the 18 Ss involved in this study.     

Evaluation apprehension and response withholding in solution of anagrams

Sixty male Ss who were classified as high or low scorers on the Sarason Test Anxiety Scale performed a difficult anagrams task either alone, before a passively observing experimenter or in the presence of an experimenter who both observed and evaluated the S's performance. Ss who were high in test anxiety attempted fewer anagrams and had fewer correct solutions in the Evaluated condition than in the Alone condition, but also had a higher proportion of correct solutions out of total attempts. Low test-anxiety Ss did not show variable performance across conditions for any measure. Follow-up studies showed that when Ss were encouraged to attempt partial solutions neither test anxiety nor experimental treatment influenced any of the measures of performance. State anxiety change scores from baseline to post-treatment assessment showed a generally negative correlation between anxiety and number of anagrams attempted. The results indicate that fear of failure engendered by test anxiety and experimenter evaluation caused Ss to withhold responding.     

Projection,Play and Poetry

Ninety-two elderly Ss ranging in age from 57 to 92 were examined in an effort to find a battery of psychological tests which would effectively measure their level of intactness or deterioration of function. Five tests were used: the Rorschach, Gesell Incomplete Man Test, Bender Gestalt, Monroe's Visual Three, and the Color Tree Test. Ss were identified as normal adult, intact presenile, medium presenile and deteriorated on the basis of their Rorschach response. To check on the adequacy of this sorting, responses of each group were averaged for each of the other four tests. Differences between the several groups, on every test, were significant at the .001 level as measured by the median test.     

Performance on the Marlowe-Crowne Scale and its Perceived Purpose

Performance on the Marlowe-Crowne Scale was compared for Ss who saw the test as a measure of honesty, self-awareness or social desirability (Honesty group) as compared to those who saw it as a measure of some other attribute (Other group). Using two measures to assess test perception, Ss in the Other group were found, as predicted, to have higher Marlowe-Crowne scores than those in the Honesty group.     

Test-retest reliability of the Hand Test with normal subjects

The Hand Test (Wagner, 1962) was administered to 71 subjects; 14 days later these subjects were again administered the Hand Test. Results indicated the Hand Test is a highly reliable measure of an individual's behavioral action tendencies.     

A Study of Friendship Choices in College in Relation to Church Affiliation,in-Church Preferences,Family Size,and Length of Enrollment in College

Summary

The purpose of the present study was to compare the body-buffer zones of 15 violent and 15 nonviolent male colored prisoners in South Africa, both between and within each group, and to make cross-cultural comparisons between the present and previous data. The mean age of the Ss in the violent group was 33.0 years, and 32.4 years in the nonviolent group. The body-buffer zone was measured by means of a behavioral task, and the results supported previous findings in that the violent Ss had significantly larger mean zones than the violent ones (p < .01). However, the zones for the present Ss were considerably larger than those of Ss used in previous studies, a fact that may be ascribed to cultural differences.     

Psychopathy and the ability to read the “language of the eyes”: Divergence in the psychopathy construct

The capacity to interpret others people's behavior and mental states is a vital part of human social communication. This ability, also called mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM), may also serve as a protective factor against aggression and antisocial behavior. This study investigates the relationship between two measures of psychopathy (clinical assessment and self‐report) and the ability to identify mental states from photographs of the eye region. The participants in the study were 92 male inmates at Bergen prison, Norway. The results showed some discrepancy in connection to assessment methodology. For the self‐report (SRP‐III), we found an overall negative association between mental state discrimination and psychopathy, while for the clinical instrument (PCL‐R) the results were more mixed. For Factor 1 psychopathic traits (interpersonal and affective), we found positive associations with discrimination of neutral mental states, but not with the positive or negative mental states. Factor 2 traits (antisocial lifestyle) were found to be negatively associated with discrimination of mental states. The results from this study demonstrate a heterogeneity in the psychopathic construct where psychopathic traits related to an antisocial and impulsive lifestyle are associated with lower ability to recognize others' mental states, while interpersonal and affective psychopathic traits are associated with a somewhat enhanced ability to recognize others' emotional states.     

Hemispheric asymmetries: Individual-difference measures for aptitude-treatment interactions?

To provide coverging support that the proper integration of analog and propositional representational systems is associated with spatial ability, visual, auditory and bimodal brain event-related potentials were recorded from 50 right-handed Caucasian males. Sensory interaction indices were derived for these Ss who had taken the Surface Development Test of spatial ability. Product-moment correlations were computed between sensory interaction indices for eight cerebral sites and spatial ability test scores. Sensory interaction for left- and right-hemispheric regions was significantly related to spatial ability. As sensory suppression lessened, spatial ability increased. The results substantiated the theory that the visual-imaginal-analog and the auditory-verbal-propositional representational systems are implicated in spatial ability. The extent to which the cortex can inhibit or attenuate the interaction or integration between these dual-symbol systems is associated with complicated spatial task performance.     

Reverse Discrimination and Aggressive Behavior

Aggression of each of 32 white male and female university students toward an opponent who had just defeated him in a competition was assessed in a 2 x 2 experimental design in which the winning opponent was either a black or a white and the loss was for one of two reasons: because the opponent 1) was economically deprived or 2) had superior ability. It was assumed that those S s who had lost to a black opponent because this person was economically deprived experienced reverse discrimination based on race. Results indicated that white S s were more aggressive toward a black when the loss was based on economic deprivation (reverse discrimination) than towards a white when the loss was due to economic deprivation (an arbitrary loss but not based on race), whereas white S s were less aggressive towards a black opponent than towards a white opponent when the S s lost because of the other's superior ability. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Effects of nutritional supplements on aggression,rule‐breaking,and psychopathology among young adult prisoners

Objective: In an earlier study, improvement of dietary status with food supplements led to a reduction in antisocial behavior among prisoners. Based on these earlier findings, a study of the effects of food supplements on aggression, rule‐breaking, and psychopathology was conducted among young Dutch prisoners. Methods: Two hundred and twenty‐one young adult prisoners (mean age=21.0, range 18–25 years) received nutritional supplements containing vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids or placebos, over a period of 1–3 months. Results: As in the earlier (British) study, reported incidents were significantly reduced (P=.017, one‐tailed) in the active condition (n=115), as compared with placebo (n=106). Other assessments, however, revealed no significant reductions in aggressiveness or psychiatric symptoms. Conclusion: As the incidents reported concerned aggressive and rule‐breaking behavior as observed by the prison staff, the results are considered to be promising. However, as no significant improvements were found in a number of other (self‐reported) outcome measures, the results should be interpreted with caution. Aggr. Behav. 36:117–126, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Theory of Mind and conduct problems in children: Deficits in reading the “emotions of the eyes”

A significant clinical feature of disorders of antisocial behaviour involves difficulties in social functioning. It has been suggested that deficits in “theory of mind” (ToM) reasoning—the ability to decode others’ emotions and thoughts—may underlie social difficulties in these populations. Success in demonstrating ToM impairment associated with antisocial behaviour and psychopathy in adults and children have been limited. In the current study, parent-reported conduct problems were concurrently measured with performance on an advanced test of ToM developed for children, the Child Eyes Test (Journal of Developmental and Learning Disorders, 5, 47–78). Preadolescent and young adolescent children (n=79) drawn from a community sample were required to identify emotions from photographic stimuli depicting the eye region of the face only. Findings suggested a generalised impairment in ToM in children with conduct problems, as indicated by a significant relationship between poor Eyes Test performance and conduct problems, even when IQ, sex and age were controlled for. The findings are discussed in the context of the amygdala theory of psychopathy, and the neural systems suggested to mediate performance on the Eyes Test.     

Latent Profile Analysis of Psychopathy in Chinese Female Offenders

The present study aimed to identify meaningful subtypes of psychopathy among Chinese female offenders. A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) based on the scores of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathic Scale was performed in a sample of Chinese female prisoners (N?=?279, M age?=?45.43, SD?=?8.62). The LPA yielded three profiles: “low psychopathy group” (27.6%), “moderate psychopathy group” (66.7%), and “high egocentricity and antisocial group” (5.7%). These profiles differed on all outcome variables including anxiety, depression, reactive aggression, and proactive aggression. The high egocentricity and antisocial group had a greater risk for anxiety, recidivism, impulsiveness, and aggression. Overall, the findings support the existence of psychopathy subtypes in non-Western cultural contexts, suggest gender similarities in the manifestation of psychopathy traits, and further the understanding of psychopathy typologies.

     

Childhood Social Predictors of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior: Gender Differences in Predictive Accuracy and Efficacy

This study examined the ability of several childhood, school-based, social variables to correctly classify antisocial adolescents. Children (N = 314; 163 boys, 151 girls) in the 3rd–5th grade were assessed on academic and social variables (i.e., peer rejection, aggression, withdrawal, and low prosocial behavior) and followed forward for 6–7 years until the 9th and 10th grade. Adolescent antisocial outcomes included a consensus measure formed from diagnostic interviews, contact with juvenile authorities, adolescent self-report, and mother's report. The gender-differential predictive accuracy and efficacy of the early predictor domains to a consensus measure of antisocial behavior were compared with the same estimates found for adolescent self-report of antisocial behavior. Both gender and criterion-method differences were found. For girls, regardless of the measure of antisocial behavior, early academic problems were the strongest predictors of future problems. For boys' self-reported antisocial outcomes, peer rejection was the strongest independent predictor. For consensus-reported antisocial outcomes, both early fighting–anger and withdrawn behavior displayed equally strong predictive relations. For boys, the combination of early fighting–anger and disruptive and withdrawn behavior was the strongest set of predictors for the consensus measure of antisocial functioning. Predictive accuracy and efficacy estimates are discussed in terms of predictive strength as well as the cost–benefit of misidentification.     

Factor Analysis of the Dutch-Language Version of the MCMI–III

The reliability and validity of the Road Test was evaluated, using 330 Ss varying in the number of poorly planned geographic movements (flights). Scoring criteria were developed on an independent sample. Interjudge reliabilities were .81 or above (mean = .92). Groups were differentiated on emotional expression and time span. Males and females differed in emotional expression, philosophical attitude toward life, and personal reference. It was concluded that the Road Test could be of value as a measure of life orientation and emotional expression when used in conjunction with other psychological assessment methods.