Effect of timing of information about mitigating circumstances on emotional responses to provocation and retaliatory behavior

To determine whether the reduction of retaliatory behavior by knowledge of mitigating circumstances is due to less motivation to retaliate or to an inhibition of motivated retaliation, subjects were provoked by a rude experimenter and informed of mitigating conditions (a) before provocation, (b) after provocation, or (c) not at all. Physiological data revealed that prior knowledge of mitigation prevented pronounced excitatory responses to prococation. In contrast, when mitigating conditions were not known, excitatory responses to provocation were intense. In addition, when mitigating information was supplied after provocation, excitatory responses decayed more rapidly than when no such information was supplied. Retaliatory behavior, as measured in complaints about the rude experimenter, was substantially lower in the condition in which mitigation preceded provocation than in the other two conditions. The retaliatory behavior of subjects who were informed of mitigation after being provoked did not differ significantly from that of subjects who were not informed of mitigation. The findings were interpreted as incompatible with the assumption that under mitigating conditions retaliation is motivated but inhibited and as generally supportive of the proposal that mitigation attenuates the response to provocation. In order to explain the failure of the reception of mitigating information after provocation to reduce retaliatory behavior in spite of the observed facilitation of excitatory decay, it was suggested that when subjects were experiencing high levels of anger, they formed a behavioral disposition to retaliate, which outlasted the state of elevated arousal.     

Retaliatory equity as a factor in humor appreciation

Squelches depicting a protagonist who is provoked and who then retaliates against his provoker were manipulated to effect a variation in the degree of retaliation achieved: extreme underretaliation, underretaliation, fair retaliation, overretaliation, and extreme overretaliation. It was proposed that retaliatory equity, i.e., a situation in which the negative consequences inflicted upon the provoker by the retaliator are of a similar magnitude to the negative consequences initially inflicted upon the retaliator, constitutes an optimal condition for mirth, and that both types of retaliatory inequity, under- and overretaliation, impair humor appreciation in proportion to the magnitude of the resultant inequity. The findings fully supported these propositions.     

Beyond Nuclear Deterrence: the concept of a retributive policy

ABSTRACT The primary aim of the paper is to apply the concept of retribution to nuclear defence policy. Nuclear defence policy, as I conceive it, is concerned with addressing the threat Soviet nuclear weapons pose for Western security. I argue that, contrary to popular opinion, MAD is not a retributive doctrine—that in fact it violates two constitutive principles of retribution: culpability and proportionality. After explicating these constitutive principles, I apply them to retaliatory strategy—showing that the culpability criterion restricts retaliation to the agents of aggression while the proportionality criterion requires a just measure of retaliation. The result is a defence policy continuous with the just war tradition—one which rules out deterrence based on threats against the civilian population. I show why a retributive policy requires non-nuclear forces and discuss the feasiblity of replacing all nuclear forces with conventional weapons. I anticipate and answer major objections to the denuclearization of U.S. and NATO forces. Finally, I conclude that an advocate of a retributive policy—specifically, a policy calling for a proportional or measured response against combatants only—must be willing, in the name of justice, to accept the risk of making war more thinkable by making it less horrible.     

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.     

Irrelevance of mitigating circumstances in retaliatory behavior at high levels of excitation

Subjects were aggressively instigated by a provoker. They then performed either a nonstrenuous or a strenuous task in order to be placed in either a moderate or an extreme state of sympathetic arousal. Following the task, they either learned or did not learn about mitigating circumstances behind the provoker's behavior. This information was received prior to the provision of an opportunity to retaliate. Under conditions of moderate arousal, mitigating circumstances were found to reduce retaliation. In contrast, these circumstances failed to exert any appreciable effect on retaliation under conditions of extreme arousal. In addition, the induction of extreme arousal was observed to increase retaliatory behavior. The findings were considered to support a model of hostility and aggression that postulates a specific interdependency of cognitive and excitatory processes.     

Preschool children's social understanding: a pilot study of goals and strategies during conflict situations

This pilot study tested a new enactive measure of social information-processing skills and investigated whether preschool children's goals were related to their strategies during hypothetical conflict situations. Children (13 boys, 12 girls) ages 3 to 6 years (three 3-yr.-olds, three 4-yr.-olds, 11 5-yr.-olds, and eight 6-yr.-olds) engaged in a puppet interview of six hypothetical situations. Significant correlations were found between goals and strategies of the adapted version of Chung and Asher's Children's Conflict Resolution Measure, suggesting that preschool children who endorsed friendship goals tended to select more prosocial strategies (.41). Children who endorsed more retaliation goals tended to select more hostile strategies (.67) but fewer prosocial strategies (-.41), and children who endorsed more avoidance goals tended to select more adult-seeking strategies (.45).     

The Relation Between Early Adolescents’ Trust Beliefs in Peers and Reactions to Peer Provocation: Attributions of Intention and Retaliation

The authors examined the relation between early adolescents’ trust beliefs in peers and both their attributions for, and retaliatory aggression to, peer provocation. One hundred and eight-five early adolescents (102 male) from the United Kingdom (M age = 12 years, 2 months, SD = 3 months) completed the Children's Generalized Trust Beliefs in peer subscale (K. J. Rotenberg, C. Fox, et al., 2005) and reported the intentions of, and their retaliatory aggression to, hypothetical peer provocation. A curvilinear relation was found between trust beliefs in peers and retaliatory aggression but not for attributions of intention. Early adolescents with low and those with very high trust beliefs in peers reported greater retaliatory aggression than did early adolescents with the middle range of trust beliefs. The findings supported the conclusion that early adolescents who are high trusting, as well as those are very low trusting, are at risk for psychosocial maladjustment. Support was not obtained for a hostility attribution bias interpretation of those patterns.     

Development of kinetic images: When does the child first represent movement in mental images?

An experiment investigated at what age children could represent movement in imagery. Five- and eight-year olds were asked whether two stimuli were the same or different in shape. The two stimuli were either presented in the same orientation or one stimulus differed from the other by clockwise rotation of 30 ° (0.52 rad), 60 ° (1.05 rad), 120 ° (2.09 rad), or 150 ° (2.62 rad). Children were instructed to visually imagine the counterclockwise rotation of one shape into the position of the other to help make the judgment. For both 5- and 8-yr olds, reaction times increased as a linear function of angular discrepancy between stimuli, indicating that both age groups represented rotation in their imagery. The findings conflict with Piaget and Inhelder's thesis that imagery representing movement first emerges when children are 7 to 8 yrs of age.     

Acceptance patterns of retaliatory aggression among adjudicated youth by sex and race

This study investigates sex and race differences in normative beliefs about the acceptability of aggression across dimensions of severity of provocation (weak versus strong) and sex of provoker (male versus female). Students in the sample of 311 included those required to attend three Department of Youth Services schools after placement by the juvenile court system from across the state of Alabama (N=392). Results show that males were significantly more likely than females to approve of retaliation to weak provocation and against females. There were no significant differences between males and females for retaliation with strong provocation and against males. Results also show the Black group was significantly more likely than the White group to approve of retaliation to weak provocation, strong provocation, and against females.     

The roles of ingroup identification and outgroup entitativity in intergroup retribution

A new aspect of intergroup conflict was investigated- vicarious retribution-in which neither the agent of retribution nor the target of retribution are directly involved in the initial intergroup provocation. The underlying processes involved in vicarious intergroup retribution were tested correlationally (Study 1) and experimentally (Study 2). Both ingroup identification and outgroup entitativity predict the degree of vicarious retribution. In both studies, there was evidence of motivated cognition, specifically that highly identified individuals perceived the outgroup as higher in entitativity than individuals low in identification. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that part of the effect of identification on retribution against the outgroup was mediated through perceptions of entitativity.     

The Role of Self-Esteem and Social Influences in Aggressive Reactions to Interactional Injustice

Two experiments were conducted to examine the potential negative consequences an organization may face in response to perceptions of interactional injustice. Study 1 found that one potentially negative reaction to perceived injustice can be intended retaliation. In addition, study 1 found that individuals with high self-esteem are most likely to respond negatively to a perceived injustice by indicating that they plan to engage in a retaliatory response. Study 2 explored the effects of one’s situation on intended retaliation behavior. The results again indicate that perceptions of interactional injustice are strongly related to intended retaliation behavior. In addition, the study demonstrates that one’s group can have a significant influence on the perceptions of injustice and one’s subsequent reactions to these injustices.     

Asymmetric recognition of pictures of cats as a function of age in 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children

In the present study it was investigated whether children recognized deletions more accurately than additions in pictures of animate objects as a function of age between 4 and 6 years. Children, presented pictures of cats with features added to or deleted from the original pictures, judged whether the pictures were the same or different as those in a test of recognition. Analysis showed both 5-yr.-olds and 6-yr.olds discovered deletions more accurately than additions. This asymmetric effect is in accord with that of adults, with whom the same stimuli were used in earlier research, but are contrary to previous studies in which additions were recognized more accurately than deletions when inanimate objects were stimuli. Asymmetric effects, that is, greater recognition accuracy for deletions may be related to children's being uncomfortable about modified pictures of animals.     

Retaliation Against Sexual Assault: Self-Defense or Public Duty?

The present study explored the notion that females would react more positively toward retaliation against sexual assault than males. In a 2 × 2 design, female and male undergraduates read a vignette in which either a rape victim or her fiance retaliated against the rapist by shooting him (nonfatally). Results indicated that females regarded the retaliatory act as more morally justified than did males and were consistently more lenient in their legal judgments of the retaliator. Correlational analyses indicated that attributing retaliation to the motives of self-defense (for the victim) and "public duty" (for the fiance) may have mediated these judgments. Implications of these findings for the psychology of moral judgment and the legal system are discussed.     

The moderating effect of trigger intensity on triggered displaced aggression

Many instances of aggression result in excessive retaliation in response to a seemingly trivial triggering event. The triggered displaced aggression paradigm (TDA; Miller, Pedersen, Earleywine, & Pollock, 2003) provides an experimental vehicle for exploring such occurrences. Participants were either provoked or not and were subsequently exposed to a neutral, mild, or moderately strong triggering event from a second bogus participant. Consistent with TDA theory (Miller et al., 2003), disjunctively escalated aggressive behavior occurred only among previously provoked participants when responding to the mild triggering event, but not the moderately strong or neutral trigger. Independent of provocation, the neutral triggering event elicited very low levels of aggression, whereas the moderately strong trigger elicited moderate levels of aggression. Implications for instances of real world aggression are discussed.     

真的是“冤有头债有主”吗?基于群体冲突的替代性报复

群际替代性报复是指群体内成员受到外群体成员的伤害后,内群体的其他成员对外群体的其他成员进行报复的现象。这种基于群体水平上的替代性报复很大程度上已经超越了原本的侵犯者和受害者,而涉及到群体双方更大范围的其他人。替代性报复是一个复杂的心理过程,其产生和程度受到伤害感知、群体认同、外群体实体性、群体情绪以及内群观众效应的影响。内群体在实施替代性报复后也往往存在较为一致的"正面"认知评价和情感体验。未来还需要继续在学术层面上整合和完善替代性报复的心理机制,探讨不同文化观念下替代性报复的特点,最重要的是结合社会现实提出减少替代性报复的策略。     

Aggressive Reactions to Frustration in Relation to the Individual Level of Extrapunitiveness

Thirty-six Jewish adolescents were classified according to three levels of Extrapunitiveness based on their Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration (P-F) Study scores. After reading an anti-Semitic communication, one half of the Ss from each level was permitted direct written retaliation (catharsis), while the other half was denied retaliation (non catharsis). The most important result indicated that a linear relationship between Extrapunitiveness and outward reported aggressiveness was obtained. Also, cathartic Ss were significantly less aggressive on an attitude scale than the non-cathartic Ss. Interpretations, other than true retaliatory catharsis, could account for this last result, among them the cathartic role of writing behavior.     

Children’s Responses to Hypothetical Provocation by Peers: Coordination of Assertive and Aggressive Strategies

Children often respond to aggression by peers with assertive bids or aggressive retaliation. Little is known, however, about whether and how children coordinate these strategies across different types of provocation. The present study examined endorsement of aggressive and assertive responses to hypothetical physical, relational, and verbal provocation in a sample of lower-income children (N?=?402, M age?=?10.21, SD?=?1.46). Latent-profile analysis revealed 3-class models for both aggression and assertion, each reflecting low, moderate, and high levels of endorsement. There was no association between children’s reported use of aggression and assertion. For example, children who endorsed high levels of aggression were equally likely to be classified as low, moderate, or high on assertive responding. For both assertion and aggression, parental ratings of children’s externalizing behavior and social skills differed across the low and high groups. No such differences were found between the low and moderate groups, despite the latter groups endorsing markedly higher levels of assertive and aggressive responses. This pattern of findings may be due, in part, to the situation specificity of children’s responding. Our findings hint at the complexity of children’s behavioral repertoires and contribute to a growing literature that suggests the need for intervention models that consider both social skills and social situations.     

Role of emotions and behavioural responses in mediating the impact of face loss on relationship deterioration: Are Chinese more face‐sensitive than Americans?

Face loss, defined as the deterioration in one's social image, has been regarded as a consequence of interpersonal conflict and a provocation for counter-attack. The present research was aimed at assessing whether the role of face loss in leading to relationship deterioration has more impact for Chinese than for Americans. We hypothesized that the linkage from face loss to relationship deterioration is mediated by two social-emotional complexes (anger and shame) and two behavioural reactions (retaliation and avoidance) arising from interpersonal harm. Structural equation modelling confirmed this mediation model, and indicated that in both cultures, the linkage between face loss and relationship disintegration was mediated by shame and avoidance, but not by anger and retaliation. Consistent with widely held hypotheses, face loss was found to be more influential in directly provoking a target's anger and relationship deterioration, and more influential in inhibiting a target's retaliating responses, for Hong Kong Chinese than for Americans.     

Intergroup retaliation and intra‐group praise gain: The effect of expected cooperation from the in‐group on intergroup vicarious retribution

Intergroup vicarious retribution is the phenomenon whereby, after an out‐group member attacks an in‐group member, a member of the victim's group retaliates against a member of the perpetrator's group. This study examined the effect of expected cooperation from the in‐group on intergroup vicarious retribution through intra‐group reputation based on praise gain and exclusion avoidance. In the experiment, we conducted a one‐on‐one match in which, after participants learned that an out‐group member (as the winner) had imposed a fine on an in‐group member (as the loser) in a previous round, winning participants were allowed to impose an arbitrary fine on the other losing out‐group member. As a result, participants imposed a larger fine on their out‐group member opponent in retaliation when they were expected by in‐group members to cooperate than when such cooperation was not expected. Furthermore, participants regarded a fine as intra‐group cooperation. Since a path analysis revealed a mediating effect of praise gain, but no mediating effect of exclusion avoidance, expected cooperation from in‐group members facilitated vicarious retribution because those involved in retribution sought praise from other in‐group members. These findings suggest that the intra‐group reputation dynamics of expected cooperation and praise gain escalate intergroup conflict.     

Recovery and predictors of language skills two years following pediatric traumatic brain injury

Subtle language processing difficulties may adversely affect scholastic performance, as well as communication and social skills. It is therefore crucial that language skills are monitored following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in childhood. The present study examined language skills in a group of 68 children who had sustained a mild, moderate or severe TBI. Results indicated that during the acute stage a dose-response relationship was evident, where severe TBI was associated with poorest performance and mild TBI with least deficits. By 24 months post-TBI, it was clear that for some language functions, the severe TBI group showed substantial recovery, and at times performed better than the moderate TBI group. Predictors of language and literacy skills at 24 months post TBI included pre-injury communication skills, socio-economic status, age at injury, and Vocabulary, as measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-111).