Understanding the Complexity of Human Aggression: Affective,Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Individual Differences in Propensity Toward Aggression

Human aggression is a complex phenomenon operating at multiple levels. Converging evidence distinguishes ‘hot’ aggression, impulsive and emotionally-centered, from ‘cool’ aggression, cognitively based and instrumental. The correspondence of these aggressive response patterns with individual differences in Propensity toward Aggression was investigated. Our data (from 477 Italian adults) map ten of these aggression indicators into the personality space defined by the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality. The quadrant containing most of these variables is defined by Emotional Instability (the negative pole of Emotional Stability) and Hostility (the negative pole of Friendliness). Factor analysis uncovered two factors that accounted for nearly 60 percent of the variance in Propensity toward Aggression: Emotional Responsivity and Positive Evaluation of Violence. Practical implications for issues of health and disease, violence, and interventions for different forms of adults' and children's aggression are outlined.     

Verb-noun double dissociation in aphasic lexical impairments: the role of word frequency and imageability

Neurolinguistic studies have provided important evidence regarding the organization of lexical representations and the structure of underlying conceptual knowledge; in particular, it has been shown that the retrieval of verbs and nouns can be damaged selectively. Dissociated lexical damage is proof of an independent mental organization of lexical representations and/or of the underlying processes. The aim of the present study is to estimate the rate of dissociated impairments for nouns and verbs on a large sample of mild to moderate aphasic patients and to investigate the mechanisms underlying such phenomena. In addition, the authors wished to verify to what degree the impairment for nouns and verbs is related to a specific type of language disorder. A confrontation naming task for verbs and nouns was administered to 58 aphasic patients. The major lexical (word frequency and age of acquisition) and semantic variables (familiarity and imageability of the underlying concept) were considered for each noun and verb used in the task. Verbs were distinguished by major functional classes (transitive, intransitive, and ergative verbs). The data collected from this task were analyzed twice: (i) as a group study comparison of major aphasic subgroups and (ii) as a multiple single case study to evaluate the differences on the naming of verbs and nouns and the effect of the lexical semantic variables on each individual patient. The results confirm the existence of dissociated naming impairments of verbs and nouns. Selective impairment of verbs is more frequent (34%) than that of nouns (10%). In many cases, the dissociated pattern of naming impairment disappeared when the effect of the concomitant variables (word frequency and imageability) was removed, but in approximately one-fifth of the cases the noun or verb superiority was preserved. Noun superiority emerged in five of six agrammatic patients. Both the naming of verbs (n = 9) or of nouns (n = 6) could be impaired selectively in fluent aphasic patients. The results lend support to the hypothesis of an independent mental organization of nouns and verbs, but a substantial effect of imageability and word frequency suggests an interaction of the naming impairment with underlying lexical and semantic aspects.     

Sociocognitive self-regulatory mechanisms governing transgressive behavior

This longitudinal research examined a structural model of the self-regulatory mechanisms governing transgressive conduct. Perceived academic and self-regulatory efficacy concurrently and longitudinally deterred transgressiveness both directly and by fostering prosocialness and adherence to moral self-sanctions for harmful conduct. The impact of perceived social self-efficacy was mediated through prosocialness. Moral disengagement and prosocialness affected transgressiveness through the mediating influence of irascible affectivity and hostile rumination. Ruminative affectivity, in turn, both concurrently and longitudinally affected transgressiveness. Moral disengagement also contributed independently to variance in transgressiveness over time. This pattern of relations was obtained after controlling for prior transgressiveness. The structural model was replicated across gender and provided a better fit to the data than did several alternative models.     

Facing guilt: Role of negative affectivity,need for reparation,and fear of punishment in leading to prosocial behaviour and aggression

The present study aims to further corroborate and to extend the scope of previous findings regarding the path of influence between negative affectivity, need for reparation and fear of punishment when examining the determinants and the motivational components of guilt. Data were collected from three different European countries (i.e. Italy, Hungary, and the Czech Republic). About 1100 young adolescents were involved in the research. The generalizability of a nomological network linking individual differences in Negative Affectivity to Need for Reparation, Fear of Punishment, Prosocial Behaviour, and Aggression has been investigated across countries and gender, by means of structural equation modelling. Need for Reparation turns out to be positively related to Prosocial Behaviour and negatively related to Aggression. Fear for Punishment turns out to be positively related to Aggression and negatively related to Prosocial Behaviour, with the exception of Hungary. Alternative paths of influence among considered variables have been examined. Practical implications for prevention and education are underlined. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When Likeness Goes with Liking: The Case of Political Preference

Three studies show that people tend to vote for politicians (i.e., either Romano Prodi or Silvio Berlusconi in Italy or George W. Bush or John Kerry in the United States) whose traits they rate as being most similar to their own. People perceived higher similarity between themselves and political figures with respect to traits that were most distinctive of each platform and their respective leaders. These findings, while corroborating the similarity-attraction relationship, further attest to the role that personal characteristics of both voters and candidates play in orienting political preference.     

Travailleurs Étrangers sur le Marché du Travail Suisse: Quels Modes D’incorporation?

This article deals with the opportunities foreign workers have to participate in the job market on an equal footing in the state in which they reside. Using Switzerland as an example, we will pay particular attention to the possibility or not for qualified foreign workers to transfer their cultural capital (Bourdieu, La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement, Paris: Minuit, 1979) from their home to their new country, in other words to perform a job matching their level of training and which enables them to emphasize the professional qualification obtained in the past.     

Food Cravings Questionnaire–Trait (FCQ–T) Discriminates Between Obese and Overweight Patients With and Without Binge Eating Tendencies: The Italian Version of the FCQ–T

Food craving (FC) might play an important role in the course of eating disorders and obesity. The question of its measurement has particular importance in relation to the dramatic growth in obesity rates and its relevance for public health. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Food Cravings Questionnaire–Trait (FCQ–T) in overweight and obese patients who were attending weight loss programs, and its efficiency in discriminating patients with binge eating. Participants were 497 (411 women, 86 men) overweight and obese patients in treatment with low-energy diet therapy. We used structural equation modeling to compare 3 factor models tested in previous studies (a 6-factor model, an 8-factor model, and a 9-factor model), which indicated that the 9-factor model has a better fit over the competing models. The FCQ–T had good internal consistency (Cronbach's α of.96 for the total score, and between.76 and.92 for subfactors), and was able to discriminate patients with clinical-level binge eating from those with probable and without binge eating with an efficiency of.74 (sensitivity =.64, specificity =.78). FCQ–T scores were sensitive to changes associated with treatment only for patients who started dietary restriction between the baseline and the follow-up assessment, but not for patients who were already observing dietary restrictions at the time of the baseline assessment. These results suggest that the FCQ–T could be a potentially useful measure for the screening of binge eating problems in overweight and obese patients while in treatment.     

Fakability of Implicit and Explicit Measures of the Big Five: Research findings from organizational settings

This study investigates the extent to which response distortion occur when implicit measures of personality traits are used in applied settings. Two groups composed of 58 security guards and 45 semiskilled workers, respectively, completed five Implicit Association Tests (IATs) for assessing the Big Five personality traits as a part of a personnel assessment program. They additionally completed a self‐report measure of the same personality dimensions. Scores on the Big Five IATs and self‐ratings of personality were obtained also by 52 volunteers who responded anonymously for research purposes. Results showed that participants under evaluative testing conditions scored significantly higher than volunteers on explicit measures of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. On the contrary, no significant differences were found in the Big Five IATs. Practical implications of findings and future research directions are discussed.     

Being positive despite illness: The contribution of positivity to the quality of life of cancer patients

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between Positivity (POS), defined as a stable disposition to view at experience under a positive outlook, and physical and psychological functioning in a sample of cancer patients immediately after diagnosis and one year later.

Methods: A total of 110 patients (40% males) with pulmonary, colorectal and breast cancer, aged 30–75 (M age = 59.62; SD = 10.33), have been prospectively enrolled between 2012 and 2013, at the S. Andrea Hospital in Rome. All patients were previously aware of their diagnosis. A follow-up one year after diagnosis was conducted. We used structural equation modeling in order to analyse the specific effects of POS on functioning impairment from diagnosis to follow up.

Results: POS was associated with less functioning impairment both at diagnosis and follow-up assessments. Furthermore, POS level at diagnosis continued to be associated with less functioning impairment one year later, after controlling for its stability.

Conclusions: Patients with higher level of POS tended to report less symptoms associated with negative affect such as anxiety and despondency and to preserve their habitual relationships and social roles. POS may act as a basic disposition that sustains patients’ efforts to deal efficaciously with severe illness, by complying with medical treatment and using cognitive strategies that enable individuals to cope with concurrent and prospective challenges of illness.