Personality and aggressive behavior under provoking and neutral conditions: a meta-analytic review

The authors conducted a comprehensive review to understand the relation between personality and aggressive behavior, under provoking and nonprovoking conditions. The qualitative review revealed that some personality variables influenced aggressive behavior under both neutral and provocation conditions, whereas others influenced aggressive behavior only under provocation. Studies that assessed personality variables and that directly measured aggressive behavior were included in the quantitative review. Analyses revealed that trait aggressiveness and trait irritability influenced aggressive behavior under both provoking and neutral conditions but that other personality variables (e.g., trait anger, Type A personality, dissipation-rumination) influenced aggressive behavior only under provoking conditions. The authors discuss possible relations between these patterns of aggressive behavior and the personality dimensions of Agreeableness and Neuroticism and consider implications for theories of aggression.     

The effects of list-method directed forgetting on recognition memory

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois It is an almost universally accepted claim that the list-method procedure of inducing directed forgetting does not affect recognition. However, previous studies have omitted a critical comparison in reaching this conclusion. This article reports evidence that recognition of material learnedafter cue presentation is superior for conditions in which the material that preceded cue presentation was designated as to-be-forgotten. Because the absence of an effect of directed-forgetting instructions on recognition is the linchpin of the theoretical claim that retrieval inhibition and not selective rehearsal underlies that effect, the present results call into question the need to postulate a role for inhibition in directed forgetting.     

Raymund Schwager on the Dramatic Justice and Mercy of God

This article explores and develops Raymund Schwager's understanding of the nature of justice and mercy, especially in the face of the Christian doctrine of hell. Schwager follows Anselm of Canterbury closely in seeing a deep harmony between justice and mercy, finding their unity in an expansive notion of God's goodness, which gives abundantly but always also in a way that respects the dignity of the receiver. This unity can thus only be understood in the context of the dramatic interplay of freedoms. An overview of Schwager's theological project provides the background for then exploring his notions of justice, mercy, freedom, self‐judgement and hell. The article concludes with the exploration of some of the logical consequences of Schwager's thought.     

Target and arm observation effects on adaptation to prism displacement

Adaptation to displacement of objects in the visual field was studied as a function of preexposure test targets being absent or present in that field and lateral arm movement requiring no pointing at targets being observed or unobservable during prism exposure. Significantly greater adaptation was found when targets present during prism exposure were the same as those present during pre and postexposure test conditions. In addition, greater adaptation was found when S was permitted observation of lateral arm movement during prism exposure. Greatest adaptation was produced when both targets were present and arm movement was observable during prism exposure. In addition, when three targets were present during prism exposure, the greatest amount of adaptation was found for targets on S’s prismatically shifted visual field periphery.     

One-trial overshadowing

Two experiments on conditioned suppression in rats examined the extent to which conditioning to a tone was overshadowed by the presence of a light. When animals received four conditioning trials, a light of moderate intensity significantly overshadowed the tone. On the first trial of conditioning, however, the light had no effect on conditioning to the tone, unless (Experiment I) its intensity was increased, or (Experiment II) it occurred in closer temporal contiguity to reinforcement than the tone. The results establish that overshadowing can occur on the first trial of conditioning, contrary to the predictions of several theories, but suggest that this may be for different reasons from those operating to produce overshadowing over a series of conditioning trials.     

Humor and coping with stress: A test under real-life conditions

The relationship between humor and coping with stress was investigated for trainees in a course for combat NCOs in the Israel Defense Forces. Measures of humor through self-report and peer-ratings were administered to 159 soldiers. Coping with stress was assessed through ratings by commanders and peers, and through final course grades. The findings showed that humor as rated by peers (but not by self-report) was positively related to performance under stress. This was especially true for active humor (self-produced as opposed to reactive humor). No differences were found between individuals characterized by self-directed humor and other-directed humor in performance under stress. The implications in terms of humor theories and further research are discussed.