Beyond Typologies: Foregrounding Meaning and Motive in Domestic Violence Perpetration

In this article we use a single case study to query the presumption, inherent in typological approaches to domestic violence perpetration, that offender motivations are unchanging and deducible from self-reports and official records. We highlight the need to engage interpretively with the specific meanings acts of violence hold for domestic violence perpetrators–informed, as they can be, by sexist perceptions of entitlement and histories of conflict, suspicion and grievance–and how these can change self-perceptions in the aftermath of assaults and breakups, as the foreground of crime is reincorporated into a background narrative.     

Psychoticism and attentional flexibility

In three separate experiments, we tested the hypothesis that a systematic relationship between psychoticism (P) and visual selective attention is infrequently observed because the tasks typically used to test individual differences in efficiency of attentional mechanisms do not entail attentional flexibility. We manipulated the selection rule of the computerized divided visual attention (DIVA) task to be either (a) a predictable, or (b) a random manner, and a secondary task was added to check the quality of high P scorers’ performance in an interference condition; and we also introduced breaks between DIVA tasks to allow for cue utilization. Results revealed that low P scorers outperformed high P scorers in the regular selection rule alternation condition (cue utilization possible), whereas high P scorers performed better in random alternation condition – high P scorers also showed performance superiority in the dual task condition unless stimuli presentation was speeded up. Thus, P does not necessarily impair attentional performance; indeed, our data point to performance advantages of high P, especially attentional efficiency in tasks requiring small demands of attentional control.     

Personality and modulation of the startle reflex by emotionally-toned filmclips

Several researchers have found that pleasant foreground stimuli attenuate the eyeblink component of the startle reflex while unpleasant foreground stimuli potentiate it. The effects of personality factors on such modulation of the eyeblink response, as measured by electromyographic (EMG) activity in reaction to loud acoustic startle probes, were examined in subjects viewing emotionally-toned (pleasant, unpleasant and neutral) filmclips. During the main part of the experiment, introverts had higher baseline EMG activity and lower response probability than extraverts; no differences were observed at the beginning of the experiment, during an acclimatization session. Reflex modulation, as measured by response latency, was influenced by the Psychoticism (P) factor of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire: subjects high on P showed longer latencies to eyeblink onset when probed during viewing of pleasant filmclips than subjects low on this dimension; no significant differences were observed between subjects low and high on P for neutral and unpleasant filmclips. No influence of personality factors was found on affective modulation as measured by response amplitude/magnitude. The results are discussed in relation to Gray's and Eysenck's theories of personality.     

Behavioral parameters of drug action: signalled and response-independent reinforcement

Four pigeons were initially trained under a multiple variable-interval 1-min variable-interval 1-min schedule of food reinforcement. For two of the pigeons, a signal was then presented whenever the reinforcer was available in one component; this resulted in positive contrast. For the other two pigeons, the reinforcer was presented independently of responding on a variable-time schedule in one component; this resulted in negative induction. After 30 to 50 sessions, however, a similar degree of differential responding occurred under both multiple schedules, i.e., high rates in the variable-interval component and low rates in the other component. Reinforcement frequency remained about the same in each of the schedule components. The stable performances then served as baselines for studying drug effects. In the high-rate component of both multiple schedules, small doses of d-amphetamine increased responding, whereas larger doses decreased responding. In the low-rate component of both multiple schedules, there was no rate-increasing effect at any dose of d-amphetamine; such an effect was found, however, with phenobarbital at a dose that decreased responding in the high-rate component. The drug effects thus depended on the interaction of pharmacologic variables (specific drug and dose) with behavioral variables (schedule components).     

Motivation and Personality: A Neuropsychological Perspective

Personality is strongly influenced by motivation systems that organise responses to rewards and punishments and that drive approach and avoidance behavior. Neuropsychological research has identified: (a) two avoidance systems, one related to pure active avoidance and escape, and one to passive avoidance and behavioral inhibition produced by goal‐conflict; and (b) two approach systems, one related to the actions of reward seeking and one to experience and behavior related to pleasure on receiving reward. These systems mediate fluid moment‐by‐moment reactions to changing stimuli, with relatively stable person‐specific sensitivities to these stimuli manifested in personality traits. We review what is known about these motivational traits, integrating the theory‐driven approach based on animal learning paradigms with the empirical tradition of the Big Five personality model.     

Social exclusion and the hierarchical defense system: comment on MacDonald and Leary (2005)

G. MacDonald and M. R. Leary hypothesized that physical pain and social exclusion share many affective features in common. In this comment, the author discusses the implications of J. A. Gray and N. McNaughton's (2000) hierarchical defense system model, which MacDonald and Leary used in the development of their theoretical claims. Issues are discussed that require, at least, clarification; but more substantive problems need closer consideration of hierarchically organized defense. It is argued that research findings may be better understood (a) by systems of interacting neural modules, which lead to state dissociations between affective states, and (b) by general modulatory influences on the entire defense system that lead to trait associations (i.e., personality) between physical pain and emotional distress.     

Suicide attempts and family history of suicide in three psychiatric populations

The influence of a family history of suicide on suicide attempt rate and characteristics in depression, schizophrenia, and opioid dependence was examined. One hundred sixty inpatients with unipolar depression, 160 inpatients with schizophrenia, and 160 opioid-dependent patients were interviewed. Overall, a family history of suicide was associated with a higher risk for suicide attempt, with high-lethality method, with repeated attempts, and with number of attempts, while the interaction between family history and diagnostic group was not significant. Thus, a positive family history of suicide was a risk factor for several suicide attempt characteristics independent of psychiatric diagnosis.     

Goal setting in acquisition of a volleyball skill late in motor learning

To examine the effects of different types of goal setting on motor skill acquisition during advanced stages of learning. 44 female volleyball players were tested in four experimental training groups with generic goals, specific long-term goals, specific short-term goals, and as a control group. This study's pretest, training, and retention test phases used performance of a volleyball dig/forearm pass oriented to a target. Analyses yielded no significant differences among groups, although performance increased from pre- to retention test.     

Fear and anxiety as separable emotions: an investigation of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality

The Gray and McNaughton (2000) theory draws on a wide range of animal data to hypothesize that the emotions of fear and anxiety are separable. The authors tested their hypothesis in two studies. The first study examined associations between scores on questionnaire measures of fear, anxiety, and neuroticism; correlational analysis revealed that fear and anxiety are not interchangeable constructs. The second study examined associations between scores on questionnaire measures of fear/anxiety and performance in a military training setting; regression analysis revealed that fear captured significant variance in performance that was not shared with anxiety. These results imply that hypotheses derived from nonhuman animal data may hold important implications for understanding human emotion and motivation, especially in relation to fear and anxiety.