Internal-External Control and Reaction to the My Lai Courts-Martial

This study sought to investigate the relationship between a personality variable, internal-external control of reinforcement, and reactions of college students to the My Lai courts-martial. It was hypothesized that externak would bc more likely than internals to underplay the individual responsibility of Calley and his men, projecting most of the blamc for what happcncd at My Lai onto the US. government and military establishment. Strong support for the hypothesized relationship between I-E and assibmment of responsibility for the My Lai events was found for University of Connccticut males, but not for females.     

Visitors’ Experiences and Reactions to a Dark Heritage Site: The Case of the Cape Coast Castle (2010–2015)

This study investigates how different visitors experienced a dark heritage site (Cape Coast Slave Castle). Two main groups of people studied are those with historic links to the site and those without. Those with historic links include descendants of victims of the slave trade, people from countries, which participated in that dark heritage, and those whose ancestors may have collaborated. This study of 3,452 comments using directed content analysis found that recognition of the darkness of the heritage is universal, but experiences of the darkness are diverse. The different experiences highlight the complexity of reactions to, as well as contested meanings of, slavery and its enduring effects. The study also shows that the sense of "ownership" of the site is not defined by citizenship in the country of its location. One implication of this is that Cape Coast Slave Castle curators have a responsibility that goes beyond Ghana’s borders.     

Retracted: Effects of cartoon violence on aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors

This article reports on an experiment designed to test whether the cartoon manipulation leads to significant increases in aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors among Chinese children (n = 3,000). Results indicated that brief exposure to a violent cartoon triggered higher aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors than a nonviolent cartoon. Females displayed higher aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors than males in a nonviolent cartoon condition, while males displayed higher aggressive behaviors than females in a violent cartoon condition. Mediation analysis suggested that the effect on aggressive behaviors was mediated by aggressive thoughts. The findings imply that cartoon developers, parents, and teachers should develop cartoons that inhibit children's aggressive thoughts to avoid aggressive behaviors. Females are the key group for the prevention and intervention of aggression in a nonviolent cartoon context, while males are the key group for the prevention and intervention of aggression in a violent cartoon context.