Kicking the (barking) dog effect: the moderating role of target attributes on triggered displaced aggression

Sometimes aggression is displaced onto a target who is not totally innocent but emits a mildly irritating behavior called a triggering event. In three experiments, the authors examine stable personal attributes of targets that can impact such triggered displaced aggression (TDA). Lower levels of TDA were directed to targets whose attitudes were similar as compared to dissimilar to those of the actor (Experiment 1) and to targets who were ingroup as compared to out-group members (Experiment 2). Conceptually replicating the findings of Experiments 1 and 2, the manipulated valence of the target (viz., liked, neutral, and disliked) functioned in a similar manner, with positive valence serving a buffering function against a triggering action that followed an initial provocation (Experiment 3). The results from all three experiments are consistent with cognitive neoassociationist theory.     

Racial Identity Status Profiles and Expressions of Anger in Black Americans: An Exploratory Study

The relationship between Black adult racial identity status profiles and anger expression was examined. Two profiles, Undifferentiated and Immersion‐Emersion, emerged. A comparison of modes of anger expression revealed that the Immersion‐Emersion dominant profile was associated with higher scores on Anger‐Out and lower scores on Anger‐Control. Implications for research and counseling are discussed. Se examinó la relación entre los perfiles del estado de la identidad racial de individuos Negros adultos y la expresión de ira. Surgieron dos perfiles, indiferenciado e inmersión‐emersión. Una comparación de los modos de expresión de la ira reveló que el perfil dominante de Inmersión‐Emersión estaba asociado a registros más altos en Ira‐Fuera y más bajos en Control de la ira. Se discuten las implicaciones para la investigación y la consejería.     

Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Flow State Scale

The purpose of this research was to examine the psychometric properties of a Spanish translation of the Flow State Scale (FSS; Jackson & Marsh, 1996). This instrument is used to assess the Flow State in participants of physical activity, although it can be adapted to other contexts (such as work, educational contexts, etc.). This construct can be considered the optimal psychological state to carry out an activity, being closely related to motivation and personal enjoyment (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). A sample of 2036 athletes was recruited from diverse sports activities. The results revealed satisfactory validity and internal consistency of the instrument, obtaining a factor model made up of a main factor and nine subscales. The correlations between motivational orientations and the flow state are highlighted. The Spanish translation of this instrument is found to be acceptable, with similar psychometric properties as the original scale, although future research in other contexts is needed to support these outcomes.     

Theater and Psychological Development: Assessing Socio-Cognitive Complexity in the Domain of Theater

Theater is a millenary art form that has stably maintained its minimum indispensable elements over the years. Yet, not much is known about the psychological impact of this performing art. A literature review shows a broad and sometimes contradictory spectrum of theoretical and empirical evidence. In the last few decades, however, interdisciplinary studies, namely in the emerging field of neuroaesthetics, has allowed the emergence of new perspectives on the study of the arts. Drawing from these findings, and to better understand the impact of theater in the socio-cognitive development of actors, directors, and other practitioners, this study tested the construction of an instrument exploring complexity of thought in relation to theater. A preliminary study for the Scale of Socio-cognitive Complexity in the Domain of Theatre (SSCDT) showed that, among a sample of 222, individuals with higher levels of experience in acting and directing seem to demonstrate higher levels of cognitive complexity. To our knowledge, this was the first study aiming to develop a simple paper-and-pencil instrument capable of providing data about the psychological impact of theater in terms of socio-cognitive complexity.     

Listening for the Cry: Certeau Beyond Strategies and Tactics

This essay argues that an accent on resistance pervasive in current literature on consumer culture and religion drives a narrow application of Michel de Certeau's distinction between strategies and tactics. This paradigmatic appropriation of Certeau's work uses his notion of tactics to describe a mode of Christian resistance that can persist even without overthrowing the strategic grid of consumer culture. Situating quotidian tactics within the wider body of his work, I argue that they are not, for Certeau, primarily signs of resistance, but signs of absence: living realities that pulse within and against systems of strategies that can never quite contain them. I propose reading tactics through a hermeneutic of absence to open a space for a theological account of consumer culture that takes seriously the irreducibility of our experiences, even those in and through the distortions of the contemporary market.