When aggression seems justified: Judging intergroup conflict from a distance

This research delineates several factors that may affect how likely observers are to view intergroup aggression as justified. Subjects who favored one side or the other, as well as nominally neutral subjects, rated fictional scenarios depicting an aggressive action by either Israeli or Palestinian armed forces. As hypothesized, rated justification varied with the interaction of an observer's perspective and the relative power of the aggressor and the target, and with the interaction of perspective and the outcome of an action. Also as predicted, power and outcome were found to have no effects on judgments for observers having a neutral perspective. Based on these findings, the extent to which intergroup aggression is perceived as justified is explained in terms of motivational biases theorized to maintain positive social identity.     

The Roles of Personality Traits and Vocational Interests in Explaining What People Want Out of Life

Life goals reflect people’s aspirations of what they want to become and what kind of life they want to live. In two student samples from the United States (N = 385) and Iceland (N = 1338), we used hierarchical regression and relative weights analyses to first replicate Roberts and Robins (2000) finding that Big Five personality traits predict major life goals, and then to test whether vocational interests have incremental validity in explaining major life goals over and above personality traits. Overall, vocational interests explained larger amounts of variance in major life goals than personality traits, and added incremental validity above and beyond personality traits. Expectations about specific linkages were largely confirmed across the two samples, providing implications for theory and practice.     

Neighborhood violent crime and adolescent relationship aggression

Research has shown that neighborhoods play a role in the etiology of violence. However, few adolescent relationship aggression (ARA) studies have objective measures of violent neighborhoods. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of youth, this study examines the association between ARA and local levels of violent crime (measured using geocoded Uniform Crime Report data from each of the youths’ residential neighborhoods). Study analyses are based on survey data from 723 youth (ages 10–18) in current or recent dating relationships (351 males and 372 females) in the Survey on Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence (STRiV), a national representative household panel survey exploring interpersonal violence and related aggression among adolescents. About 19% of the sample reported ARA victimization in their most recent dating relationship (ARA perpetration was 17%). Neighborhood violent crime in the study (males living in 86.9 and females 99.8) was slightly lower than the national average of 100. With a broad national sample, 40% non-Whites, hypotheses guided by theories of neighborhood influence were tested. The study did not find an association between neighborhood violent crime and ARA victimization and perpetration, controlling for key demographic factors. The results, for a broad range of high- and low-crime neighborhoods, suggest that neighborhood violence does not seem to affect individual rates of ARA. The results suggest the ARA victimization and perpetration are perhaps ubiquitous and found both in low and high violent crime neighborhoods, suggesting that addressing local violent crime rates alone does not seem to be a path to also reducing ARA.     

推理偏差:冲突察觉还是冲突抑制的失败?

双系统理论认为人类在推理过程中存在着两种类型的加工方式:一种为快速的、不受工作记忆资源影响的启发式加工; 一种为慢速的、受认知资源限制的分析式加工。通过对这两种加工类型互相作用方式的深入研究,目前已经形成了不同的加工模型,意图解决核心问题——推理偏差产生的原因。本研究从双系统加工模型入手,结合最新的行为、训练以及神经机制的研究,对导致推理偏差的原因究竟是冲突察觉还是冲突抑制的失败进行详细分析     

Exerting Self‐Control ≠ Sacrificing Pleasure

Self‐control is a prominent topic in consumer research, where it is often conceptualized as the abstinence from hedonic consumption. We examine whether this conceptualization accurately captures consumers’ experiences of self‐control conflicts/failures in light of seminal self‐control theories in economics and psychology. Rejecting that notion, we argue that self‐control failures are choices in violation of superordinate long‐term goals accompanied by anticipated regret, rather than choices of hedonic over utilitarian consumption. This conceptualization has important methodological, theoretical, and practical implications. Methodologically, it highlights the need for experimental paradigms with higher construct validity. Theoretically, it helps elucidate how self‐control is distinct from impatience and self‐regulation. Practically, it provides a rich set of implications for deducing interventions on the individual and public policy level to help consumers exert self‐control.     

Une intervention dans un EPHAD. L’animation réciproque de la discussion

This article deals with an intervention system aimed at instituting in the organization of work the dialogical conflict on the quality of work envisaged as a means of specifically developing organizational resources to develop health at work. It shows, through the creation of a new function, the “job referent”, and the institution of an organizational device, the instance of dialogue on the job (IDM), how can the hierarchical division of the work to transform the organization. It also offers a possible way of development in the practice of clinical activity intervention. It is based on an intervention carried out since 2014 in a public medico-social establishment with nursing assistants and medico-psychological aids from the EHPAD and the nursing home for disabled adults in this structure. The article presents how the initial work of co-analysis of the activity of professionals in cross-self-confrontation made it possible to establish on the one hand, the function of the work collective as a means of action in the organization and on the other hand, deliberative and decision-making bodies on the profession. To present the results of this intervention.     

Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts

Using a longitudinal design, prior experience with violence as a victim and opportunity to aggress were examined as predictors of college women's verbal and physical aggression toward romantic partners. Five additional categories of predictors identified in previous research (experienced and witnessed parental aggression during childhood, attitudes accepting of aggression, aggressive/impulsive personality attributes, psychopathology, and prior use of aggression) were also examined. Blockwise hierarchical regression analyses were performed to reveal the best predictors of verbal and physical aggression during the first year of college. Significant predictors of verbal aggression were prior use of verbal aggression in heterosexual conflicts during adolescence, witnessed parental aggression, level of adolescent sexual victimization, being a target of rational conflict strategies during adolescence, and use of physical aggression in romantic adolescent relationships, as well as self-reported verbal aggression as an index of personality, weak emotional ties, number of sexual partners, and approval of sexual intimacy in many types of relationships. Significant predictors of physical aggression were prior use of physical aggression during adolescence, witnessing and experiencing parental aggression, being a victim of physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships, weak emotional ties, low levels of alcohol/drug use, and opportunity to aggress. A developmental model of aggression in which childhood experiences with family violence contribute to the likelihood of subsequent involvement in relationship violence seems appropriate. Past experience with aggression may be particularly important for women. Cultural expectations about women's roles do not provide the social support for female aggression that is provided for male aggression. Adolescent sexual victimizations and general involvement in conflictual relationships (as target and perpetrator) predicted subsequent verbal aggression, whereas experiencing family violence and sustaining physical aggression in romantic relationships predicted subsequent physical aggression. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Laboratory and field observations of attack by the red wood ant Formica lugubris Zett. On Formica cunicularia Latr. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Attack by red wood ants (Formica lugubris Zett.) on an “alien” species (Formica cunicularia Latr.) was analyzed both in the laboratory and in the field. Elements of such attack were recorded. Attack and conflict were observed in each encounter and follow immediately after the first contact. This overt attack was vigorous and generally led to the death of the alien. Laboratory data were confirmed by field observations, although under these conditions aggressiveness of F lugubris appeared increased possibly because of the animal's familiarity with its surroundings.     

The dyadic interaction of persons with violent and nonviolent histories

College students were classified as having violent or nonviolent histories on the basis of their responses to the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). Four groups of heterosexual pairs were then recalled for further testing: violent males paired with violent females, violent males with nonviolent females, nonviolent males with violent females, and nonviolent males with nonviolent females. These pairs were asked to role play their attempt to resolve an hypothetical conflict while being videotaped. Subsequently, their behavior was recorded into the three summary categories that emcompass the Marital Interaction Coding System. Persons with violent histories were more frequently negative than those with nonviolent histories while interacting with an individual having a similar history. This result supports the validity of the CTS by demonstrating that it is capable of predicting behavior during the verbal resolution of a conflict. However, the results suggested that the nature of the contribution to the aversiveness of the interaction may be different for males and females. Overall, these results offer some support for the notion that some individuals learn aversive behavior as a general behavioral style for controlling their environments with the probability of performing coercive behavior partially a function of other individuals.