Individual differences in anger and displaced aggression: The role of metacognitive beliefs and anger rumination

Metacognitive model is a theoretical approach aimed to explain emotion dysregulation and others emotion-related issues, such anger, and aggressive behavior. From this model, people having higher maladaptive metacognitive beliefs (e.g., “I can't control my thoughts”) are more likely to activate and maintain anger rumination and, in turn, to experience higher levels of anger and to act aggressively. Preliminary evidence shows the role of metacognitive beliefs on anger rumination and anger levels, whereas no studies have examined its association with aggressive behavior. This study first examined the associations between metacognitive beliefs, anger rumination, anger levels, and the propensity to engage in displaced aggression, and second, the mediation role of anger rumination in the relations among metacognitive beliefs and anger and displaced aggression. Participants were 947 students and non-students from general population recruited in two different countries (Australia and Spain). Correlational analyses revealed a similar pattern of results in the Australian and Spanish sample, with participants having dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs also showing higher anger rumination, higher levels of anger and a higher tendency to act aggressively. Structural equation analyses revealed the associations of metacognitive beliefs with anger levels and displaced aggression was fully mediated by anger rumination in both samples. These results suggest that metacognitive beliefs should be considered in comprehensive models and in the therapy of anger problems and aggression.     

How Nation Building Backfires: Beliefs about Group Malleability and Anti-Chinese Attitudes in Hong Kong

An intriguing phenomenon documented within political science research is the association between nation-building programs and increased subnational intergroup conflicts. Based on data collected in Hong Kong, an epicenter of subnational conflicts in China, this article suggests that nation building may intensify the tension between subnational groups because it helps to spread the belief that groups have fixed inherent characteristics. Specifically, in the face of deep intergroup cultural and political differences, people who see their nation as a historically unified entity are more likely to believe that those differences are unchangeable and, in turn, develop negative attitudes toward other subnational groups. We support these arguments with a representative survey of the population and two laboratory experiments. In the first experiment, respondents who are exposed to narratives that emphasize the homogeneity of the Chinese nation report a higher level of fixed group perceptions than those who receive the opposite message. In the second experiment, respondents who are primed to believe that group characteristics are fixed report significantly more negative attitudes toward migrants from other parts of China. Our findings contribute conceptually to the study of nation building and shed new light on the formation of immigration attitudes.     

情绪智力对初中生心理适应的影响：一项追踪研究

为考察情绪智力对初中生心理适应的影响及人际素质与逆境信念的中介作用,对466名12～16岁的初中生进行为期半年的三次追踪调查。结果显示：（1）情绪智力、人际素质、逆境信念和心理适应间存在同时性和继时性正相关;（2）情绪智力正向预测初中生心理适应;（3）人际素质、逆境信念在情绪智力与初中生心理适应间起链式中介作用。追踪研究结果表明,在延时条件下,情绪智力能够依次通过人际素质、逆境信念来进一步预测初中生心理适应。     

Effectiveness of a moral and benevolent leader: Probing the interactions of the dimensions of paternalistic leadership

Paternalistic leadership has three dimensions: authoritarianism, benevolence and morality. Although it is important to understand how these dimensions interact to impact leadership effectiveness, previous studies have failed to identify consistent interaction effects of these dimensions, probably because of the high intercorrelations among the three dimensions. By manipulating the three dimensions independently in an experimental study ( N  = 265 Taiwanese employees), we found that: (i) benevolence and morality increased subordinates' deference to supervisor and work motivation, although authoritarianism was unrelated to these outcomes; and (ii) benevolence and morality interacted to affect the same employee outcomes. Specifically, benevolent and moral leaders elicited more favourable employee outcomes than leaders exhibiting other leadership styles.     

Assessment and Diagnostic Issues in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: Introduction to the Special Issue

This article introduces a special issue of the Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy on assessment and diagnostic issues in REBT. Contributions to the special issue include reviews of (a) the psychometric properties of irrational beliefs measures and (b) the potential utility for REBT research and practice of behavioral measures of distress tolerance; (c) a primary study of the diagnostic and functional significance of high trait anger, with implications for classification and REBT treatment of anger disorders; and (d) a closing commentary by John Malouff on themes raised in the earlier papers.     

The influences of harmony motives and implicit beliefs on conflict styles of the collectivist

The collectivist preference for nonconfrontational conflict styles is usually attributed to the influences of the Confucian value of harmony, which promotes tolerance of interpersonal transgression. Harmony has two distinct motives in collectivistic Asian societies (Leung, 1997 ): harmony enhancement is affective in nature and represents a genuine concern for relationship harmony, while disintegration avoidance is instrumental in nature and sees harmony maintenance as a means to other ends. Hence, as predicted, harmony enhancement is positively related to the use of integrating and compromising, while disintegration avoidance is positively related to the use of avoiding and obliging and is negatively related to the use of integrating during a conflict with a peer in a collectivistic society, Singapore. Besides examining this from a motivational perspective, the study also examines the role of implicit beliefs of personality on one's choice of conflict styles. The two implicit theories of personality refer to the two different assumptions the lay person has about the mutability of personal attributes; an entity theorist believes that personal attributes are fixed and nonmalleable qualities, while an incremental theorist sees personal attributes as qualities that can be developed and changed. Results reveal that incrementalist implicit beliefs also significantly predicted the use of integrating. Harmony enhancement represents a genuine concern for relationship harmony and involves feelings of closeness, unity, and trust. The finding that integrating is predicted by a harmony enhancement motivation suggests the importance of fostering collectivist values of interdependence and feelings of unity and trust so as to encourage the use of integrating to discuss the opposing views openly and constructively. The present study also underscores the benefit of learning an incremental theory to be open to the positive changes in others and work toward improving the relationship and the situation during a conflict.     

Prospective teachers’ beliefs about students’ goal orientations: A carry-over effect of prior schooling experiences?

This study examined the relationship between prospective teachers’ (N = 166) retrospective perceptions of their own past achievement goals and their current beliefs about students’ goal orientations and achievement behaviors. Results of hierarchical regression analysis provide correlation evidence in support of a “carry-over effect” of prospective teachers’ past goal orientations on their current beliefs about students. Specifically, prospective teachers’ were found to believe that their future students will pursue goal orientations analogous to their own past goal orientations. In addition, prospective teachers’ explanations for why students might engage in or avoid achievement-directed behaviors were examined. Regardless of past goal orientation, “internal motives” (e.g., improvement and self-satisfaction) represented the most frequent explanation offered by prospective teachers for why students engage in achievement behaviors. Prospective teachers with past performance-approach goals were significantly more likely to view avoidance as a sign of “laziness,” whereas those with past performance-avoidant goals were more likely to view avoidance as resulting from a “lack of confidence and support.” Implications for subsequent research are discussed.     

Awareness of a gender stereotype,personal beliefs and self-perceptions regarding math ability: when boys do not surpass girls

The negative reputation of women in mathematics and its consequences on their self-perceptions have been extensively demonstrated. However, in France and other countries, the younger the students, the less pronounced these gender differences are. The focus of this study was to explore whether children of two age groups (fourth graders and seventh graders) are aware of a math-ability gender stereotype favorable to boys, and to determine their personal beliefs on mathematics ability. The link between this gender stereotype and self-perceptions was also examined. As expected, there was not a clear-cut awareness of a math-ability gender stereotype favorable to boys. More surprising, girls in both age groups and seventh-grade boys believed that girls do better than boys. Moreover, when their gender identity was made salient, the boys who believed in girl superiority perceived their own performance in mathematics as lower. The girls, on the other hand, regardless of their age and stereotype awareness or personal beliefs, perceived their performance in math as higher when their gender identity was made salient than when it was not.     

Latent Trait Modeling with the Common beliefs Survey III: Using Item Response Theory to Evaluate an Irrational Beliefs Inventory

Assessment of irrational beliefs by such measures as the Common Beliefs Survey III (CBS) has traditionally relied upon classical test theory assumptions, in which the properties of specific test items are less important than the total test score as the aggregate of all item responses. An alternative approach using item response theory (IRT) methodology allows one to specify the parameters of difficulty and discrimination for each test item. Difficulty levels of CBS items range along a continuum of irrationality, the implied latent trait measured by responses to the questionnaire as a whole. We evaluated the CBS responses of 605 individuals from clinical and college settings, drawing from current and archival data. The original Likert scale ratings were recoded into dichotomous scores. Fourteen of the 54 items were highly or very highly discriminating in distinguishing respondents with high and low irrationality levels. However, discriminating items exhibited a very narrow range of difficulty; most functioned at a point a little above the halfway mark on the continuum of irrationality. Item characteristic curves and test information curves were very similar for female (n = 424) and male (n = 179) respondents. We derived a 4-item screening test for irrationality from our IRT analyses of the 54 CBS items. Further test development, focused on the selection and scaling of items with a much broader range of difficulty, would facilitate evaluation of the hierarchical structure of irrational beliefs. Portions of this paper were presented at the 39th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Washington, DC, November, 2005.     

Beliefs about aggression among male and female prisoners

This study investigated instrumental and expressive beliefs about aggression, and their association with self-reported aggression, among male (N = 62) and female (N = 47) prisoners serving sentences in closed prisons in the North of England. Instrumental but not expressive beliefs were strongly correlated with measures of aggression. Expressive beliefs were significantly higher among females than males, but unlike previous findings, there were no significant sex differences in instrumental beliefs or in physical aggression. However, age was significantly negatively correlated with instrumental beliefs, physical aggression, anger and hostility. Those convicted for violent offences showed significantly higher scores for physical aggression and anger, but lower scores for expressive beliefs. The results provide both similarities and contrasts with previous findings for student samples. Aggr. Behav. 23:405–415, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.