Providing an escape option reduces retaliatory aggression

The purpose of this study was to examine whether providing an explicit means to escape future attacks by a provocative fictitious participant reduces retaliatory aggression. Using a laboratory measure of aggression (the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm), 25 participants were given the opportunity to earn points with monetary value on a fixed ratio (FR) 100 schedule, and to subtract points from a fictitious participant on an FR 10 schedule. Aggressive responding was defined as the number of point subtraction responses by the participant. Aggressive responding also produced intervals free from further attack by the fictitious participant. Provocation was manipulated by having the fictitious person subtract points from the participant. Each participant next completed the same task with an explicit FR 10 escape response option added. The escape option produced intervals free from attack identical to the aggressive option, but without taking points away from the fictitious participant. Results indicate that the availability of an escape response attenuated aggressive behavior in response to provocation. Aggr. Behav. 00:000–000, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Do we forgive physical aggression in the same way that we forgive psychological aggression?

The present study examined variations in the impact of social proximity, apologies, intent to harm, cancellation of consequences, and attitude of others on the willingness to forgive an aggressor as a function of the type of aggression—physical aggression or psychological aggression. The participants were instructed to express their willingness to forgive in two contexts—physical aggression and psychological aggression—which constituted a within‐subject factor. Five sets of scenarios corresponding to the five between‐subject factors (from social proximity to intent to harm) were used. Participants were 215 adults aged 17–60 years. As hypothesized, the cancellation of the consequences had less impact, and the apologies and the intent to harm had more impact, on the willingness to forgive in the case of physical aggression than in the case of psychological aggression. This result was a robust one; it did not depend on the participant's gender and age. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–12, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

顾客攻击行为的概念、影响因素及应对策略

顾客攻击是由当时或之前接受组织服务的顾客实施的, 针对该组织员工所进行的一系列不可接受的敌意行为, 如恐吓、威胁、攻击, 并且这些敌意行为会对该组织员工的工作业绩产生消极影响。顾客攻击是工作场所攻击行为在服务业的集中体现; 本文从个体因素和情景因素两个角度分析了顾客攻击的风险因素, 从心理/情感反应、人身伤害、与工作相关的消极结果三个角度探讨了顾客攻击的消极影响; 相应的顾客攻击的应对策略包括个体应对策略和组织应对策略; 最后对当前顾客攻击行为研究的开展进行了有针对性的评价与展望。     

共情特质的神经生物学基础

共情特质的个体差异是心理学研究领域中的一个重要主题。近些年来, 研究者开始关注导致人们共情能力高低有别的神经生物学基础问题。研究发现, 不论是情感共情特质还是认知共情特质, 其个体差异均在大脑进行共情反应、脑结构态及静息态功能连接上有所体现。它们共同说明, 人们的共情能力与其具身模仿能力, 情感加工能力及情绪理解能力密切相关。不仅如此, 共情特质也具有高度的可遗传性, 一些基因类型与该能力存在着紧密的关系。在今后的研究中, 需要扩展对共情特质结构的进一步认识, 关注环境和基因在影响共情特质上存在的交互作用, 并努力将理论研究成果应用于共情能力训练和提高的临床实践中。     

Memory bias for threatening information related to anxiety: an updated meta-analytic review

The evidence for an anxiety-related memory bias is contradictory. We compiled 171 articles published until October 2016 including a group with clinical or subclinical anxiety and a control group in tasks involving implicit or explicit memory using threatening stimuli. There was an anxiety-related memory bias in free recall tasks, but it was not observed in another memory task. The between-groups differences showed that the anxious group recalled more threatening stimuli than the control group (d?=?0.321). When we compared the group differences (anxious vs. control participants) in the within-groups effect (threatening vs. neutral stimuli), a moderate effect size emerged (d_bw?=?0.714). This anxiety-related memory bias was observed with shallow processing, that is consistent with attentional biases related to anxiety. There was also evidence that high-anxious persons recall fewer positive stimuli. Future research is needed to investigate whether this result is a memory or encoding bias and explore other moderator variables.     

A cross‐cultural examination of Aboriginal and European Canadian mothers' beliefs regarding proactive and reactive aggression

The purpose of the present study was to examine the maternal beliefs and practices regarding preschool children's proactive and reactive aggression, within a cross‐cultural framework. Participants included 30 Aboriginal and 45 European Canadian mothers of preschoolers who provided their emotional reactions, causal attributions, socialization strategies, and parenting goals in response to children's aggressive behaviours. Results supported previous research that both groups of mothers generally responded negatively to both types of aggression, although there were differences in the extent of negative emotional responses expressed by mothers in the two cultures depending on the type of aggression. Mothers believed that reactive aggression was due to more external causes than proactive aggression and generally used more power assertive strategies in response to proactive versus reactive aggression. Aboriginal mothers were less anxious and used less power assertive strategies than European Canadian mothers. These findings speak to the importance of examining both similarities and differences in mother's beliefs and practices across cultures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐reported psychopathology in a convicted serial killer

The following paper presents a case study of a convicted serial murderer. Through data from personal correspondence, police reports, a true crime novel, witness statements, medical examiner reports, court appeals, and crime scene reports from the actual murder cases, and most important, a series of psychological self‐report measures, a case study was developed. Included in the psychological measures were tests of general psychopathology, specific tests of psychopathy, anger and aggression scales, and sociological measures related to family, individual, situational, and community risk factors, as well as previous criminal behaviour, including weapon and drug use. The results of these various measures are incorporated into the life history and criminal activity of the individual. The purpose of this research was to develop a more complete psychological report of a serial killer than any other previously reported. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The association between valuing popularity and relational aggression: the moderating effects of actual popularity and physiological reactivity to exclusion

The association between having a reputation for valuing popularity and relational aggression was assessed in a sample of 126 female children and adolescents (mean age = 12.43 years) at a 54-day residential summer camp for girls. Having a reputation for valuing popularity was positively related to relational aggression. This association was moderated by both popularity and physiological reactivity to social exclusion (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity [RSAR] and heart rate reactivity [HRR]). Popular girls with a reputation for valuing popularity were at greater risk for engaging in relational aggression when they also exhibited blunted reactivity to social exclusion. Conversely, girls who had a reputation for valuing popularity but were not popular (i.e., the “wannabes”) were at risk for engaging in relational aggression when they exhibited heightened reactivity to exclusion.     

What will Phil do next? : Spontaneously inferred traits influence predictions of behavior

Past research has shown that perceivers intentionally may make trait inferences about others and use this information to make predictions about these others' future behaviors. Other research has also shown that people can make trait inferences without intent—that is, spontaneously. However, one unexplored avenue is whether spontaneous trait inferences (STI), affect how perceivers predict others' will behavior. Three studies explored this issue. Results from Studies 1 and 2 showed that: (1) exposure to trait-implicative behaviors describing an actor influences subsequent behavior predictions made about the actor in a trait-consistent manner, and (2) predictions occurred regardless of behavior recall, implying that the behavior predictions were derived from prior trait inferences and not from behavior recall. Results from Study 3 bolstered this conclusion by showing that behavior predictions were similar regardless of whether subjects were explicitly instructed to make inferences or not, but that a manipulation known to interfere with inference generation (lie detection instructions) muted behavior predictions. Results from Study 3 also suggested that the prediction effects had both automatic and controlled components, and that reductions observed in the lie detection condition of Study 3 were caused by alterations in the automatic influence of trait knowledge to the behavior predictions. These results suggest that STI may be causal inferences about the actors' dispositions.