Animus
Aggression in young men high in threat potential increases after hearing low-pitched male voices: Two tests of the retaliation-cost model
Jinguang Zhang & Scott Reid
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research suggests that male voice pitch is an honest dominance signal because it indexes men's physicality and because lower-pitched voices are more costly to develop and maintain. Rather than considering these signaler-dependent mechanisms, we tested a receiver-dependent mechanism hypothesized by M. Enquist's (1985) retaliation-cost model of aggressive signaling. The model predicts that, given a competitive scenario, low-pitched male voices will elicit aggression from male listeners (i.e., signal receivers) who are relatively high in threat potential. We confirmed this hypothesis in two experiments. Under a sexual but not control prime and after listening to low- but not average-pitched male voices, increases in heterosexual male participants' trait dominance predicted stronger aggressive cognitions (Experiment 1), and increases in male participants' handgrip strength predicted stronger aggressive intent (Experiment 2). These findings provide the first direct support for the retaliation-cost model in humans, extend research on the effects of male voice pitch on receiver psychology, and demonstrate an additional cost mechanism that explains why voice pitch is an honest signal of dominance in men.
Modern Warfare: Video Game Playing and Posttraumatic Symptoms in Veterans
Darryl Etter et al.
Journal of Traumatic Stress, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many of the current generation of veterans grew up with video games, including military first-person shooter (MFPS) video games. In MFPS games, players take the role of soldiers engaged in combat in environments modeled on real-life warzones. Exposure to trauma-congruent game content may either serve to exacerbate or to ameliorate posttraumatic symptoms. The current study examined the relationship between MFPS and other shooter video game playing and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among current and former members of the military (N = 111). Results indicated that video game play was very common, and 41.4% of participants reported playing MFPS or other shooter games (shooter players group). The shooter players group reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms than participants who did not play any video or shooter games (nonshooter/nonplayers group; d = 0.44); however, playing shooter games was not predictive of PTSD symptoms after accounting for personality, combat exposure, and social support variables. This may indicate that the same psychosocial factors predict both PTSD and shooter video game play. Although veterans may benefit from the development and use of clinical applications of video games in PTSD treatment, clinical attention should continue to focus on established psychosocial predictors of PTSD symptoms.
Explaining the Gender Gap in Crime: The Role of Heart Rate
Olivia Choy et al.
Criminology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although it is well established that males engage in more crime compared with females, little is known about what accounts for the gender gap. Few studies have been aimed at empirically examining mediators of the gender–crime relationship in a longitudinal context. In this study, we test the hypothesis that a low resting heart rate partly mediates the relationship between gender and crime. In a sample of 894 participants, the resting heart rate at 11 years of age was examined alongside self-reported and official conviction records for overall criminal offending, violence, serious violence, and drug-related crime at 23 years of age. A low resting heart rate partially mediated the relationship between gender and all types of adult criminal offending, including violent and nonviolent crime. The mediation effects were significant after controlling for body mass index, race, social adversity, and activity level. Resting heart rate accounted for 5.4 percent to 17.1 percent of the gender difference in crime. This study is the first to produce results documenting that lower heart rates in males partly explain their higher levels of offending. Our findings complement traditional theoretical accounts of the gender gap and have implications for the advancement of integrative criminological theory.
Anger as a catalyst for change? Incremental beliefs and anger’s constructive effects in conflict
Eric Shuman, Eran Halperin & Michal Reifen Tagar
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
The traditional understanding of the role of anger in conflicts is that it leads to aggressive actions that escalate conflict. However, recent research has found that under certain circumstances anger can have constructive effects such as increasing support for more risky conciliatory steps in negotiation. The current study aims to identify a psychological moderator that determines whether anger has such destructive or constructive effects. We propose that people’s beliefs about the malleability of groups (i.e., implicit theories about groups) moderate whether anger leads to conciliatory, constructive behaviors or destructive, aggressive behaviors. We test this hypothesis in two different contexts (a) race relations in the US in the context of recent protests against police brutality, and (b) the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Results indicated that induced anger (compared to control condition) increased support for aggressive policies for participants who believed that groups cannot change. In contrast, for those who believed groups can change, inducing anger actually increased support for conciliatory policies compared to a control condition. Together, this indicates that anger can have constructive effects in conflict when people believe that groups can change.
Anti-bullying Policies and Disparities in Bullying: A State-Level Analysis
Mark Hatzenbuehler et al.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, forthcoming
Methods: Data on anti-bullying legislation were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education, which commissioned a systematic review of 16 key components of state laws in 2011. States were also categorized based on whether their legislation enumerated protected groups and, if so, which groups were enumerated. These policy variables from 28 states were linked to individual-level data on bullying and cyberbullying victimization from students in 9th through 12th grade participating in the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System study (N=79,577). Analyses were conducted in 2016.
Results: There was an absence of any kind of moderating effect of anti-bullying legislation on weight-based disparities in bullying and cyberbullying victimization. Only state laws with high compliance to Department of Education enumeration guidelines were associated with lower sex-based disparities in bullying victimization.
Peer victimization and changes in physical and relational aggression: The moderating role of executive functioning abilities
Julia McQuade
Aggressive Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study is the first to examine whether executive functioning (EF) abilities moderate longitudinal associations between peer victimization and engagement in physically and relationally aggressive behavior. Participants were 61 children (9–13 years, M = 10.68, SD = 1.28; 48% male) drawn from a partially clinical sample who were assessed at two time points, approximately 12 months apart. At time 1, children were administered a battery of EF tests; adult reports of children's relational and physical victimization and use of relational and physical aggression were collected. At time 2, adult-reported aggression was re-collected. Regression analyses tested whether EF ability moderated the association between peer victimization and increased engagement in aggression. Form-specific (e.g., physical victimization predicting physical aggression) and cross-form (e.g., physical victimization predicting relational aggression) models were tested. EF moderated the association between physical victimization and increases in physical aggression over time and between relational victimization and increases in relational aggression over time. Physical victimization predicted increases in physical aggression only among children with poor EF. However, relational victimization predicted increases in relational aggression for children with good EF skills but decreases in relational aggression for children with poor EF skills. Interaction effects for cross-form models were not significant. Results suggest that there are distinct risk factors implicated in children's engagement in physical and relational aggression. Established cognitive vulnerability models for engagement in physical aggression should not be assumed to apply to engagement in relational aggression.