Thuggish
Poor Sleep and Reactive Aggression: Results from a National Sample of African American Adults
Michael Vaughn et al.
Journal of Psychiatric Research, forthcoming
Background: We know that poor sleep can have important implications for a variety of health outcomes and some evidence suggests a link between sleep and aggressive behavior. However, few studies have looked at this relationship among African-Americans in the United States.
Methods: Data from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) and the NSAL Adult Re-Interview were used to examine associations between sleep duration and self-reported quality of sleep on reactive aggression among African American and Caribbean Black respondents between the ages of 18 and 65 (n = 2,499).
Results: Controlling for an array of sociodemographic and psychiatric factors, sleep was found to be significantly associated with reactive aggression. Specifically, individuals who reported sleeping on average less than five hours per night were nearly three times more likely to report losing their temper and engaging in a physical fight (AOR = 3.13, 95% CI = 1.22-8.02). Moreover, individuals who reported being "very dissatisfied" with their sleep were more than two times more likely to report losing their temper and engaging in physical fights (AOR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.50-7.33). Persons reporting everyday discrimination and problems managing stress were more likely to sleep poorly.
Conclusions: The present study is among the first to document an association between poor sleep and reactive violence among African-Americans. Findings suggest that reducing discrimination may lead to improved sleep and subsequently reduce forms of reactive violence.
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Picking teams: When dominant facial structure is preferred
Eric Hehman et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, July 2015, Pages 51–59
Abstract:
Research has demonstrated that individuals with higher facial width-to-height ratios (fWHR) are consistently perceived negatively on numerous important interpersonal dimensions. In contrast, the current research posited that high fWHR individuals might be perceived as providing group advantages, and thus preferred in certain contexts. We examined how fWHR influences group membership selection decisions during competitive intergroup contexts. Faces with a high or low fWHR were presented in arrays, and participants were tasked with selecting group members across a variety of contexts. In Study 1, participants were more likely to select high fWHR individuals for group membership during intergroup competition. Results from the following four studies lead to the conclusion that preferences for higher fWHR individuals in competitive intergroup contexts are driven by inferences of physical strength and aggression. Thus, fWHR is perceived as a cue to attributes considered advantageous during times of intergroup conflict.
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When Bad Emotions Seem Better: Experience Changes the Automatic Evaluation of Anger
Liat Netzer et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Evaluations of objects change as a function of our experience with them. We suggest that this also applies to the evaluation of emotions. In three studies, we show that the evaluation of anger changes as a function of direct experience with anger. We found that the experience of anger in a context in which it could be beneficial (i.e., an aggressive computer game) led people to perceive anger as more useful (Study 1). Moreover, people came to evaluate anger less negatively after experiencing anger in a context in which it could be beneficial. These changes did not result from the mere experience of anger or from exposure to an aggressive context (Study 2). Rather, the more anger improved their performance, the less negatively participants came to evaluate anger (Study 3). These findings suggest that how bad anger seems may depend on our direct experience with it.
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Michael TenEyck & J.C. Barnes
Criminal Justice and Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research has yet to discount all sources of confounding in the relationship between an individual’s delinquent behavior and that of his or her peers. One approach is to control for an active gene–environment correlation (rGE). Active rGE occurs when one selects into an environment based on genetic propensities. The current study utilizes twin data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine the impact of a direct measure of peer delinquency on self-reported delinquency while controlling for active rGE. The final analytic sample ranged between 456 and 524 dizygotic and 286 and 350 monozygotic twins, depending on the measures being analyzed. Using an augmented version of the DeFries–Fulker model, results revealed the peer effect was no longer statistically significant once genetic confounding (active rGE) was controlled. These findings support selection arguments and run counter to learning theory explanations.
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Developmental mediation of genetic variation in response to the Fast Track prevention program
Dustin Albert et al.
Development and Psychopathology, February 2015, Pages 81-95
Abstract:
We conducted a developmental analysis of genetic moderation of the effect of the Fast Track intervention on adult externalizing psychopathology. The Fast Track intervention enrolled 891 children at high risk to develop externalizing behavior problems when they were in kindergarten. Half of the enrolled children were randomly assigned to receive 10 years of treatment, with a range of services and resources provided to the children and their families, and the other half to usual care (controls). We previously showed that the effect of the Fast Track intervention on participants' risk of externalizing psychopathology at age 25 years was moderated by a variant in the glucocorticoid receptor gene. Children who carried copies of the A allele of the single nucleotide polymorphism rs10482672 had the highest risk of externalizing psychopathology if they were in the control arm of the trial and the lowest risk of externalizing psychopathology if they were in the treatment arm. In this study, we test a developmental hypothesis about the origins of this for better and for worse Gene × Intervention interaction (G × I): that the observed G × I effect on adult psychopathology is mediated by the proximal impact of intervention on childhood externalizing problems and adolescent substance use and delinquency. We analyzed longitudinal data tracking the 270 European American children in the Fast Track randomized control trial with available genetic information (129 intervention children, 141 control group peers, 69% male) from kindergarten through age 25 years. Results show that the same pattern of for better and for worse susceptibility to intervention observed at the age 25 follow-up was evident already during childhood. At the elementary school follow-ups and at the middle/high school follow-ups, rs10482672 predicted better adjustment among children receiving the Fast Track intervention and worse adjustment among children in the control condition. In turn, these proximal G × I effects early in development mediated the ultimate G × I effect on externalizing psychopathology at age 25 years. We discuss the contribution of these findings to the growing literature on genetic susceptibility to environmental intervention.
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Sore losers? A reexamination of the frustration–aggression hypothesis for colocated video game play
Johannes Breuer, Michael Scharkow & Thorsten Quandt
Psychology of Popular Media Culture, April 2015, Pages 126-137
Abstract:
The impact of video game play on player aggression continues to be debated within the academic literature. Most of the studies in this area have focused on game content as the independent variable, whereas the social context of gaming is largely neglected. This article presents an experimental study (N = 76) on the effects of game outcome and trash-talking in a competitive colocated multiplayer sports video game on aggressive behavior. The results indicate that an unfavorable outcome (i.e., losing) can increase postgame aggression, whereas trash-talking by the opponent had no such effect. We also tested the frustration–aggression hypothesis for video games and found that the effect of losing on aggressive behavior is mediated by negative affect. The results suggest that the frustration–aggression hypothesis can be applied to the use of digital games and that game characteristics alone are not sufficient to explain effects on aggression.
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The face of female dominance: Women with dominant faces have lower cortisol
Isaac Gonzalez-Santoyo et al.
Hormones and Behavior, May 2015, Pages 16–21
Abstract:
The human face displays a wealth of information, including information about dominance and fecundity. Dominance and fecundity are also associated with lower concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol, suggesting that cortisol may negatively predict facial dominance and attractiveness. We digitally photographed 61 women's faces, had these images rated by men and women for dominance, attractiveness, and femininity, and explored relationships between these perceptions and women's salivary cortisol concentrations. In a first study, we found that women with more dominant-appearing, but not more attractive, faces had lower cortisol levels. These associations were not due to age, ethnicity, time since waking, testosterone, or its interaction with cortisol. In a second study, composite images of women with low cortisol were perceived as more dominant than those of women with high cortisol significantly more often than chance by two samples of viewers, with a similar but non-significant trend in a third sample. However, data on perceptions of attractiveness were mixed; low-cortisol images were viewed as more attractive by two samples of US viewers and as less attractive by a sample of Mexican viewers. Our results suggest that having a more dominant-appearing face may be associated with lower stress and hence lower cortisol in women, and provide further evidence regarding the information content of the human face.
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Digit ratio (2D:4D), aggression, and dominance in the Hadza and the Datoga of Tanzania
Marina Butovskaya et al.
American Journal of Human Biology, forthcoming
Objectives: Digit ratio (2D:4D) — a putative marker of prenatal androgen activity — has been shown to correlate with self-reported physical aggression and dominance behavior, especially in male children and adolescents. This evidence is derived primarily from the study of Western samples.
Methods: Digit ratios, self-reported aggression, and dominance behavior were collected from men and women in two traditional, small-scale societies, i.e., the Hadza and the Datoga of Tanzania.
Results: We found significant differences in physical and verbal aggression, anger, and hostility between the two societies with the Datoga reporting higher scores on all four measures. Moreover, self-reported dominance in the Datoga was higher than in the Hadza. The Datoga showed lower left and right hand 2D:4D ratios than the Hadza. Men reported higher physical and verbal aggression and dominance, and had lower 2D:4D ratios than women. A significant negative association between 2D:4D and dominance was found in Hadza women.
Conclusions: We discuss our findings with reference to differences in mating systems between the two small-scale societies and previous findings of Western and other small-scale societies.