Act Of Aggression Research Articles

Aggression in females is also lateralized: left-eye bias during aggressive courtship rejection in lizards

A small but taxonomically diverse number of vertebrates have a left-eye preference for aggression, but this has been shown only in males. Here we present data consistent with a left-eye preference for aggressive rejection display in females of the striped plateau lizard, Sceloporus virgatus. Already-mated females perform this display, which contains key elements of male–male aggressive displays, to courting males. Lateral eye placement reduces binocular vision of such displays. In a field study, we recorded the responses of individual gravid females to one of three possible stimulus presentations: a tethered conspecific male presented so the female viewed him (1) from a head-on (HO) position, (2) with her left visual field (LVF) or (3) with her right visual field (RVF). Although a small proportion of all trials yielded no response, females were significantly less likely to show any response in RVF presentations compared with HO or LVF presentations. In a large majority of trials, females responded to males, and almost all responding females displayed aggressively. When females displayed after RVF presentations, a female was equally likely to use her LVF or RVF to view the male when she first performed an aggressive rejection display. In contrast, in LVF and HO presentations where females displayed, females were significantly more likely than expected by chance to use their LVF to view the males when they displayed. Charge, a very aggressive act, also was significantly more likely to occur when females were viewing males with their LVF than their RVF or HO. Finally, in a small number of unmanipulated natural encounters we observed, all females used their LVF to display to courting males. Our results suggest that, as in males of several vertebrate species, females show a left-eye bias for conspecific aggression.

Enucleation in Psychosis Associated with Aqueductal Stenosis

Reports of self-enucleation are frequent in medical literature, but cases of enucleation towards another are rare. We report the case of a man, 20 years of age, who suffered from psychosis with hydrocephalus and aqueductal stenosis that required a forensic psychiatric investigation to ascertain whether he was of unsound mind when he assaulted and enucleated the right eye of an officer and led to the surgical enucleation of the victim's left eye. Based on his clinical interviews and hospitalization record, we conclude that at the time of the assault, he was suffering from a delusional disorder with religious and demonic content, visual and auditory hallucinations, illusion phenomena, delusional interpretations, imaginative elements, a feeling of terror, and command hallucinations that compelled him to perform the act of aggression.

Physical and Psychological Partner Aggression Across a Decade: A Growth Curve Analysis

The course of physical and psychological partner aggression was investigated over a decade in 203 wives from Suffolk County, New York. Wives reported on their own and on their partners’ aggression at one month before marriage and 6, 18, 30, and 120 months after marriage. This follow-up is the longest period over which partner aggression has been examined. Prevalence rates of wife’s report of wife- and husband-perpetrated physical aggression were 48% and 35% at premarriage, and 13% and 10% ten years later. Using HLM, husband- and wife-perpetrated physical aggression were found to decrease on average approximately one act of aggression per month, regardless of severity and even when controlling for changes in marital satisfaction. There was no significant pattern of change in psychological aggression. These findings are consistent with cross-sectional analyses, and suggest that physical partner aggression decreases in community samples of couples.

Physical and psychological partner aggression across a decade: a growth curve analysis.

The course of physical and psychological partner aggression was investigated over a decade in 203 wives from Suffolk County, New York. Wives reported on their own and on their partners' aggression at one month before marriage and 6, 18, 30, and 120 months after marriage. This follow-up is the longest period over which partner aggression has been examined. Prevalence rates of wife's report of wife- and husband-perpetrated physical aggression were 48% and 35% at premarriage, and 13% and 10% ten years later. Using HLM, husband- and wife-perpetrated physical aggression were found to decrease on average approximately one act of aggression per month, regardless of severity and even when controlling for changes in marital satisfaction. There was no significant pattern of change in psychological aggression. These findings are consistent with cross-sectional analyses, and suggest that physical partner aggression decreases in community samples of couples.

A ‘Risky Westward Turn’? Putin's 9–11 Script and Ordinary Russians

SINCE THE TERRORIST ATTACKS OF 11 September 2001 Russia has played a key part in the efforts of the Bush administration to build an international coalition to conduct the war on terrorism. In the hours immediately after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre President Vladimir Putin was the first foreign leader to speak with President Bush and to personally offer his condolences.' Putin also dispatched a telegram to Washington DC conveying 'anger and indignation' against the 'series of barbaric terrorist acts directed against innocent people'.2 In a national television address later that day he described the 9-11 attacks as 'an unprecedented act of aggression on the part of international terrorism'. The attacks, he claimed, were not a localised American drama but an event that 'goes beyond national borders'. Terrorism, Putin declared, was the 'plague of the twenty first century' and 'Russia knows first hand what terrorism is. So, we understand as well as anyone the feelings of the American people'. Broadening the common identification with America into a transcendent community, he described 9-11 as 'a brazen challenge to the whole of humanity, at least to civilised humanity'. This common identity formation and divide-terrorist barbarism versus 'civilised humanity'-led Putin to declare that 'we entirely and fully share and experience your pain. We support you'.3 Putin later declared a national minute of silence in commemoration of the victims of the attacks. Less than two weeks after this first reaction Putin went on national television again and articulated what some have described as Russia defining its 'strategic choice'.4 The Russian Federation, he stated, 'has been fighting international terrorism for a long time' and 'has repeatedly urged the international community to join efforts'. The forums for those efforts were 'international agencies and institutions', most especially 'the UN and the UN Security Council'. Putin outlined a series of specific measures that Russia would adopt to aid the emergent American-led coalition against the Taliban government of Afghanistan. The Russian government would supply intelligence about 'the infrastructure and locations of international terrorists' and would 'make the Russian Federation's air space available for the through-flights of planes carrying humanitarian cargo to the area of that anti-terrorist operation'. In a noteworthy break from traditional Russian geopolitical thinking about controlling the Eurasian Heartland, he accepted the establishment of bases by America and its allies in Central Asia for operations against 'international terrorism'.5

How do offenders define bullying? A study of adult, young and juvenile male offenders

Purpose. The main aim of the present study was to explore how offenders define bullying and how this relates to school‐based definitions, with a subsidiary aim of exploring age differences.Methods. The sample was selected from two separate prisons in the UK housing male offenders (one adult prison and one housing both young and juvenile offenders) and consisted of 322 offenders (127 adults, 95 young offenders and 100 juveniles). Offenders were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to assess their perceptions of bullying, including an assessment of what types of behaviours made up bullying based on the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist (DIPC©: Ireland, 1999).Results. Differences were found between school‐based definitions and those applied by offenders. In particular, offenders reported that a single act of aggression could be considered bullying and that there was not always an imbalance of power between the bully and the victim. Victims were often seen to provoke bullies. Bullies were not always respected by their peers and one‐quarter of offenders felt that the term ‘bullying’ was a ‘childish’ one. Offenders reported a range of discrete aggressive behaviours, both direct and indirect in nature, which could be considered to be bullying. Indirect behaviours were reported as bullying less frequently than direct behaviours.Conclusions. The study demonstrated how school‐based definitions of bullying do not readily apply to offenders and the findings are discussed in relation to the specific population and environment under study.

Researchers Sketch Complex Profile of Suicide Risk

Researchers Sketch Complex Profile of Suicide Risk

Editorial comment on the war in Iraq

‘The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.’ (Samuel P. Huntington) The editorial committee of Capital & Class are implacably opposed to the invasion of Iraq. Rather than being a humanitarian intervention, the invasion is a brutal act of imperialist aggression. The huge anti-war protests that have gripped the world are testimony to this basic understanding. The reasons for the war are spurious and the only proven link between Al-Qaeda and Iraq is US Foreign Policy. What has prompted the attack on Iraq is that Saddam Hussein's vile Ba'athist regime has suddenly become expendable in the judgement of the leadership of the USA.

Characterizing aggressive behavior.

In the research literature, aggressive behavior has traditionally been classified into two distinct subtypes, impulsive or premeditated. Impulsive aggression is defined as a hair-trigger aggressive response to provocation with loss of behavioral control. Premeditated aggression is defined as a planned or conscious aggressive act, not spontaneous or related to an agitated state. The present study outlines the development of a clinically useful self-report instrument, the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scales (IPAS), designed to characterize aggressive behavior as predominately impulsive or predominately premeditated in nature. The IPAS showed strong reliability and validity. Analysis of the IPASscores demonstrated thepresence of two types of aggressive behavior, impulsive and premeditated, in men referred for anger problems. The aggression of most individuals in the present sample was characterized as predominately impulsive in nature (90%).

O RETRATO DA VIOLÊNCIA DOMICILAR PARA CRIANÇAS DE 8 A 11 ANOS

A violência é uma constante no cotidiano dos povos, se a considerarmos como o ato de agredir um indivíduo em qualquer aspecto, seja físico, moral ou psicológico. É influenciada pelo contexto social, sistema de segurança estabelecido e como são percebidas e vivenciadas as questões agressivas do cotidiano. Tentando desvelar o que a criança entende por violência domiciliar é que foi desenvolvido este trabalho, cujo objetivo é: identificar a noção que as crianças possuem sobre violência domiciliar. É um estudo exploratório descritivo. Seu instrumento de coleta de dados foi a entrevista semi-estruturada realizada com 13 crianças na faixa etária de 8 à 11 anos de um bairro de Curitiba. Baseou-se na resolução 196/96 MS, referente a Pesquisa em Seres Humanos. Após discussão e análise dos dados chegamos às seguintes categorias: para o CONCEITO DE VIOLÊNCIA temos: Brigar e matar, Usar drogas e Agressão verbal; em DEFININDO VIOLÊNCIA DOMICILIAR: Briga entre pai e mãe e Briga entre pais e filhos; em PROPONDO SOLUÇÕES para diminuir ou acabar com a violência familiar: Proibir o uso de drogas, Evitar brigas e mortes, Amar e respeitar uns aos outros e Religiosidade, o que nos deu como categoria central AVIOLÊNCIAFAMILIAR E SUAPOSSÍVEL SOLUÇÃO. Pudemos concluir que o ambiente familiar contribui para a violência quando não há o diálogo entre seus membros.

Prevalence and attitudinal predictors of child sexual offending in a nonforensic sample of South African high school males

Objective — The prevalence, and attitudinal predictors, of sexual aggression were examined in a non-forensic sample of South African high school males. Method — Survey questionnaires were administered to 446 males (aged 16 to 25 years) attending schools in the greater Durban area, South Africa. Results — A history of sexually aggressive behaviour was reported by 66.8% of respondents, with 17.5% reporting an act of sexual aggression that met the legal definition of rape or attempted rape. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant relationship between sexually abusive behaviour and attitudes supportive of both sexual and physical aggression. Additionally, a tendency to attribute blame to the victim of sexual aggression and attitudes reflecting an internalised culture of violence significantly discriminated between respondents who committed rape/attempted rape, indecent assault, and crimen injuria. Conclusions — These findings indicate relatively high rates of sexual offending among South African high school males and suggest that primary prevention programmes are likely to be most effective if they target attitudes supportive of both sexual and physical violence.

The Class of Culture and the Culture of Class: Thoughts on Sahlins' Culture in Practice

WRITING A BOOK REVIEW , cultural anthropologist Marshall Sahlins tells us (p. 281), can be as much an act of aggression as ignoring a person, being excessively polite, or engaging in a Yanamamo chest-pounding duel. I have learned much from Sahlins's writings over the years, and a host of memories reverberated as I read the essays collected in Culture in Practice. Reading these works had the feeling of fingering a familiar and well-worn talisman.

Do beliefs about aggression predict physical aggression to partners?

AbstractThree hypotheses concerning the association between instrumental (I) and expressive (E) beliefs about aggression and physical aggression were assessed among a sample comprising students (n=40), women from a domestic violence shelter (n=29), and male prisoners (n=46), all of whom had committed at least one act of physical aggression to a partner. Participants completed an adapted version of the EXPAGG [Archer and Haigh (1997a): British Journal of Social Psychology 35:1–23] to measure I and E beliefs about aggression, the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) [Straus (1979): Journal of Marriage and the Family 41:75–88] for themselves and their partner, and measures of fear and injuries resulting from partner violence. I beliefs predicted self‐reported physical aggression to the partner, most CTS acts of physical aggression, and injuries to the partner, with only minor and limited associations for E beliefs. Correlations for the student and prisoner samples, and for men and women, showed different strengths. The findings supported a general link between I beliefs and aggression but offered no support for the predictions that the link would be restricted to men or to men who showed a persistent pattern of violence to their partners. Aggr. Behav. 29:41–54, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Grudging Partner: South Korea

S outh Korea welcomes increased U.S. interest and commitment in East Asia. South Korea, like many other countries in Asia, has a vital interest in keeping close economic and security relations with the United States. The United States has been the largest market for the export-oriented South Korean economy and has provided South Korea with security, a critical contribution to its stable economic development. South Korea recognizes the importance of U.S. power and leadership in world politics and regards friendly relations with the United States as the backbone of its foreign and defense policies. The U.S. military presence is well accepted by South Korea for its own security interests. Both governments favor an American military presence on the Korean peninsula as a critical deterrent against communist North Korea. Under the armistice agreement ending the Korean War, the two Koreas remain technically at war, without a peace treaty, despite recent rapprochement efforts between the two archenemies. Whether through internal collapse or a desperate act of aggression, a failing North Korean regime armed with weapons of mass destruction poses a potent threat to the peninsula a decade after the end of the Cold War. About 37,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea, the second largest U.S. Asian deployment. South Korea has worked closely with U.S. military forces in maintaining a strong alliance with the United States. Under the Combined Forces Command in Yongsan, South Korea's military forces are effectively integrated into the U.S. war strategy, which maintains readiness to meet any threat from North Korea. The extensive military cooperation with the United States includes combined defense planning, joint training exercises, intelligence integration and sharing, a sophisticated logistical interface, educational exchanges, and defense industry cooperation.

Rethinking Aggression as a Crime and Formulating Its Elements: The Final Work-Product of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court

The crime of aggression will be included within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court once agreement is reached on its definition and the conditions for exercising jurisdiction. The author discusses the ultimately unsuccessful efforts of the now concluded Preparatory Commission for the Court to complete the drafting. He suggests how the mental and material elements of the offense might be structured consistently with other offenses in the Statute of the Court. Probably the biggest intellectual hurdle is that of “conditions.” A number of states, notably the Permanent Members of the Security Council, insist that there must be a predetermination of an act of aggression by a state made by the Security Council. Others believe that the predetermination can be made by the General Assembly or the International Court of Justice. Yet others claim that all decisions must be made by the International Criminal Court. The political choice between these positions has still to be made.

An Evaluation of Residential Treatment for Sexually Aggressive Youth

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study investigated the effectiveness of a one and one-half year long residential treatment program for 26 boys aged 11–15 with histories of sexually aggressive behavior. The clients were assessed with self-report and staff-report measures at the beginning and end of treatment and at several time points in between; also, aggressive acts were tabulated during a one-year follow-up period. There was evidence of improved functioning on 10 of the 12 measures. During the follow-up, 27% of the sample committed an aggressive act, and 8% committed a sexually aggressive act. On most of the measures, improvement occurred gradually over the course of treatment, and on some measures most of the improvement occurred late in the placement.

Negative affect and parental aggression in child physical abuse

Objective: Parental negative affect is a risk factor for child physical abuse. As negative affect contributes to aggression, and because physical abuse involves an aggressive act directed at the child, we examined the relationship between negative affect and parent-to-child aggression (PTCA) in parents reported to Child Protective Services for physical abuse. Method: Baseline assessment data were retrospectively examined on 49 participants in a treatment study for child physical abuse. The negative affects studied were depression, anxiety, and hostility on the Beck Depression Inventory and the Brief Symptom Inventory. PTCA was assessed using the physical aggression subscales (Minor and Severe Physical Violence) of the Conflict Tactics Scale. The contribution of these negative affects to PTCA was examined after controlling individually for the effects of parental attributions and contextual variables widely regarded as etiological factors in child physical abuse. Results: Contributions of negative affect to PTCA after individually controlling for other predictors were found for Minor Physical Violence but not Severe Physical Violence. Findings were strongest with depression on the Beck Depression Inventory and to a lesser extent with hostility on the Brief Symptom Inventory. Conclusions: Finding that negative affect contributed to PTCA in this sample suggests that it may be important to study the effects of emotion-focused treatments in physically abusive parents. These findings also suggest that PTCA may have qualities of impulsive aggression, a form of aggression that is conceptualized as driven by negative affect, occurs in response to aversive events, and is not planned.

Premeditated aggression: clinical assessment and cognitive psychophysiology

Aggressive behavior has traditionally been classified into two distinct subtypes: an affective, impulsive aggressive display or a planned, predatory aggressive act. While a number of investigations have examined the clinical and physiological correlates in impulsive aggressive individuals, very little research has been conducted on those individuals engaging in predominantly premeditated aggressive acts. The present study compared a group of premeditated aggressive psychiatric outpatients with a group of normal, non-aggressive control subjects on personality, neuropsychological and cognitive psychophysiological measures. Consistent with previous work, premeditated aggressors did not differ significantly from controls on most measures of neuropsychological and psychophysiological function. Premeditated aggressors did show significant personality pathology scoring higher on measures of impulsivity, verbal and physical aggression, anger, hostility, psychoticism and neuroticism. Overall, these results suggest a distinctive personality style that is associated with aggressive behavior. With respect to this and previous work, it is suggested that the physiological aspects of behavioral control play a key role in the type of aggressive behavior displayed.

Aggression under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

AbstractThe Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court includes aggression among the crimes within the Court's jurisdiction. It mandates the Assembly of States Parties to define the crime and to set out the conditions under which the Court shall exercise jurisdiction over it. Both the definition and the conditions must be consistent with the UN Charter provisions. The most pertinent of these provisions is Article 39, which empowers the Security Council to determine ‘the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression’. Based on the context of this provision the article discusses the envisaged role of the Security Council vis-á-vis the International Criminal Court in the prosecution of aggression. The author acknowledges the Council's primary responsibility in matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security, but asserts that such responsibility is not exclusive. The author also concedes the Council's prerogative under Article 39 to determine whether a state has committed an act of aggression for purposes of making recommendations or taking enforcement measures against such a state. Nevertheless the author contends that such determination does not preclude the Court from making its own determination for the purpose of assigning criminal responsibility on individuals. The author argues that the Court is an independent, impartial judicial body. It should not be bound by determinations of the Council, a political body that is often guided more by political considerations than by the law and evidence. The author maintains that subjecting the Court's jurisdiction over aggression to Security Council determinations would eviscerate the Court's effectiveness and credibility.

Gender, the perception of aggression, and the overestimation of gender bias

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the gender of aggressor, target, and observer influences the perception and evaluation of aggression. One hundred seventy-one university students (predominantly White) read 1 of 8 vignettes that described an aggressive act. The aggressor–target gender combinations and the aggressive act were varied. Data did not support the hypothesis that, because of the impact of gender stereotypes, participants would perceive more aggressiveness in men's aggression than in women's aggression. Participants rated women's aggression as more acceptable than men's aggression, and male participants considered the aggression more acceptable, apparently because they saw the act as less aggressive. In addition, participants estimated how most men/women would perceive and evaluate the aggression. Results suggest that people overestimate how biased others are toward members of their own gender.