Forms Of Aggressive Behavior Research Articles

The review of modern researches of psychogenetic factors of aggressive behavior

The review covers urgent domestic and foreign researches of psychogenetic factors of aggressive behavior. The authors consider cytogenetic mechanisms providing mental activity and behavioural activity of the person, offer the concept of the control system of information coding, and specify features of a genotype-environmental interaction in forming aggressive behavior. Classification of forms of aggression is given. Approaches to interpretation of this concept are considered. The theories explaining the nature of aggression (J. Dollard and L. Berkowitz’s frustration theory, A. Bandura’s theory of social learning, K. Lorentz and S. Freud’s theory of instinctual drives, biological theory) are analyzed.The brain mechanisms underlying different forms of aggressive behavior are described.A large number of domestic and foreign studies devoted to the problem of genetic determination of mental processes and behavior is analyzed. The authors bring forward the review of researches of genetic foundations of aggressive behavior. They describe approaches recognized insolvent today (the extra Y-chromosome theory, the “genesign” system, the “generalist genes” concept) and offer conceptions confirmed today: the role of monoamine neuromodulators (the interrelation between various forms of aggressive behavior and neurotransmitter systems of the brain), testosterone is described; the influence of the social-economic status and the environmental factors is considered. The available psychogenetic data is described from the point of view of the additive model of development. On the whole, they note a polygenic nature of the inheritance of aggression (the genes coding information of the olfactory, hormonal, mediator systems are biological factors of aggression).Perspectives of the development of this research area are outlined: the bioinformation analysis of molecular mechanisms of activity of the central nervous system by means of studying the expression of genes in brain cells; the review of the first results obtained by means of this method is offered.

Controlling Offensive Behavior Using Narrative Exposure Therapy

Insecure and violent environments foster two different forms of aggressive behavior: reactive aggressive responding, such as fearful or angry impulsive behavior to perceived threats, and appetitive aggression, which encompasses violence-related feelings of power, excitement, and pleasure. We tested whether forensic offender rehabilitation narrative exposure therapy (FORNET; five sessions) would reduce involvement in everyday violence and produce beneficial effects for mental and physical health. In a Burundian residential center for former street children, we identified a subset of 32 male youths (mean age = 17 years) who scored highly in appetitive aggression. We conducted a randomized controlled trial by assigning matched pairs to receive either FORNET or treatment as usual. During the follow-up (4–7 months after completing treatment), the 16 youths who received FORNET reported having committed significantly fewer offenses (Hedges’s g = 0.62) and presented with fewer physical-health complaints (Hedges’s g = 0.56) than did their matched control participants.

The Aggressive Behavior of Adolescents in Institutionalized System

Access to information among teenagers in recent years has led to unlimited manifestation of aggression. Often this has been witnessed in the increasing number of adolescents institutionalized for aggressive behavior. The current study aims to assess aggressive behavior in two forms: as trends in the violation of rules and in the form of aggressive behavior in a group of institutionalized adolescents. Our study included: 60 subjects in the study group (30 institutionalized subjects, 30 non- institutionalized subjects). From the Achenbach System of Empirical Based Assessment (ASEBA) we used Youth Self-Report and focused on the subscales: aggressive behavior and rule violation behavior which is considered significant for our study. Age range between 14-18 years. The results showed that aggressive behavior and breaches in social norms appear to be characteristic of institutionalized adolescents. The results obtained in this research showed that in terms of aggressive behavior, the level was higher among institutionalized adolescents.

Physical Aggression, Spreading of Rumors, and Social Prominence in Early Adolescence: Reciprocal Effects Supporting Gender Similarities?

There is a robust association between aggression and social prominence by early adolescence, yet findings regarding the direction of influence remain inconclusive in light of gender differences across various forms of aggressive behaviors. The current study examined whether physical aggression and spreading of rumors, as two gender-typed aggressive behaviors that differ in overt displays of power, promote and/or maintain socially prominent status for girls and boys during non-transitional grades in middle school. Peer nominations were used to assess physical aggression, spreading of rumors, and "cool" reputation (social prominence) during three time points between the spring of seventh grade and spring of eighth grade. Participants included 1,895 (54 % female) ethnically diverse youth: 47 % Latino, 22 % African-American, 11 % Asian, 10 % White and 10 % Other/Mixed ethnic background. Cross-lagged path analyses were conducted to test the directionality of the effects, and gender moderation was assessed by relying on multi-group analyses. The analyses revealed mainly reciprocal associations for each form of aggression, suggesting that boys, as well as girls, can both gain and maintain their status by spreading rumors about their peers, just as they do by physically fighting and pushing others in urban middle schools. The implications of the findings for interventions are discussed.

Hostility and Anger in Patients Dependent on Different Psychoactive Drugs

Abstract We assessed 311 participants with dependence on opioids, stimulants, alcohol, polysubstance dependence, and a control group with no dependence using clinical structured interview, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). Our study results demonstrated that in all groups of dependent participants anger, verbal, physical and indirect aggression are significantly higher than in control group. We found that severity and forms of aggressive behaviour in dependent patients are correlated with the type of substance abused; aggressive behaviour appeared to be correlated with the characteristics of anger. Higher level of aggressiveness, anger and irritation were in groups of polysubstance and stimulant abusers. We also found specific predictors of anger and aggression for groups of subjects dependent on different drugs.

Quantified Analyses of Aggression Pattern in a Captive Population of Musk Deer (Moschus Sifanicus)

Quantified Analyses of Aggression Pattern in a Captive Population of Musk Deer (Moschus Sifanicus)Alpine musk deer (Moschus sifanicus) are endangered as a result of habitat degradation and loss and centuries of widespread poaching. Consequently, musk deer farming was introduced as a measure to not only protect musk deer but also to provide a means for sustainable musk supply. An increased understanding of the social structure of captive populations is essential for both successful farming and improved welfare of individuals. This study recorded agonistic interactions between captive individuals at Xinglongshan Musk Deer Farm (XMDF), northwest China. The relationship between aggressive interactions and the individual's age and gender and opponent health was analysed. From our observations we found that stable social hierarchies developed within both captive male and gender-mixed musk deer groups. There was no significant correlation found between only age of individual and their status in the social hierarchy, and it was thus concluded, as social rank was not determined singularly by age, that a combination of other factors, such as experience and origin of the individual, better explain rank orders. Three forms of aggressive behaviour were expressed between males, in which threatening (56.38%±7.28%) was significantly more frequent than attacking (17.86%±5.94%) and displacing behaviours (25.78%±3.66%). There was no attacking behaviour observed in interactions initiated by males towards females, however displacing (70.85%±4.15%) was more common than threatening (29.15%±4.15%). Conflict-initiating male deer demonstrated more attacking and threatening behaviour towards male opponents than to female ones, however the differences were statistically insignificant. These results can be implemented into musk deer farming management practices through 1) rotating individuals within an enclosure on a frequent basis; 2) removing males from female enclosures after successful mating and 3) enclosing males in single sex enclosures. Furthermore, in order to improve musk deer farming and captive musk deer welfare, management systems should be kept relatively consistent in order to assist in establishing the stable social hierarchy patterns in captive populations.

EMOTIONS AND EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR: A CONSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH TO

A distinção entre emoção e comportamento emocional é uma diferenciação importante que não tem sido feita amplamente. Apesar das muitas abordagens existentes para emoção, a abordagem utilizada aqui é baseada em uma análise de contingência conseqüencial. Emoção é tratada não como uma causa do comportamento, nem causada pelo comportamento. Em vez disso, tanto o comportamento quanto a emoção (um evento privado especificamente) são considerados como função de contingências de seleção. O objetivo não é mudar emoções, mas tornar o cliente sensível a elas, e dessa maneira às contingências das quais elas são função. Quando alguém age mostrando características comportamentais e fisiológicas tipicamente associadas com uma emoção, a evidência pública é tratada como comportamento emocional. Um exemplo construído sobre uma forma de comportamento agressivo é utilizado para ajudar a fazer a distinção entre emoções e comportamento emocional, e fornece uma ilustração da transição de emoção como um descritor de uma contingência conseqüencial para o comportamento emocional que é mantido pelas próprias conseqüências. Uma vez que emoção muda para comportamento emocional, a emoção privada sentida pode não ser mais indicativa da contingência originária da qual ela era um descritor, mas em vez disso pode ser um componente necessário para alcançar o requisito da contingência.Palavras-chave: emoções, comportamento emocional, agressão, contingência conseqüencial, eventos evocativos,pontencializar

Interspecific interactions drive cultural co‐evolution and acoustic convergence in syntopic species

1. Antagonistic interactions have been favourite subjects of studies on species co-evolution, because coexistence among competing species often results in quantifiable character displacement. A common output for competitive interactions is trait divergence, although the opposite phenomenon, convergence, has been proposed to evolve in some instances, for example in the communication behaviour of species that maintain mutually exclusive territories. 2. I use here experimental and observational evidence to study how species interactions drive heterospecific signal convergence and analyse how convergence feeds back to the interaction itself, in the form of aggressive behaviour. I recorded the learned territorial signals of two non-hybridizing larks, Galerida cristata and G.theklae, and used allopatric populations as controls for evaluating acoustic convergence in syntopy. Acoustic variation was analysed with respect to social conditions controlling for other potential agents of natural selection, habitat and climate. 3. Interspecific convergence of Galerida calls peaked in syntopy. Although call acoustic structure was affected by climate and habitat, it matched gradients of density and proximity to congeners even at small local scales. The process of cultural transmission, in which individuals may acquire components of behaviour by copying neighbours, enhances the correlation between call acoustics and the local social milieu. 4. Territories were defended against both species, but playback stimuli of convergent congener calls elicited a stronger aggressive reaction than congener calls from allopatric locations. 5. This study shows that learned behaviours may co-evolve as a consequence of antagonistic interactions, determining reciprocal cultural evolution or cultural co-evolution. As for (biological) co-evolution, the distribution of competing species influences whether a particular area becomes a syntopic environment in which convergence is occurring, or an allopatric environment lacking interactions and reciprocal change. Because of their plastic nature, cultural coadaptations may rapidly shift in response to fluctuating social selection, thus propelling dynamic interactions and fine adjustments to the local environment.

P-269 - Psychosocial predictors of child-to-parent aggression

Child-to-parent physical aggression is a relevant problem. However, in contrast to the extensive literature on other forms of family violence, there are very few studies on this topic. To study the profile of adolescents who are physically aggressive toward their parents. Identify the risk factors of child-to-parent aggression. Two samples participated in the study. A sample of 1427 adolescents (51.02% girls) from 10 schools, and a sample from an specialized center for adolescents who commit aggression against their parents. They completed personal and contextual measures (child-to-parent aggression, exposure to violence, discipline by parents, delinquent behavior, substance abuse, justification of violence, narcissism, self-esteem, depression, and social support). The results indicated that 103 adolescents (7.2%) of the community sample had perpetrated some physical aggressive acts toward their parents. Aggressive adolescents scored higher than the rest on delinquent behavior, depression, substance use, impulsivity, justification of violence and grandiosity beliefs, and exposure to violence. Besides, they scored lower on self-esteem, social support, and showed deficits in discipline by fathers and mothers. These adolescents were compared with the sample of adolescents receiving residential attention and the profile was almost identical. The latter scored higher on substance abuse and exposure to family violence. Findings from this study indicate that the prevalence of child-to-parent aggression is high. This type of aggression overlaps with other forms of aggressive behavior and behavior problems. Exposure to family violence and deficits in discipline are important risk factors, which represents an intergenerational transmission of violence.

The Role of Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Physical, Verbal, and Indirect Aggression of a Singaporean Sample of Boys

ABSTRACT Bullying behavior is a serious form of school violence, affecting many children. This study investigated the contributions of 2 specific components of empathy (affective and cognitive empathy) on the 3 forms of aggressive behaviors in a sample of 241 Grade 4 and Grade 5 boys from Singapore. The 2 components of empathy differed in their relation with the 3 types of aggression. After accounting for cognitive empathy, affective empathy was associated with physical aggression. Neither affective empathy nor cognitive empathy was associated with verbal aggression. With control for affective empathy, cognitive empathy was associated with indirect aggression. Results suggest that empathy training based on specific deficits may be helpful in intervention and prevention of specific aggressive behaviors.

The Toxic Continuum From Incivility to Violence: What Can HRD Do?

The frequency, intensity, and duration of uncivil behavior should be a concern to leaders in any organization.All too often seemingly isolated, subtle uncivil incidents (e.g., instigating a joke) can lead to patterns of uncivil behavior (e.g., bullying) and even physical violence. Each is a form of aggressive behavior. Inasmuch as uncivil behavior is linked to poorer individual- (e.g., job performance) and organizational-level (e.g., costs) outcomes, human resource development (HRD) is increasingly being called to implement useful strategies for dealing effectively with this vital workplace issue. The article traces the more subtle forms of uncivil behavior that tend to be ambiguous in intent to more intentional forms of uncivil behavior, that is, bullying and physical violence.The article suggests that HRD can make a strong, positive contribution to reducing the likelihood of uncivil behaviors, which in turn can play a meaningful role in increasing the success of the organization. Finally, a summary of the eight articles are presented that comprise this issue.

Female prisoners' understanding of ‘bullying’ and their methods of coping: a multinational perspective

Whilst prison bullying is a well-researched form of aggressive behaviour, recent studies have suggested that there may be discrepancy between how prisoners and researchers understand the term ‘bullying’. Interviews with 26 female prisoners were subject to constant comparison framework analysis. More than 150 themes were identified. These suggested that whilst there is overall agreement between prisoners and researchers as to what behaviours constitute bullying, a consensus does not exist within the prisoner population. Behaviours identified as bullying behaviours by prisoners are also reported as methods of coping. Cultural differences in behaviour and how these relate to perceptions of aggression were identified by the women prisoners. The findings of this study have implications for researching bullying in institutions such as prisons, and for managing and intervening with bullies in prisons.

Context-Dependent Victimization and Aggression: Differences Between All-Girl and Mixed-Sex Schools

Contextual differences in the association between different forms of aggressive behavior and victimization were studied with a sample of 197 boys and 149 girls from mixed-sex schools and in 336 girls from all-girl schools ( M = 10.21 years of age) in two cities in Colombia. Results showed that boys generally engage in more physical than relational aggression, whereas girls engage in more relational than physical aggression. Among boys, the association between aggression and victimization was significant only for the measure of relational aggression, whereas, for girls, victimization was significantly correlated only with physical aggression. This latter association was found to be significantly stronger for girls from the all-girl schools than for the girls from the mixed-sex schools. These findings are discussed in terms of how mixed-sex and same-sex groups, as different forms of peer context, affect the social dynamics related to the association between aggression and victimization.

Students' experiences of aggressive behaviour and bully/victim problems in Irish schools

Since the 1980s, a greater understanding of the frequency and typology of bullying/victim problems in schools has been accrued in many countries, including Ireland, where a nationwide study of bullying behaviour in schools was undertaken in 1993–1994. However, rather less is known about Irish school students' involvement in other forms of aggressive behaviour. The purpose of the survey described here was to ascertain the prevalence of school students' experiences of certain categories of general aggressive behaviour, as well as the prevalence of bully/victim problems, in Irish schools. Data were obtained via the administration of a specially and extensively modified version of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire to 5569 participants (2312 primary and 3257 post-primary) in Ireland in the autumn/winter school term of 2004–2005. Principally, it was found that experiences of aggressive behaviour appeared to be widespread; whilst age trends varied according to individual categories of aggressive behaviour, gender differences were more clear – boys were more frequently the targets of ‘direct’ forms of aggressive behaviour, whereas girls were more frequently the targets of ‘indirect’ forms. Furthermore, bully/victim problems appear to be persistent in Irish schools, with 35.3% of primary students and 36.4% of post-primary students reporting having been bullied over the last three months. It was contended that inroads into preventing and dealing with bullying and aggressive behaviour in Irish schools might best be made via governmentally-supported nationwide intervention programmes, as has been the case in Norway.

Understanding human aggression: New insights from neuroscience

The present paper reviews and summarizes the basic findings concerning the nature of the neurobiological and behavioral characteristics of aggression and rage. For heuristic purposes, the types of aggression will be reduced to two categories — defensive rage (affective defense) and predatory attack. This approach helps explain both the behavioral properties of aggression as well as the underlying neural substrates and mechanisms of aggression both in animals and humans. Defensive rage behavior is activated by a threatening stimulus that is real or perceived and is associated with marked sympathetic output. This yields impulsivity with minimal cortical involvement. Predatory attack behavior in both animals and humans is generally planned, taking minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or even years (with respect to humans) for it to occur and is directed upon a specific individual target; it reflects few outward sympathetic signs and is believed to require cortical involvement for its expression. Predatory attack requires activation of the lateral hypothalamus, while defensive rage requires activation of the medial hypothalamus and midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG). Both forms of aggressive behavior are controlled by components of the limbic system, a region of the forebrain that is influenced by sensory inputs from the cerebral cortex and monoaminergic inputs from the brainstem reticular formation. Control of aggressive tendencies is partly modifiable through conditioning and related learning principles generated through the cerebral cortex.

Reactive and Proactive Aggression: Cross-informant Agreement and the Clinical Utility of Different Informants

The current study examined cross-informant agreement and clinical utility of parent and teacher ratings of reactive and proactive aggression (two functions of aggression) in the prediction of aggressive and rule-breaking behavior (two forms of aggressive behavior) in a clinically-heterogeneous referred sample. Reactive and proactive measures were significantly related to one another within informant. Furthermore, the reactive and proactive measures of aggression were significantly related across informants and resulted in differential predictions of emotion-focused aggressive and goal-directed rule-breaking behaviors in home and school settings. Both reactive and proactive functions of aggression predicted aggressive acts that were more emotion-focused, whereas only the proactive function of aggression predicted instrumental acts of aggression. The current findings suggest that setting-specific reports of functions and forms of aggressive behavior are valuable and that it may be premature to abandon the reactive and proactive aggression distinction.

Patyčių bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje samprata: priežasčių, formų ir pasekmių diskursas

Vilija Targamadzė
 Profesorė socialinių mokslų (edukologijos) habilituota daktarėVilniaus universiteto Filosofijos fakultetoEdukologijos katedraUniversiteto g. 9/1, LT-01513 VilniusTel. (8 5) 266 76 25El. paštas: vilija.targamadze@ku.lt
 
 Džiuginta Valeckienė
 Edukologijos doktorantė Klaipėdos universiteto Socialinės pedagogikos katedra H. Manto g. 84, LT-92264 Klaipėda Tel. + 370 686 68 575 El. paštas: dziugintalt@yahoo.com
 Šiame straipsnyje analizuojama patyčių reiškinio įvardijimo problematika, patyčių mokykloje priežastys, formos, paplitimo mastai ir pasekmės, kurias jaučia tiek patyčių auka, tiek patyčių iniciatorius, tiek ir visa mokyklos bendruomenė. Patyčios yra dominuojanti agresyvaus elgesio išraiška mokykloje, kuriai būdingos tam tikros formos, sąlygota tam tikrų priežasčių. Jeigu nebus kreipiama dėmesio į tai, kad yra būdų nors kaip pažaboti patyčias, ateityje šis elgesys pasireikš daug sudėtingesnėmis agresyvaus elgesio formomis. Be to, paþymėtina, jog patyčios gali turėti ilgalaikių ir trumpalaikių pasekmių ne tik patyčių aukai, bet ir pačiam patyčių iniciatoriui.

Role of IL-1β and 5-HT 2 receptors in midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) in potentiating defensive rage behavior in cat

Feline defensive rage, a form of aggressive behavior that occurs in response to a threat can be elicited by electrical stimulation of the medial hypothalamus or midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG). Our laboratory has recently begun a systematic examination of the role of cytokines in the regulation of rage and aggressive behavior. It was shown that the cytokine, interleukin-2 (IL-2), differentially modulates defensive rage when microinjected into the medial hypothalamus and PAG by acting through separate neurotransmitter systems. The present study sought to determine whether a similar relationship exists with respect to interleukin 1-β (IL-1β), whose receptor activation in the medial hypothalamus potentiates defensive rage. Thus, the present study identified the effects of administration of IL-1β into the PAG upon defensive rage elicited from the medial hypothalamus. Microinjections of IL-1β into the dorsal PAG significantly facilitated defensive rage behavior elicited from the medial hypothalamus in a dose and time dependent manner. In addition, the facilitative effects of IL-1β were blocked by pre-treatment with anti-IL-1β receptor antibody, while IL-1β administration into the PAG had no effect upon predatory attack elicited from the lateral hypothalamus. The findings further demonstrated that IL-1β’s effects were mediated through 5-HT 2 receptors since pretreatment with a 5-HT 2C receptors antagonist blocked the facilitating effects of IL-1β. An extensive pattern of labeling of IL-1β and 5-HT 2C receptors in the dorsal PAG supported these findings. The present study demonstrates that IL-1β in the dorsal PAG, similar to the medial hypothalamus, potentiates defensive rage behavior and is mediated through a 5-HT 2C receptor mechanism.

Bullying among girls in Japan and Hong Kong: An examination of the frustration-aggression model

One widely accepted explanation of bullying, known as the aggressive-motive thesis, assumes that bullying is a form of aggressive behaviour triggered by external stress. However, recent evidences have suggested a different explanation, known as the frustration-aggression thesis, which asserts that bullying is a psychological defense triggered by external stress to reduce anxiety. The present investigation is an attempt to compare school bullying in Japan and Hong Kong and to find out whether the frustration-aggression thesis is applicable in the schooling context of both societies. Data analysis using structural equation modeling was based on 703 girls selected from 13 primary and 6 junior secondary schools in Japan and 2,477 girls selected from 21 primary and 19 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Results of the analysis suggest that girl bullying in Japan can be explained by the frustration-aggression thesis but that girl bullying in Hong Kong can be explained by the aggressive-motive thesis. The reasons behind the different bullying mechanisms are suggested, but further investigations are needed to uncover the underlying causes.

Social Information Processing, Experiences of Aggression in Social Contexts, and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents

This study examines social information processing and experiences of aggression in social contexts as predictors of different forms of aggressive behavior. A sample of 102 boys (aggressive, average, competent, and victimized students) was investigated with a prospective design in Grade 7/8 and again in Grade 9/10. Results show an aggressive-impulsive response repertoire strongly predicted self-reported and teacher-reported physical aggression, verbal aggression, violent offenses, general aggression, and other forms of delinquency. Positive evaluations of aggressive responses showed a weaker effect, and attributions of hostility and aggressive/egocentric goal setting had no impact. Perceived aggression in the family, in the peer group, in media consumption, and (less consistently) at school predicted verbal aggression as well as physical aggression and violent offenses. Multivariate analyses revealed both mediating and independent effects of social information processing and experiences of aggression in social contexts. Results are discussed from methodological and theoretical perspectives.