Adam Bohannon's List: Social Psychology Research

Cognitive and emotional processes were examined in maltreated children with a history of physical abuse (n = 76), children with a history of maltreatment other than physical abuse (i.e., sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional maltreatment; n = 91), and a group of non-maltreated comparison children (N = 100). Physical abuse was associated with errors in cue interpretation, easy access to aggressive responses to conflict, and poor emotion regulation. In turn, maladaptive cognitive and emotional processes made unique contributions to explaining the relationship between physical abuse and peer nominations of aggression and disruptive behavior. Maltreated children who had not been physically abused evidenced a trend toward cognitive and emotional maladaptation, but only poor emotion regulation accounted for aggression and disruptive behavior in these children. The findings emphasize the importance of considering multiple domains of development in efforts to understand how varying forms of child maltreatment contribute to later maladjustment.

The authors examined emotional valence- and arousal-related phasic psychophysiological responses to different violent events in the first-person shooter video game "James Bond 007: NightFire" among 36 young adults. Event-related changes in zygomaticus major, corrugator supercilii, and orbicularis oculi electromyographic (EMG) activity and skin conductance level (SCL) were recorded, and the participants rated their emotions and the trait psychoticism based on the Psychoticism dimension of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire--Revised, Short Form. Wounding and killing the opponent elicited an increase in SCL and a decrease in zygomatic and orbicularis oculi EMG activity. The decrease in zygomatic and orbicularis oculi activity was less pronounced among high Psychoticism scorers compared with low Psychoticism scorers. The wounding and death of the player's own character (James Bond) elicited an increase in SCL and zygomatic and orbicularis oculi EMG activity and a decrease in corrugator activity. Instead of joy resulting from victory and success, wounding and killing the opponent may elicit high-arousal negative affect (anxiety), with high Psychoticism scorers experiencing less anxiety than low Psychoticism scorers. Although counterintuitive, the wounding and death of the player's own character may increase some aspect of positive emotion.

Ongoing concern about effects of sexually explicit materials includes the role of such material in sex offenses. issues include sex offenders' experiences with pornography and the link between pornography and sex crime rates. Review of the literature shows that sex offenders typically do not have earlier or more unusual exposure to pornography in childhood or adolescence, compared to nonoffenders. However, a minority of offenders report current use of pornography in their offenses. Rape rates are not consistently associated with pornography circulation, and the relationships found are ambiguous. Findings are consistent with a social learning view of pornography, but not with the view that sexually explicit materials in general contribute directly to sex crimes. The effort to reduce sex offenses should focus on types of experiences and backgrounds applicable to a larger number of offenders.

Although Gerbner and Gross (1976) maintained that television viewing cultivates impressions of the real world that are distorted in the direction of the TV version of reality, several studies (e.g., Doob & Macdonald, 1979) have found no relationship between viewing and perceptions of crime in the respondent's neighborhood. It is possible, however, that TV viewing may not affect perceptions of crime in the respondent's immediate environment but may affect perceptions of crime in more distant settings. In two separate studies, we examined the effects of TV viewing on perceptions of crime in the immediate neighborhood and on perceptions of crime in more distant, urban settings. Study 1, based on 372 nationwide telephone interviews, found that the total amount of TV viewed is related to fear of distant urban setting (i.e., New York City) but not to fear of respondent's own city or to fear of respondent's immediate neighborhood. Study 2, based on a survey of 192 undergraduates, found that the total amount of TV viewed is related to fear of distant urban setting (i.e., NYC) and to fear of less distant urban setting (i.e., downtown Chicago) but not to fear of respondent's immediate neighborhood. The implications of these studies for clearing up past confusions in the cultivation hypothesis literature are discussed.

Years of research have demonstrated that the physical presence of others can reduce the tendency to help individuals needing assistance. This study examined whether the diffusion of responsibility phenomenon extends beyond face-to-face environments and helps explain the lack of responsiveness often demonstrated by Internet users who receive e-mail requests sent to multiple people simultaneously. Participants were sent an e-mail message requesting assistance with an online library search task. Each person received the message along with an indication that 0, 1, 14, or 49 others were also contacted. The results demonstrated partial support for the study hypothesis. As expected, the virtual presence of many others significantly reduced e-mail responsiveness; however, nonresponse did not directly increase in proportion with group size.

An experiment was conducted to assess whether effects of exposure to violent media information would vary as a function of target person race. Participants were exposed to violent or nonviolent media information and subsequently made judgments of a violent act committed by a Black, White, or race unspecified man. The most relevant findings indicated that perceptions did not vary as a function of violence exposure for the White and race unspecified defendant. On the other hand, for Black defendants, participants exposed to violent information made attributions of his behavior that were more dispositional than those exposed to nonviolent information. The findings also indicated that when compared to men, women tended to make attributions of defendant behavior that were more dispositional. Finally, when compared to attributions of the White defendant's behavior, attributions of the Black defendant were more dispositional.

Research reveals that aggressive primes activate hostile information in memory. However, it is unclear whether this is true of all people or whether the activation of hostile information differs by trait aggression. In 3 studies, we investigate the organization of aggression-related knowledge. In Study 1, ratings of one's hostile emotions speeded subsequent ratings of hostile emotions, but particularly among individuals low in trait aggression. In Study 2, categorizations of blame-related words speeded categorizations of anger-related words, but particularly among individuals low in trait aggression. In Study 3, categorizations of actions as mean facilitated similar categorizations, but particularly among individuals low in trait aggression. These results suggest that aggressive primes activate hostile information in memory particularly for individuals low (rather than high) in trait aggression. The discussion of the results attempts to reconcile spreading activation processes with judgment and behavior in the particular context of trait aggression and priming effects.

Ersatz social engagement theory (Green & Brock, 1998, 2003) suggests that individuals may be drawn to mediated interactions because of their ease, lack of risk, and immediate gratification, but that these interactions may be less rewarding over the long term. In Study 1 (N = 42), participants’ moods were measured before and after engaging in a conversation with a stranger either online (instant messenger) or face to face. Participants became slightly less tense and less angry regardless of which condition they were in, but significantly happier when they were in the instant messenger (1M) condition. The increased happiness after an IM rather than face-to-face conversation was especially pronounced among women. Study 2 (N = 101) was a survey of students’ Internet use and other extracurricular activities. Students did not appear to be substituting Internet use for other forms of extracurricular engagement. However, IM use was associated with feeling that one used the Internet too much, and reduced life satisfaction.

This article reports 3 studies in which the authors examined (a) the distinctive characteristics of anger and contempt responses and (b) the interpersonal causes and effects of both emotions. In the 1st study, the authors examined the distinction between the 2 emotions; in the 2nd study, the authors tested whether contempt could be predicted from previous anger incidents with the same person; and in the 3rd study, the authors examined the effects of type of relationship on anger and contempt reactions. The results of the 3 studies show that anger and contempt often occur together but that there are clear distinctions between the 2 emotions: Anger is characterized more by short-term attack responses but long-term reconciliation, whereas contempt is characterized by rejection and social exclusion of the other person, both in the short-term and in the long-term. The authors also found that contempt may develop out of previously experienced anger and that a lack of intimacy with and perceived control over the behavior of the other person, as well as negative dispositional attributions about the other person, predicted the emergence of contempt.

The present study examined the relationships between masculine gender role conflict (GRC) and affect regulation in men's aggressive behavior. Ninety-two undergraduate men participated in a competitive reaction time task whereby they were given a choice to administer shocks to an ostensible opponent following a win-lose trial sequence. GRC was measured with the Gender Role Conflict Scale, and labile negative affect was measured by bidirectional change scores on the Negative Affect subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. The results of the current study reveal that labile negative affect has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between GRC and aggression in men, in that GRC predicts aggressive behavior only at high levels of negative affect change. Effects of negative affect-regulation and GRC on initiation and maintenance of aggressive behavior are discussed in the context of gender role socialization in men and treatment outcome.

This study examines the relation between 3-year-old children's (N = 280) symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and aggression and their cognitive, motor, and preacademic skills. When the authors controlled for other types of attention and behavior problems, maternal ratings of hyperactivity and teacher ratings of inattention were uniquely and moderately associated with children's lower cognitive and preacademic skills. The few modest, simple associations between maternal ratings of aggression and children's skills were no longer significant when hyperactivity and inattention were controlled. This suggests that cognitive and preacademic problems among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms may begin to emerge as early as age 3. The results highlight the importance of examining the association between different types of behavior problems and young children's skills.

This study tested the hypothesis that violent video games are especially likely to increase aggression when players identify with violent game characters. Dutch adolescent boys with low education ability (N=112) were randomly assigned to play a realistic or fantasy violent or nonviolent video game. Next, they competed with an ostensible partner on a reaction time task in which the winner could blast the loser with loud noise through headphones (the aggression measure). Participants were told that high noise levels could cause permanent hearing damage. Habitual video game exposure, trait aggressiveness, and sensation seeking were controlled for. As expected, the most aggressive participants were those who played a violent game and wished they were like a violent character in the game. These participants used noise levels loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage to their partners, even though their partners had not provoked them. These results show that identifying with violent video game characters makes players more aggressive. Players were especially likely to identify with violent characters in realistic games and with games they felt immersed in.

Fifty years of news coverage on the link between media violence and aggression have left the U.S. public confused. Typical news articles pit researchers and child advocates against entertainment industry representatives, frequently giving equal weight to the arguments of both sides. A comparison of news reports and scientific knowledge about media effects reveals a disturbing discontinuity: Over the past 50 years, the average news report has changed from claims of a weak link to a moderate link and then back to a weak link between media violence and aggression. However, since 1975, the scientific confidence and statistical magnitude of this link has been clearly positive and has consistently increased over time. Reasons for this discontinuity between news reports and the actual state of scientific knowledge include the vested interests of the news reporting, and the failure of the research community to effectively argue the scientific case.

Two studies examined violent video game effects on aggression-related variables. Study 1 found that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men. Academic achievement was negatively related to overall amount of time spent playing video games. In Study 2, laboratory exposure to a graphically violent video game increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both studies, men had a more hostile view of the world than did women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Affective Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both the short term (e.g., laboratory aggression) and the long term (e.g., delinquency).

Research has shown that exposure to violent video games causes increases in aggression, but the mechanisms of this effect have remained elusive. Also, potential differences in short-term and long-term exposure are not well understood. An initial correlational study shows that video game violence exposure (VVE) is positively correlated with self-reports of aggressive behavior and that this relation is robust to controlling for multiple aspects of personality. A lab experiment showed that individuals low in VVE behave more aggressively after playing a violent video game than after a nonviolent game but that those high in VVE display relatively high levels of aggression regardless of game content. Mediational analyses show that trait hostility, empathy, and hostile perceptions partially account for the VVE effect on aggression. These findings suggest that repeated exposure to video game violence increases aggressive behavior in part via changes in cognitive and personality factors associated with desensitization.

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that violent media make aggressive constructs more accessible to viewers. In Experiment 1, participants made free associations to homonyms, with one meaning more aggressive than the other; and to nonaggressive words after viewing a violent or nonviolent video. Participants who saw the violent video listed more aggressive associations to both types of words. In Experiment 2, participants completed a lexical-decision task after viewing a violent or nonviolent video. Participants pressed one key if a string of letters was an English word, or another key if it was a nonword. Half of the words were aggressive and half were nonaggressive. Participants who saw the violent video had faster reaction times to aggressive words. Videotape content did not influence reaction times to nonaggressive words. These results suggest that violent media prime cognitive-associative networks related to aggression.

This study attempted to further test the excitation transfer theory's applicability to prosocial behavior. Forty-two female college students were treated in either a positive or neutral manner by a confederate and then watched a violent, arousing film, a neutral, nonarousing film, or no film. Following this, participants were given the opportunity both to aggress against and reward the confederate. As predicted, individuals treated in a positive manner and shown the violent film were more generous in administering reward to the confederate than were similarly treated individuals exposed to the neutral film or no film.

Research conducted over several decades has shown that violent media increase aggression. It is now time to move beyond the question of whether violent media increase aggression to answering the question why violent media increase aggression. The present research tested whether violent video games produce a hostile expectation bias—the tendency to expect others to react to potential conflicts with aggression. Participants (N = 224) played either a violent or nonviolent video game. Next, they read ambiguous story stems about potential interpersonal conflicts. They were asked what the main character will do, say, think, and feel as the story continues. People who played a violent video game described the main character as behaving more aggressively, thinking more aggressive thoughts, and feeling more angry than did people who played a nonviolent video game. These results are consistent with the General Aggression Model.

After exposure to either an aggressive or nonaggressive television program, third and fifth grade boys and girls heard descriptions of nine conflict situations and were asked (a) to predict how the average child would react in such a situation and (b) to indicate the behavior they believed to be most morally correct. As predicted, children who had seen the aggressive film were significantly more likely to choose aggressive responses as being normative than were children exposed to the control film. Beliefs about the moral correctness of aggression, however, were not reliably influenced by film condition. Older children were found to regard aggressive responses to conflict as more commonplace than did younger children, and in accordance with sex-role stereotypes, males more frequently than females suggested that aggressive reactions were morally correct.