The Relationship Between Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia With Hostile Attribution Bias and Anger in in Adolescent Boys With High Bullying: a Path Analysis

IntroductionAdolescence is one of the critical stages and the period of evolution of human physical and mental development that occurs between childhood and youth. Successful completion of this course plays a role in mental health and personality. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia with Hostile attribution bias and Anger in adolescent boys with bullying, which plays an important role in developmental outcomes in adolescents. Methods345 male students in Zanjan, iran participated in this study.To measure self-reporting tools, Gertz and Roemer(2004) Difficulty in emotion regulation Questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia Questionnaire(TAS-20), McBril, Milich & Handley (2003 hostile attribution bias Questionnaire, and Eiseng and Glenn Wilson (2003) Aggression Questionnaire(2009) were evaluated. Path analysis method was used to analyze the causal model. The results show a good fit of the model with the experimental data. ResultsThe results also showed a direct and significant effect between anger and Difficulty in Emotion Regulation (β =0.19, p <0.05), Alexithymia (β = 0.17, p <0.05) and Hostile attribution bias in male adolescents (β =0.32, p<0.05) with high bullying. As well the mediating role of Hostile attribution bias in the relationship between Difficulties in emotion regulation with anger is significant (β = 0.32). Moreover the mediating role of Hostile attribution bias in the relationship between Alexithymia with anger is significant (β = 0.20). ConclusionThese results contribute to the theoretical knowledge of how Alexithymia and hostile attribution bias affect anger in adolescent populations. The findings supported the mediating role of hostile attribution bias in the relationship between Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia with anger in adolescents. All three predictor variables are trainable and can be used in anger reduction and bullying interventions in adolescents.

Subtypes of Aggressive Behavior in Children with Autism in the Context of Emotion Recognition, Hostile Attribution Bias, and Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation

The causes of aggressive behavior in children with autism are poorly understood, which limits treatment options. Therefore, this study used behavioral testing and parent reports of 60 children with autism to investigate the interplay of emotion misinterpretation and hostile attribution bias in the prediction of different aggressive behaviors. Further, the additional impact of dysfunctional emotion regulation was examined. Path analyses indicated that hostile attribution bias increased verbal and covert aggression but not physical aggression and bullying. Dysfunctional emotion regulation had an additional impact on bullying, verbal aggression, and covert aggression. Emotion recognition was positively associated with hostile attribution bias. These findings provide a first insight into a complex interplay of socio-emotional variables; longitudinal studies are needed to examine causal relationships.

Hostile Attribution Biases in Vulnerable Narcissists Depends on the Socio-Relational Context

Narcissism, especially the vulnerable kind, is associated with anger and hostility. In a sample of outpatients, group psychotherapy ( N = 74) and community members ( N = 153), we replicated and extended previous work linking vulnerable, but not grandiose, narcissism to hostile attributions across different socio-relational contexts. We also examined if the level of ambiguity of social situations, assessed from the other-referent position, influences the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and attributing hostile intentionality, and whether narcissistic individuals distinguish hostile interpretations, depending on the level of ambiguity of the scene. In ambiguous vignettes, assessed from the self-referent position, higher levels of vulnerable narcissism were associated with a greater tendency to infer more attributions of hostile intentions with people with whom there was no close relationship (except for authority in the patient group). In the case of visual scenes, the positive relationship between vulnerable narcissism and attributed hostile intentionality appeared in accidental scenes, but not in hostile and ambiguous ones. In addition, the higher the vulnerable narcissism the lower the ability to differentiate between contextual nuances (e.g., the level of ambiguity). We replicated previous research indicating a relationship between vulnerable narcissism and hostile attribution bias, but shed new light on the phenomenon of this bias in that it appears to depend on the socio-relational context and the level of ambiguity of the situation.

Narrow Specificity of Pessimistic Attribution Style and other Attribution Styles in Clinically Diagnosed Anxiety Disorders: A Systematic Review

Objective: Research has established that cognitive vulnerability has a role in mood disorder. Researchers have taken a keen interest in exploring the role of pessimistic attribution style (PAS) found in depression, expecting that it can also explain comorbid disorders to depression. The objectives of this systematic review are to explore the narrow specificity of PAS, and to search for other attribution style, if any, in anxiety disorders. Method: PubMed, Research4Life and APA PsycArticles® databases were searched for relevant articles recorded up to May 18, 2021. All published empirical articles, systematic review or meta-analysis, which included at least any of the anxiety disorders diagnosed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM, APA) or International Classification of Disease (ICD, WHO) in the context of attribution bias, were included. Title, abstract and methodology of the publications were screened for potential selection. Risk of bias in the reviewed articles was assessed using the GRADE system. Result: Total 628 records were screened, out of which 19 were found eligible for inclusion. Result suggests narrow specificity of PAS has limited evidence and studies lack a rigorous methodology to establish it. Conclusion: There is indication that various attribution biases can be present in different anxiety disorders including those reported in depression.

Thinking It’s a Male Rather Than a Female Is More Likely and Quicker, Ceteris Paribus

According to previous ethnomethodological and cognitive studies on sex assignment, if a figure has male sexual characteristics people are more likely to think it is a man than a woman when the figure has female ones. This male attribution bias is definitely reinforced when a penis is apparent in human nude images. We reported findings of three experiments aimed at replicating previous studies by administering the Sex/Gender Attribution Test for Adult (SGAT-A) created by digitally morphing bodies of two human male and female models into realistic images. We observed the sex attribution and response time of 1,706 young adult participants. A cross-cultural comparison was also carried out with a sample of young adult Chinese students. Findings substantially reconfirmed those obtained in previous studies. When male external genitalia were exposed, the odds of male sex attribution were 5.688 compared to 1.823 female attribution when female external genitalia were shown. The male external genitalia overshadow any other features that might rather suggest a female identity. The shortest response times were observed with masculine stimuli. Evolutionary and cultural determinants of the male sex bias are discussed.

Experience of social mobility and support for redistribution: Beating the odds or blaming the system?

How does the experience of social mobility affect people's distributive preferences? Using cross-country survey data and a survey experiment, I examine the effects of experienced social mobility on support for redistribution. The results indicate an asymmetric relationship - experiencing downward mobility increases support for redistribution while experiencing upward mobility does not affect distributive preferences. In line with a common attribution bias, the self-serving bias, those with negative mobility experiences 'blame the system' and extrapolate from their negative experience onto society at large, which increases their demand for redistribution. Conversely, those who experienced positive mobility believe they `beat the odds' and do not extrapolate from their experience onto perceptions of societal mobility, leading to no less support for redistribution. This finding suggests significant implications at the aggregate and a potential demand-side explanation for the Great Gatsby Curve: As overall absolute mobility decreases (increases), ceteris paribus, demand for redistribution also decreases (increases).

Overgeneralizing Emotions: Facial Width-To-Height Revisited

The study investigated facial attribution bias. Instead of asking participants to attribute character to faces, as usually done, we did the opposite: Participants were asked to generate the faces of specified characters, namely an aggressive/dominant male or the opposite (peaceful-submissive male). Participants used three methods: They generated free drawings, selected features from an assembly-kit, or edited facial photographs using PC software. We investigated facial width-to-height ratio in these generated portraits. We found that participants did not model static facial width to express character; instead they modelled expressed emotions, anger in particular. This reduced facial height, thereby increasing fWHR.