Preference for Religious Coping Strategies and Passive versus Active Coping Styles among Seniors Exhibiting Aggressive Behaviors

This article is theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part presents issues related to experiencing stress (including ways of coping with experienced problems) and the relationships between preference for various coping strategies and human behavior. The empirical part presents the results of research on the relationship between the frequency of seniors (n = 329) using 13 different ways to deal with experienced difficulties (including the strategy of turning to religion/religious coping) and 11 categories of aggressive behavior (retaliation tendencies, self-destructive tendencies, aggression control disorders, displaced aggression, unconscious aggressive tendencies, indirect aggression, instrumental aggression, self-hostility, physical aggression towards the environment, hostility towards the environment, and reactive aggression). The last part is devoted to a discussion on the obtained research results and the practical implications of using the strategy of turning to religion/religious coping in difficult situations as a factor protecting the elderly from aggressive behavior.

Geopsychology of instrumental aggression: daily concurrence of global terrorism and solar-geomagnetic activity (1970-2018)

Formal scientific study of the geopsychology of human aggression dates back at least a century and has consistently demonstrated a positive association between solar-geomagnetic activity and aggressive behaviour. Advances in the theories, methodologies, and practical applications of geopsychology could therefore contribute to collective efforts to comprehend, to forecast, and to develop interventions for aggressive behaviours such as those seen in terrorism. This requires a rigorous and precise estimate of the magnitude of association between solar-geomagnetic activity and aggression using a representative, contemporary sample of strictly-operationalized behaviour. Here we show that days in recent history (1970-2018) with the lowest levels of instrumental human aggression (number of casualty-associated terrorism incidents) also had the lowest levels of solar and geomagnetic activity, and that stepwise increases in human aggression were mirrored by progressive increases in solar activity. We used Bayesian methods robust to outliers and heterogeneity of variance to analyze the most comprehensive and contemporary global database of terrorism incidents available, which included more than 106,000 unique instances of instrumental aggression spanning 48 years. We conclude that there is a small, nonzero promotional effect of solar-geomagnetic activity on terrorism-related aggression. This may reflect the fact that solar-geomagnetic activity serves as a zeitgeber that coordinates the expression of instrumental aggression across an aggregation of susceptible individuals. We propose that many behaviours – even instrumental acts such as terrorism which are presumed to involve a degree of planning and intention – may be subject to subtle geopsychological induction or suppression.

Examining Construct Validity and Reliability of the Aggressiveness Scale

The purpose of this study is to test the validity and reliability of aggressiveness construct and test the forms and indicators that form this variable. Aggressiveness is measured by two forms, namely hate or anger and instrumental aggression. The population in this study are all teenagers in the city of Yogyakarta. The sample in this study are 60 teenagers in the city of Yogyakarta. The sampling technique is accidental sampling. The data collection method used is aggressiveness scale. Research data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through the SmartPLS 3.2.8 program. Based on the results of data analysis, the forms and indicators that make up the aggressiveness variable are declared valid and reliable. The most dominant form that reflects the aggressiveness variable is instrumental aggression with a loading factor of 0.934. The weakest form which reflects the aggressiveness variable is hate or anger with a loading factor of 0.851. This shows that all forms and indicators are able to reflect and form variable aggressivens. Thus the measurement model can be accepted because the theory that describes the variable fit with empirical data obtained from the subject.

Developmental relations between ADHD symptoms and bullying perpetration and victimisation in adolescence

It has previously been hypothesised that individuals with elevated ADHD symptoms are at greater risk of bullying perpetration and victimization; however, a lack of high-quality longitudinal data has meant that this hypothesis is yet to be adequately tested. Using autoregressive latent trajectory models with structured residuals (ALT-SR) and four waves (ages 11, 13, 15 and 17) of longitudinal data from the BLINDED STUDY NAME (n=1526, 52% male), we evaluated the developmental relations between ADHD and bullying using both self- and teacher-reported ADHD symptom data. Analyses suggested that ADHD symptoms primarily increase the risk of bullying perpetration, with a within-person effect of ADHD symptoms on bullying perpetration symptoms identified across ages 13 to 15 (β=.13) and ages 15 to 17 (β=.19) based on self-reported ADHD symptoms; and a similar effect identified across ages 11 to 13 (β=.24) and 13 to 15 (β=.29) based on teacher-reported inattention symptoms. There were also some indications of reciprocal effects and effects involving victimization that merit further exploration in future research. Results imply that the content of bullying intervention and prevention programs should take account of ADHD symptoms in order to ensure that those with elevated ADHD symptoms can benefit from these interventions as much as their typically developing peers. This will involve addressing bullying perpetration that may reflect impulsive/reactive aggression and impaired social skills rather than instrumental aggression. Further, programs should go beyond classical curriculum/classroom-based delivery to ensure that individuals with elevated ADHD symptoms can be successfully engaged.

Scarcity promotions: Customers' negative experiential journey

The scarcity promotions of Big Billion Day in India, Boxing Day sales in the UK and Black Friday sales in the US, point to negative sentiments, frightening moments, violence, and even incidents of shooting leading to death. These promotions delight the few who can take advantage but trigger a negative experiential journey for the majority. In the past, negative emotions were neglected as an object of research. Prior literature on the dark side of scarcity promotions affirmed the presence of aggression in general. This research advances a step further by: (1) highlighting the presence of instrumental aggression rather than aggression in general, during promotions; (2) providing a conceptual framework for a negative experiential journey; and (3) defining aggression in a consumption context during scarcity of resources which are not necessary for survival (e. g., luxury goods) as opposed to survival resources (e.g., food or water). The study conceptualises the customer's negative experiential journey, uncovers the underlying causal mechanisms and customer response strategies, and provides recommendations for firms to inhibit aggression. For practitioners, we recommend displaying equal numbers of promotional and explanatory leaflets.

Contact sport participation predicts instrumental aggression, not hostile aggression, within competition: quasi-experimental evidence

Purpose Findings are mixed with regard to the link between contact sport participation and aggression. One possibility is that contact sport participation may be associated with instrumental aggression but not hostile aggression. The purpose of this paper is to employ a quasi-experimental design to investigate the prediction that young men who regularly participated in contact sports during high school, compared to those who did not, exhibit a greater disposition toward aggression in response to a non-provoking situation (instrumental aggression) and no dispositional difference in response to a provoking situation (hostile aggression). Design/methodology/approach The Taylor Aggression Paradigm was used to manipulate three levels of provocation (no provocation, low provocation, high provocation) and observe aggressive behavior in participants who varied in contact sport participants (yes, no). Findings Results indicated a significant two-way interaction between provocation level and contact sport participation such that contact sport participation positively predicted aggression before provocation was initiated (instrumental aggression), not after (hostile aggression). Originality/value This is one of only a limited number of studies to examine the link between contact sport participation and aggression at varying levels of provocation. Findings suggest the form of aggression associated with contact sport participation is predominately instrumental.

Anger, Emotional Expressivity and Psychological Well-Being in Sports Players

The objective of the present study is to observe whether there is a difference between boys and girls engaged in Instrumental Aggression Sports and those engaged in Hostile Aggression Sports with respect to anger, emotional expressivity and psychological well-being and to observe whether there is a relationship between these variables. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used to select a sample of 160 sports players, among whom 80 (40 boys and 40 girls) were engaged in instrumental aggression sports and 80 (40 boys and 40 girls) were engaged in hostile aggression sports. The Multidimensional Anger Inventory (Siegel, 1986), Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire (Gross, & John, 1998) and Psychological Well Being Scale (Ryff& Keyes, 1995) were administered to the participants. The results showed significant gender differences with respect to the dimension of anger arousal (p<0.05). However, no significant differences were found between the sport players engaged in instrumental aggression and those engaged in hostile aggression with respect to anger, emotional expressivity, and psychological well-being. The results also reveal that anger was positively correlated with emotional expressivity and negatively correlated with psychological well-being in both the groups (p<0.05). Additionally, emotional expressivity was negatively correlated with psychological well-being in sports players engaged in instrumental aggression sports and hostile aggression sports (p<0.05). The present study brings to light the toxic effects of anger and how we can learn to process emotions to augment effective functioning and psychological well-being.

Aggression and Hunting Attitudes

Hunting has a long history, and contentious recent past. We examined the relationship between aggression and hunting attitudes, investigating the moderating role of sex. Two studies are presented—a psychometric evaluation of a unidimensional instrument for assessing hunting attitudes, which was then administered to a sample of general population participants to assess the relationship between aggression and hunting attitudes. Finally, university students completed measures of hunting attitudes and instrumental/expressive aggression. Men were more instrumentally aggressive than women and were more supportive toward hunting. The relationship between instrumental (but not expressive) aggression and hunting attitudes was moderated by sex—men’s hunting endorsement increased with instrumental aggression, while women’s endorsement of hunting decreased with increasing instrumental aggression. Expressive aggression was not predictive of hunting attitudes.