This study examined physiological and social-cognitive correlates of aggression in an in vivo laboratory provocation situation. Fifty-one male participants (ages 9 to 13) were selected based on teacher aggression screenings, ranging from normative to high levels. A provocation was induced by the experimenter communicating a threat from an unseen "peer" in the laboratory. Bivariate linear regression analyses showed that aggression significantly predicted heart rate at both pre- and postinduction, and aggression significantly predicted attributions of intent following the provocation. Results indicated that aggression was a significant predictor of changes in hostile attribution and heart rate following the threat induction. A positive correlation also was found between heart rate change and attribution change. The findings suggest that both physiological and social-cognitive processes should be addressed in clinical interventions with aggressive children.
The current study assessed the effectiveness of two behavior manipulations created to differentially lower aggressive responses in a laboratory task. It was hypothesized that the reactive anger manipulation would have the greatest effect for reactive aggressive behavior and the instrumental manipulation would significantly affect proactive aggressive behavior and slightly affect the reactive behavior. Fifty participants played pinball in competition for points against an unknown peer, whose responses were actually controlled by the experimenter. Participants could push a noise button, sending the peer an annoying noise; a tilt button, interfering with the opponent's game; or a no answer button, offering a pro-social alternative to aggression. After playing four rounds, participants were randomly assigned to either a reactive anger or a positive instrumental manipulation group; they then played pinball again for four rounds. Results indicate that the instrumental manipulation significantly lowered aggressive responses for both reactive and proactive behavior. The reactive manipulation effected aggressive responses only for use of the noise button and produced significantly lower levels of anger.
Two anger management interventions for aggressive children, Anger Coping and Coping Power, are described in this review article, including conceptual underpinnings, session format and content, and outcome research findings. Important issues and considerations in the implementation of such interventions are also presented. Overall, Anger Coping and Coping Power have emerged as effective interventions for angry, aggressive children and represent useful resources for clinicians' work with this population. At the problem solution stage of socialcognitive processing, aggressive children offer fewer competent verbal problem solutions (Dunn, Lochman,
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