Externalizing behaviors in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often either reduced or elevated compared to healthy controls (HCs). This study investigated the moderating role of context in ASD by comparing 32 individuals with ASD to 40 HCs during a social and a non-social provocation task. Compared to HCs, individuals with ASD…

Starting in the preschool years, children show socially exclusive behaviors, such as intentionally leaving out another child from a ball game. Prior research investigating social exclusion understanding in preschoolers primarily used interview methods and it is clear that the verbal and cognitive skills necessary to identify and reason about…

The present study investigated differences in the behavioral and psychophysiological responses to provocation and in the level of callous-unemotional traits in boys exhibiting different patterns of aggression. Eighty-five boys (ages 13-18) in a juvenile detention center played a competitive computer task against a hypothetical peer who provided…

Tests the hypotheses that persons who commit harmful acts do something altruistic after harm-doing because of guilt; and that persons who witness harm do something altruistic after witnessing harm to maintain their belief in a just world." (MB)

Ten boys and 16 girls from two Head Start schools in Massachusetts were administered two projective measures of aggression. A third measure was obtained from teacher rankings of behavior based on classroom conduct. For the projective measures, each child was asked to respond to three social situations as depicted by dolls and drawings. The child…

Since many acts of aggression in society are more than simply an aggressor-victim encounter, the role played by third person instigated aggression also needs examination. The purpose of this study was to develop a laboratory procedure to systematically investigate instigation. In a competitive reaction time task, high and low Machiavellian Males…

Authors investigated the hypothesis that differences in aggressive behavior may partly be a function of differences (a) in the perception of aggressive cues, or (b) in the degree in which retaliation is expected. (Authors)

Ninety-six male undergraduate students participated in an experiment assessing behavioral aggression and addressing itself to the issue of specific versus general mediation of a hypothesized relationship between sexual arousal and aggression. Differing sources of arousal were experimentally crossed with the alteration of the aggressive cue…

Certain characteristics of a Taylor (1965) competitive reaction time task contribute to a lack of awareness of contingencies that exist between two aggressors. The opponent's contingent response to the subject's specific shock setting may be obscured by the reaction time competition, thus concealing the matching contingency. Nine separate steps…

The principle thesis of this paper is that an understanding of the functions of fantasy activities is critical to an understanding of the influence of television and other media upon behavior. (Author)

Presented children (N=96) aged 8-11 with verbal pain or nonpain stimuli contingent or noncontingent on a target response. Delivered stimuli within an aggressive or nonaggressive setting and with or without affect. Type of setting did not influence the behavior, but stimuli delivered in an affective manner did facilitate responding. (Author/RC)