An Attributional Analysis of Peer and Family Aggression

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An important instigator of aggression is the thought that others are responsible for aversive events that impact on the self. This cognitive appraisal produces anger, which, in turn, gives rise to antisocial responses. In this program of research, a series of interrelated investigations will elucidate these cognitive and affective determinants of aggression, suggesting methods to foster changes in overt hostility. The proposal incorporates laboratory and field methodologies; examines a range of aggressive populations, including abusive caregivers and incarcarated youths; and considers a variety of aggression-related phenomena. One series of investigations examines whether thoughts that others are responsible are particularly salient among aggressive school-aged boys. A second set of studies investigates how inferences of responsibility are influenced by group membership and ingroup versus outgroup status. A third set of studies then examines the impression management skills of aggressive youths, particularly their understanding, use, and acceptance of accounts (such as confession and legitimate excuses) that might mitigate perceptions of responsibility and reduce anger. These basic processes and mechanisms are then incorporated into the study of abusive caretakers and incarcarated adolescents. Among the former population, we examine their propensity to hold young children responsible for negative actions (i.e., see them as undertaken with negative intentions), the intensity of anger as a result of this inference, and the manner in which stressors in the environment affects these judgments and emotions. Finally, an intervention that incorporates principles about inferring responsibility in others, a full understanding and use of accounts, and the long term consequences of inferring outgroup responsibility is devised, with incarcarated adolescents as targets of this 40-lesson program. The intervention also incorporates principles of self-responsibility for achievement-related outcomes. Thus, principles from laboratory research are used in an attempt to improve both the social and academic behavior of delinquent adolescents. Aggressive behavior undermines the goals of family cohesion, student education, and neighborhood attachment. In this program of research, we examine some of the thoughts and emotions that give rise to aggressive behaviors. The research includes a variety of aggressive populations (aggressive children in school, incarcarated youths, and abusive caregivers); takes place in the laboratory as well as in natural settings (such as the school); and concludes with an intervention program attempting to reduce subsequent aggression among incarcarated adolescents. The basic idea guiding the research is that aggression is in part instigated by the tendency to hold others responsible for negative events that impact on oneself. This, in turn, gives rise to anger and antisocial responses. Furthermore, inferences of responsibility and negative affects are particularly expressed toward outgroup members, and are in part fostered by shortcomings in the understanding, use, and acceptance of legitimate excuses and confessions. In laboratory research, the salience of the propensity to hold others responsible for negative events is examined, and the impact of ingroup-outgroup distinctions as well as the function of communicating confessions and legitimate excuses are studied. These determinants of aggression also are considered in abusive caretakers, where the possible exacerbating effects of environmental stressors on aggressive thinking and emotions are investigated. Then, an intervention that incorporates principles about inferring responsibility in others, a full understanding and use of accounts such as confession and legitimate excuses, and the long term consequences of inferring outgroup responsibility is devised. Incarcarated adolescent offenders are the targets of this 40-lesson program. The intervention also incorporates principles of self-responsiblity for achievement-related success and failure. Thus, understanding gained from laboratory research is used in an attempt to improve both the academic and social behaviors in a population of delinquent adolescents.