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Examining P3 And N2 Amplitudes Following Social Exclusion And Provocation In College Students With High And Low Narcissistic Traits, Kathleen Ramsey

Dissertations

Adults with narcissistic traits are prone to reacting aggressively following provocation due to elevations in emotional reactivity and perceived threat to their grandiose self-views. Prior studies have examined event-related potentials (ERPs) measures in college students with narcissistic traits in the context of risky decision making and facial emotion processing; however, no known studies have examined how those with narcissistic traits react to rejection and provocation at the neurophysiological level during an externally valid social rejection task (i.e., Cyberball). For the purposes of this study, it was predicted that participants with higher levels of narcissistic traits (both total narcissism and grandiose …

Romantic Relational Aggression Among College Students: A Moderated Mediation Study Of Attachment Style, Romantic Jealousy, Mate Value, And Relationship Investment, Skylar Hicks

Dissertations

Most of the research on intimate partner violence has concentrated on overt physical and verbal aggression, and less is known about relational aggression in the framework of romantic relationships. Relational aggression is more prevalent in college students’ romantic relationships compared to physical aggression and may be a risk factor for intimate partner violence. Additionally, a number of adverse correlates have been associated with romantic relational aggression, suggesting that it is worthy of study independent of its association with intimate partner violence. The present study explored the relationships among adult attachment, romantic jealousy, mate value, relationship investment, and romantic relational aggression …

Hypermasculine, Antifeminine: The Role Of Masculine Identity In Relational Aggression Among Gay Men, Daniel Locke Deason

Dissertations

Relational aggression is a form of aggression that targets a victim’s relationships or sense of inclusion. Depression, social ostracism, anxiety, and poor psychological adjustment are some of the negative correlates that have been identified in child and adolescent victims of relational aggression. For older adolescents and emerging adults, similar negative correlates have been found. Despite the efforts to identify these correlates, little research has been conducted on relational aggression among minority groups. The present study addressed relational aggression among college-aged gay-identifying men through the lens of Exclusively Masculine Identity Theory (EMIT), which was developed to account for anti-gay attitudes among …

Cybervictimization As A Predictor Of Aggression And Cyberbullying Among Adolescents: Examination Of Potential Risk And Protective Factors, Laura Ashley Cook

Dissertations

The current study examined how cybervictimization is related to aggression outcomes among adolescents. The current study also examined various potential risk and protective factors, including depressive symptoms, anger rumination, impulsivity, social support, and gender. It was hypothesized that the relation between cybervictimization and aggression or cyberbullying would be intensified when levels of depressive symptoms, impulsivity, and anger rumination were higher and that the relation between cybervictimization and aggression or cyberbullying would be attenuated when levels of social support were higher. Gender was examined as a research question, with no specific directionality hypothesized. The data for the current study were collected …

Women Experiencing Aggression From Women: A Mixed Methods Study Of How Women Experience Aggression, How It Impacts Leader Efficacy, And How They Navigate Through It, Karen Kitchen Briggs

Dissertations

Despite advancements in education and hiring practices, women are still underrepresented in leadership roles. Contributing to this challenge is the conflict between communal expectations for women and agentic expectations for leaders which can cause some women to doubt their leadership capabilities. While encouragement from women can build leadership confidence, aggression can weaken it.

This convergent parallel mixed methods study explored the prevalence of female aggression among women leaders, the effect on leader efficacy, and response strategies. Women deans at doctoral granting universities were invited to complete an online survey that included the Negative Acts Questionnaire to assess aggression prevalence, the …

Normative Feedback, Levels Of Narcissism, And Student Evaluations Of A Lecture, Shirley Ann Hodges

Dissertations

Individuals who have narcissistic traits have a tendency to behave more aggressively in both indirect and direct ways, especially when confronted with negative feedback that threatens their self-esteem. Little is known about how trait-level individual differences affect aggression for people who have narcissistic tendencies. Among adults, where direct confrontation is generally discouraged, aggression may be difficult to detect. Rational-appearing aggression is used in the workplace, generally by supervisors toward employees. In some environments, however, including academic environments, 360o feedback is prevalent, with faculty grading student performance and students evaluating faculty in the form of course evaluations. Faculty are held accountable …

The Influence Of Bystanders In Subsequent Bullying Behavior, Jenny Lane Morris

Dissertations

Aggression that is targeted towards an individual or a group of individuals who is at a disadvantage to respond is known by several terms in the literature, including bullying, harassment, and mobbing. There has been much interest in this sort of targeted aggression among school-aged children and, therefore, a large body of literature on the topic exists. In adult populations, especially in workplace environments, much research has focused on the respective roles of the victim and bully in this adverse social dynamic, with less information available on the role of the bystander, which has emerged as an important part of …

Interrelationships Between Testosterone, Aggression, And Parental Care Of A Temperate-Zone, Resident Songbird, The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis Cardinalis), Margaret Susan Devries

Dissertations

Interrelationships among testosterone (T), aggression, and parental care have received much investigative attention. Within birds, many studies have focused on examining such relationships using species characterized by relatively brief periods of territoriality and breeding. Few have investigated links between circulating T and reproductive behavior in birds that are year-round territorial residents and have lengthy breeding seasons, such as the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). The following six chapters report and discuss findings from this dissertation’s examination of aspects of T production and potential interconnections with circulating T, aggression, and parental care in male and female cardinals. This work suggests …

Regional Differences In Relational Aggression: The Role Of Culture, Katherine Amanda Czar

Dissertations

It is becoming increasingly clear that relational aggression has just as much potential to cause harm as overt verbal and physical aggression. Though the literature base on relational aggression is growing, far fewer studies have been conducted with late adolescents and adults as compared with children and early adolescents. Moreover, the role of culture in relational aggression has received limited attention. The current study aimed to examine the potential impact of one aspect of culture on relational aggression by focusing on North-South regional differences in the United States. Differing norms and expectations for social behavior between Northern and Southern U.S. …

"Are You Talking To Me?": Evaluating Possible Cognitive Mediators On The Relation Between Narcissism And Aggressive Traits In Adolescents, Jessica Diane Pickard

Dissertations

Narcissistic personality characteristics (e.g., grandiosity, entitlement, exploitativeness, exhibitionism) are associated with various forms of problem behaviors in children or adolescents, including aggression. The aim of this study was to extend what is known about the relation between narcissism and aggression. Specifically, social-cognitive factors (i.e., hostile attributions, attitudes supporting the use of aggression) were hypothesized to mediate this relation. Two hundred nineteen (219) participants between the ages of 16 and 19 years (M = 16.83 yrs; SD = .80) were recruited for this study. Participants were of both sexes (85% male) and of Caucasian (62%), African American (37 %) and …

An Electrophysiological Investigation Of The Cognitive Processes Underlying Provoked Aggression In Humans, Jennifer Renee Fanning

Dissertations

Recently, the event-related potential (ERP) technique has been applied to questions of social information processing. Several studies have examined standard and social information processing variables in aggressive individuals, but little is known about the neurophysiological processes that take place in real-time during an aggressive encounter. In this study, 48 men and women high and low in aggression history exchanged noise blasts of varying intensity with a (fictitious) opponent in a modified version of a well-validated laboratory-controlled behavioral measure of aggression, the Taylor Reaction-time Task (Taylor, 1967), while ERPs were simultaneously being recorded at scalp sites. Mixed model ANOVAs were used …

The Readiness Of Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder For Self-Directed Learning, Melissa Sue Wright

Dissertations

This study investigated the readiness for self-directed learning of adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as well as their overall educational experiences. Using Guglielmino’s Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale for Adults (SDLRS-A), the researcher investigated whether the following factors were significantly related to adults with ADHD and their readiness for self-directed learning: gender, age of diagnosis, treatment for a period of at least six months, level of education, and the existence of co-morbid conditions. Fifty-four adults who were at least 18 years old and self-reported a formal diagnosis of ADHD participated in this study. There were 22 (41.5%) males and …

A Psychometric Investigation Of The Young Adult Social Behavior Scale (Yasb), Michelle Rene Augustin

Dissertations

Aggressive behavior is a serious public health concern that has resulted in several problems in contemporary society. Despite a considerable body of literature on human aggression, both popular and scientific, a focus on overt physical aggression has obscured other forms of aggression. As a result, considerably less is known about other, more subtle forms of aggression, such as relational aggression. Moreover, research on relational aggression, particularly among older adolescents and adults, has been hindered by the lack of psychometrically sound measures. Research in this area would be enhanced by the availability of such a measure, facilitating comparison of data across …

A Rat Model Examining Behavioral And Neurochemical Effects Of Passive Exposure To Aggression On Observers, Hideo Suzuki

Dissertations

Previous studies have consistently reported that passive exposure to aggression is a risk of aggressive inclinations for a human witness. However, it is unclear whether a witness' aggressiveness is semi-permanently socialized or temporarily primed. Furthermore, a neurochemical mechanism of passive exposure to aggression also remains unaddressed in clinical literature. The present research used a rat model to clarify the behavioral and neurochemical effects of passive exposure to aggression. First, rats were screened for their aggressiveness after they were acutely or chronically exposed to aggression or non-aggression. It was found that observer rats chronically exposed to aggression exhibited more aggression than …