This study is concerned with distinguishing between persons convicted of crimes against persons and those convicted of crimes against property using the hostility factor as a criterion for comparison. There is some indication that the crimes against persons group is more likely to express overt hostility than the crimes against property group. This would be a useful distinction since the ability to recognize and separate violent or potentially violent persons from the nonviolent is desirable in order to help provide a healthier society.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This study examines some relationship which appear to exist between the learning of hostile material and the drive state of hostility. Hostility is defined as a universally existent drive state capable of being elicited by an appropriate stimulus. No distinction is made as to whether its origin is innate or learned. Williams has suggested that learning rate is negatively related to stimuli connoting hostility; an extension of this study by Wolf indicated that such learning is a negative function of hostile drive strength in interaction with stimuli connoting hostility. However, other studies indicate that there are conditions under which learning could be positively related to hostile stimuli. Maccoby, Levin, and Selya, for example, showed a positive relationship between hostile drive and the recall of hostile material. The purpose of the present study is to examine the circumstances for such diverse findings and expectations and to attempt differential prediction as a consequence of such an analysis. [TRUNCATED]

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [49-54]).

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This study addressed the extent to which offensive cyberbullying content exists on Facebook and the extent to which bystanders that view cyberbullying content reported increased levels of hostile affect. Experiment 1 identified 200 open Facebook groups that contained offensive cyberbullying content. Group composition, in terms of group membership and participation, and the content within the groups, in terms of the number and content of posts, were analysed for gender differences and severity of content. Results from Experiment 1 highlighted the visibility of offensive cyberbullying material that is accessible to any member of the Facebook community. Given the prevalence for such content, Experiment 2 was designed to identify the extent to which exposure to cyberbullying content on Facebook would increase levels of state hostility (i.e., hostile affect), while also examining gender differences and controlling for trait hostility. Participants were presented with Facebook screenshots that contained either offensive or neutral Facebook screenshots and were asked to respond to questionnaires via self-reporting methods. Results indicated that exposure to offensive content led to an increase in levels of state hostility, particularly in those who had previously reported higher levels of trait hostility. Taken together, these findings suggest that not only is offensive material perpetrating cyberbullying behaviour prevalent and accessible to any Facebook member, but bystanders who view offensive cyberbullying content have the tendency to respond with increased levels of hostile affect post-exposure.

Over the course of six studies, a 30-item trait measure of hostility toward women was developed and validated. The Hostility Toward Women Scale is balanced against response acquiescence, has a KR 20 reliability of over .80, and a one week, test-retest reliability over .83. In three studies, the scale was found to consistently predict a number of self-report measures of rape-related attitudes, motivations, and behavior (including men's reports that they had forced women into sex acts in the past and that they would do so in the future). In two studies, the scale predicted laboratory-assessed aggressive motivations and behavior toward both women and men, although the strength of this relationship was only moderate. Thus, the scale did not demonstrate discriminate validity on the behavioral measure, in that it did not correlate exclusively with aggression against women. However, the scale did demonstrate incremental validity in that it predicted both the self-report and the behavioral criterion variables better than a measure of general hostility (the Speilberger Trait Anger Scale). Finally, the scale was relatively uncontaminated by social desirability.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-130).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-56).

Thesis (Ph.D)--Boston University. / This study is concerned with an investigation of hostile expression and Jewish group identification. The design of the study included the development and factor-analysis of a scale of Jewish identification. Specifically, the study dealt with four main issues: the relationship between Jewish group identification and the expression of hostility, a comparison of hostile expression in Jews and non-Jews, an investigation of the multi-dimensionality of Jewish group identification, and a study of the relationship between the derived factors of Jewish identification and the expression of hostility. [TRUNCATED]

From a neuropsychological perspective, hostile men have displayed dysregulation of right cerebral systems as evidenced through an exaggerated sympathetic stress response, with cardiovascular reactivity for blood pressure and heart rate. Altered right cerebral functioning, with hostility and anger, has been demonstrated within functional cerebral systems to include auditory (Demaree & Harrison, 1997), visual (Harrison & Gorelczenko, 1990; Herridge, Harrison, Mollet, & Shenal, 2003), somatosensory (Herridge, Harrison, & Demaree, 1997; Rhodes, Harrison, & Demaree, 2002), motor (Demaree, Higgins, Williamson, & Harrison, 2002) and premotor systems (Williamson & Harrison, 2003). Each of these studies has demonstrated cardiovascular reactivity (blood pressure and heart rates measures) concurrently with altered sensory or motor functional correlates of the right hemisphere. However, the neuropsychological mechanisms and functional regulation for the mobilization of glucose have not been examined. / Master of Science