The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the language-aggression hypothesis which suggests that high language development is associated with low observable aggression. This theory is based on Pavlov's second signalling system theory in which language is said to have regulatory capabilities in human behavior. / The main focus of this study was to examine aggressive expression in light of language maturity as opposed to language development assessed by language measures currently on the testing market. Subjects were 108 Black, White, Latin, and Oriental second and third grade children from Tallahassee, Florida. These subjects were matched for sex and social class. / A new device was developed to measure aggressive expression in both the verbal and physical mode in order to determine aggressive preference. Paradigmatic or syntagmatic response to a word association test was used as an indicator of language maturity. / The language-aggression hypothesis holds true for low language mature subjects. These subjects tended to select the physical mode of expression, but the opposite was not true for high language mature children. While these language mature children tended to use verbal aggression, the relationship was not as strong as language immaturity and the physical aggressive expression. / When explaining a child's preference for physical aggression in this model language maturity appears to be the best predictor. Sex appears to be the best predictor when examining a subject's preference for verbal aggressive expression. / The results suggest that aggressive expression is a function of language maturity for physical aggression but not so for verbal aggression. Further examination of verbal aggressive expression appears to be necessary in order to indicate underlying motivation for the selection of this mode. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-10, Section: A, page: 4277. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74315 |
| Contributors | PIEL, JOHN A., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 152 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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