Neural basis of reward expectancy inducing proactive aggression.

Proactive aggression refers to deliberate and unprovoked behavior, typically motivated by personal gain or expected reward. Reward expectancy is generally recognized as a critical factor that may influence proactive aggression, but its neural mechanisms remain unknown. We conducted a task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment to investigate the relationship between reward expectancy and proactive aggression. 37 participants (20 females, mean age = 20.8 ± 1.42, age range = 18-23 years) completed a reward-harm task. In the experiment, reward valence expectancy and reward possibility expectancy were manipulated respectively by varying amounts (low: 0.5-1.5 yuan; high: 10.5-11.5 yuan) and possibilities (low: 10%-30%; high: 70%-90%) of money that participants could obtain by choosing to aggress. Participants received fMRI scans throughout the experiment. Brain activation regions associated with reward expectancy mainly involve the middle frontal gyrus, lingual gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, anterior cuneus, caudate nucleus, inferior frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, anterior central gyrus, and posterior central gyrus. Associations between brain activation and reward expectancy in the left insula, left middle frontal gyrus, left thalamus, and right middle frontal gyrus were found to be related to proactive aggression. Furthermore, the brain activation regions primarily involved in proactive aggression induced by reward expectancy were the insula, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, pallidum, and caudate nucleus. Under conditions of high reward expectancy, participants engage in more proactive aggressive behavior. Reward expectancy involves the activation of reward- and social-cognition-related brain regions, and these associations are instrumental in proactive aggressive decisions.

Neural correlates of individual differences in moral identity and its positive moral function.

Moral identity is an important moral variable which has positive moral functions, such as contributing to prosocial behaviours, reducing antisocial behaviours, and resisting the risk factors of antisocial behaviours. However, little is known about the neural correlates of moral identity and the neural basis of the effect of moral identity on the risk factors of antisocial behaviours, including moral disengagement. In this study, we explored these issues in 142 college students by estimating the regional homogeneity (ReHo) through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The whole-brain correlation analyses found that higher internalized moral identity was correlated with higher ReHo in the precuneus. Furthermore, the ReHo in the precuneus was negatively correlated with moral disengagement, suggesting positive moral functions of the neural mechanisms of moral identity. These findings deepen our understanding of individual differences in moral identity and provide inspiration for the education of moral identity and the intervention for moral disengagement from the perspective of the brain.

Neural correlates of aggression outcome expectation and their association with aggression: A voxel-based morphometry study.

BACKGROUND: Aggression outcome expectation is an important cognitive factor of aggression. Discovering the neural mechanism of aggression outcome expectation is conducive to developing aggression research. However, the neural correlates underlying aggression outcome expectation and its effect remain elusive. METHODS: We utilized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to unravel the neural architecture of aggression outcome expectation measured by the Social Emotional Information Processing Assessment for Adults and its relationship with aggression measured by the Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire in a sample of 185 university students (114 female; mean age = 19.94 ± 1.62 years; age range: 17-32 years). RESULTS: We found a significantly positive correlation between aggression outcome expectation and the regional gray matter volume (GMV) in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) (x = 55.5, y = -58.5, z = 1.5; t = 3.35; cluster sizes = 352, p < 0.05, GRF corrected). Moreover, aggression outcome expectation acted as a mediator underlying the association between the right MTG volume and aggression. CONCLUSIONS: These results revealed the neural correlates of aggression outcome expectation and its effect on aggression for the first time, which may contribute to our understanding of the cognitive neural mechanism of aggression and potentially identifying neurobiological markers for aggression.

A serial cascade effect of cybervictimization and hostile rumination on the within-person change of moral disengagement.

OBJECTIVE: There is a lack of clarity regarding the developmental mechanisms underlying moral disengagement (a typical moral personality) at the within-person level. To address this issue, we explore the serial cascade effect of cybervictimization and hostile rumination. METHOD: The longitudinal relationships between cybervictimization, hostile rumination, and moral disengagement were explored among 1146 undergraduates, assessed four times (T1-T4) across 2 years. RESULTS: The random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) analysis revealed that the random intercepts of all variables were positively associated with each other. At the within-person level, cybervictimization at T2 indirectly predicted subsequent changes in moral disengagement at T4 through changes in hostile rumination at T3 (the indirect effect was 0.02); furthermore, moral disengagement at T3 predicted changes in hostile rumination at T4 (ß = 0.091). CONCLUSIONS: The within-person dynamics of moral disengagement should be partly due to the serial effect of cybervictimization and hostile rumination, whereas hostile rumination and moral disengagement may form a developmental cascade to some degree. These findings and the proposed serial cascade model of moral disengagement could expand our understanding of the developmental mechanism of moral personality. Additionally, caution must be exercised as this study exhibits seemingly small effect sizes and inconsistent results.

Effects of relative deprivation on change in displaced aggression and the underlying motivation mechanism: A three-wave cross-lagged analysis.

Displaced aggression refers to pernicious acts against innocent people. To date, little is known about mechanisms underlying dynamic changes in displaced aggression. The present study constructed a cross-lagged model to examine the dynamic effects of relative deprivation on displaced aggression and the mediation mechanisms underlying these effects. A total of 1130 undergraduate students participated in this three-wave longitudinal study. The results showed that relative deprivation predicted changes in displaced aggression through concurrent changes in levels of hostile attribution bias and moral disengagement. Hostile attribution bias and moral disengagement could predict each other longitudinally. The relationships between relative deprivation and displaced aggression, and relative deprivation and hostile attribution bias were mutual. This multiple mediation model with two mutually predicting mediators was explained from the aggressive motivation perspective. The findings help inform aggression theories and have implications for the prevention of and interventions against displaced aggression.

Longitudinal Associations Between Interpersonal Distrust and Social Aggression During College: Disentangling the Within-Person Process from Stable Between-Person Differences.

There is a dearth of information on the relationship between interpersonal distrust and social aggression in the youth, although both may lead to negative interpersonal relationships. Furthermore, scholars have not explored whether interpersonal distrust influences later social aggression over time at the within-person level. This study used five wave longitudinal data to investigate the longitudinal association between interpersonal distrust and social aggression and the role of hostile attribution bias in this relationship; notably, it used a relatively rigorous approach-the random intercept cross-lagged panel model-to disentangle within-person processes from stable between-person differences. The final number of participants included 1053 undergraduate students (677 female students and 376 male students), and 64.3% were female students, with a mean age of 18.45 years (SD = 0.95) at first measurement. Participants completed assessments for interpersonal distrust, hostile attribution bias, and social aggression at five time points across 6-month intervals. At the within-person level, the results revealed that interpersonal distrust was a predictor of later social aggression and that hostile attribution bias acted as a longitudinal mediator in this relationship. This result indicates that to enhance interpersonal harmony and reduce individual hostility and aggression toward others, intervention programs should aim to reduce interpersonal distrust.

Resting-state neural correlates of individual differences in ignored experience and its deleterious effect.

Uncovering the neural mechanisms of ostracism experience (including its subclasses of excluded and ignored experiences) is important. However, the resting-state functional brain substrates responsible for individual differences in ostracism experience and its negative effects remain largely undefined. This study explored these issues in a sample of 198 Chinese college students by assessing the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and functional connectivity. The findings indicated a positive correlation between ignored experience and the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in the right superior frontal gyrus and the functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and left cerebellum posterior lobe. Additionally, a negative correlation was found between ignored experience and the functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and the bilateral insula as well as the bilateral inferior parietal lobule. Moreover, the mediation analysis demonstrated that the effects of the functional connectivities of right superior frontal gyrus-left cerebellum posterior lobe and right superior frontal gyrus-right inferior parietal lobule on revenge intention were mediated by ignored experience. Our study offers novel insights into the neural correlates of both individual variations in ignored experience and its typical deleterious effect. These results could deepen our understanding of individual differences in negative experiences and inspire the development of targeted interventions for social stress from the perspective of the brain.

Common Mechanisms Underlying the Effect of Angry Rumination on Reactive and Proactive Aggression: A Moderated Mediation Model.

The different influencing factors and mechanisms of the two basic kinds of aggression (i.e., reactive and proactive aggression) are salient. However, they also have common influencing factors and mechanisms, which are ignored to some extent. In addition, discovering the common mechanisms is conducive to further revealing the nature and law of aggression. To address these issues, this study tested a relational model incorporating angry rumination, moral disengagement, harm aversion, reactive aggression, and proactive aggression from the perspective of aggressive motivation. A total of 1,186 undergraduate students from eight universities were recruited. The results showed that angry rumination was significantly associated with reactive and proactive aggression. Importantly, moral disengagement acted as a common mediator, and harm aversion acted as a common moderator in the effect of angry rumination on reactive and proactive aggression. Specifically, the enhancement effects of low levels of harm aversion on these relationships are due to that it could promote the effects of angry rumination on the common mediator of moral disengagement. An aggressive motivation perspective was developed to comprehensively explain the common mediating and moderating effects. The present study contributes to a greater understanding of the mechanisms of reactive and proactive aggression and how aggressive motivations shape the model of aggressive behavior. These findings support and extend current aggression theories, especially aggression motivation theories. This study could provide insights for targeted aggression prevention interventions.

Can Treating Oneself Kindly Inspire Trust? The Role of Interpersonal Responsibility.

Self-compassion, as a personal psychological resource, has been proved to play an important role in coping with suffering. Based on self-determination theory, the present study attempts to establish that self-compassion can promote trust, and the sense of interpersonal responsibility mediates this relationship. Study 1 used cross-sectional data in a community sample of 322 adults to reveal that self-compassion was positively related to trust, and the mediating effects of the sense of interpersonal responsibility were significant. Study 2 used the latent cross-lagged panel model among 1304 college students at three-time points set at six-month intervals to replicate the results and proved the longitudinal mediating effects across groups. Finally, a casual chain design was used to test the mediation effect in Studies 3 and 4. The results indicated that self-compassion induced by writing task resulted in a sense of responsibility in Study 3 (N = 145), and the manipulated sense of responsibility promoted both trust behaviors and beliefs in Study 4 (N = 125). Through four studies, this study highlights a novel but unexpected viewpoint that treating oneself in a self-compassionate way can not only help individuals cope with various challenges but also motivate them to obtain interpersonal benefits. These findings can help motivate community workers and mental health researchers to increase social capital by focusing on self-compassion and interpersonal responsibility.

Generating a Moderated Mediation Model of Positive Outcome Expectancy and Aggression.

According to previous theories of aggression, positive outcome expectancy for aggression can predict aggression, while moral disengagement and negative outcome expectancy for aggression may, respectively, serve as mediators and moderators in this prediction process. To test the hypothesis, Study 1 first developed the Aggression Outcome Expectancy Questionnaire and examined its two-factor structure, which consists of positive and negative outcome expectancy for aggression. Next, 677 college students were recruited to participate in Study 2 and were asked to complete the Aggression Outcome Expectancy Questionnaire, Civic Moral Disengagement Questionnaire, and Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire. The findings indicated the following: (1) The Aggression Outcome Expectancy Questionnaire for college students demonstrated acceptable reliability and construct validity, confirming the two-factor structure of aggression outcome expectancy. (2) After controlling for sex and age, moral disengagement partially mediated the relationship between positive outcome expectancy and aggression. (3) Negative outcome expectancy for aggression moderated the effect of positive outcome expectancy on aggression, as well as moral disengagement. Specifically, negative outcome expectancy for aggression attenuated the positive predictive effect of positive outcome expectancy on aggression and moral disengagement. In conclusion, the present study extends our understanding of the motivational mechanism of aggression, offering a theoretical reference for preventing and intervening in aggressive behavior among college students.

Left-Behind Children's Positive and Negative Social Adjustment: A qualitative Study in China.

Individual interviews were conducted with a total of 66 participants from five groups between May and November 2020: left-behind children, parents, teachers, principals, and community workers. The left-behind children group included 16 primary and secondary school students aged 10-16. Themes in the interviews' data were identified based on the Grounded Theory. Left-behind children's social maladjustment manifested as: (1) depression and loneliness; and (2) poor academic performance. Left-behind children's positive social adjustment manifested as: (1) using adaptive coping strategies; and (2) life skills and independence. Left-behind children's social adjustment is a dynamic process and has both positive and negative aspects.

Relational model of relative deprivation, revenge, and cyberbullying: A three-time longitudinal study.

Cyberbullying is a new form of aggression and can have serious consequences. Although the influencing factors of cyberbullying have been explored in the literature, less is known of the longitudinal effects of relative deprivation on cyberbullying and the mediating mechanisms underlying the effect. In this study, we explored these problems. A total of 1143 undergraduates (62.9% women, mean age = 19.46, standard deviation [SD] = 0.95) participated in three rounds of a longitudinal survey with an interval of 6 months and completed a series of self-reported questionnaires assessing relative deprivation, revenge, and cyberbullying. The results of random intercept cross-lagged panel model showed that at between-person level, the random intercepts of relative deprivation, revenge, and cyberbullying were positively associated with each other. At within-person level, relative deprivation and revenge could predict each other over time, and revenge longitudinally predicted cyberbullying. Moreover, revenge mediated the longitudinal effect of relative deprivation on cyberbullying. The results support and develop the view of the general aggression model and deepen our understanding of the development mechanism of cyberbullying.

Neural Correlates of Positive Outcome Expectancy for Aggression: Evidence from Voxel-Based Morphometry and Resting-State Functional Connectivity Analysis.

Positive outcome expectancy is a crucial cognitive factor influencing aggression, yet its neural basis remains unclear. Therefore, the present study combined voxel-based morphometry (VBM) with a resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis to investigate the brain correlates of positive outcome expectancy in aggression in young people. In the VBM analysis, multiple linear regression was conducted to explore the relationship between individual differences in aggressive positive outcome expectancy and regional gray matter volume (GMV) among 325 undergraduate students. For the RSFC analysis, seed regions were selected based on the results of the VBM analysis. Subsequently, multiple linear regression was employed to examine whether a significant correlation existed between individual differences in aggressive positive outcome expectancy and the RSFC of seed regions with other brain regions in 304 undergraduate students. The findings indicated that aggressive positive outcome expectancy was positively correlated with GMV in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), right temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Moreover, it was also positively associated with RSFC between the PCC and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The prediction analysis indicated robust relationships between aggressive positive outcome expectancy and the GMV in the PCC, right TPJ, as well as the RSFC between the PCC and the left DLPFC. Our research provides the initial evidence for the neural basis of positive outcome expectancy in aggression, suggesting the potential role of the PCC as a hub in its neural network.

Left-Behind Children's Subtypes of Antisocial Behavior: A Qualitative Study in China.

As a result of the recent decades of urbanization and industrialization, millions of people have migrated to cities in search of better work opportunities in China. Meanwhile, their children have often been left behind in the care of other family members. To classify the subtypes of antisocial behavior of the left-behind children, this qualitative study interviewed a total of 71 participants, including five groups: left-behind children, parents, teachers, principals and community workers. The findings showed that left-behind children's antisocial behavior is manifested as the type of limited adolescent antisocial behavior, and the three subtypes of left-behind children's antisocial behavior were rule-breaking behavior, delinquent behavior and criminal behavior. In addition, the development of children's antisocial behavior could range from general violations to delinquent behaviors and even to criminal behaviors.

The relationship between Group relative deprivation and aggressive collective action online toward deprivation-related Provocateurs within the Group: the mediating role of hostile feelings.

Aggressive collective action online has many negative impacts on the online environment and can even lead to political violence or social panic in the offline world. Although the effect of relative deprivation on aggression toward the compared object is well known, the influence of relative deprivation on aggressive collective action online toward deprivation-related provocateurs within the group has been ignored. Thus, this study attempted to explore the effect, as well as the mediating mechanism underlying it. We found that group relative deprivation manipulated by an employment problem scenario (with the triggering event as a covariable) can enhance aggressive collective action online toward deprivation-related provocateurs within the group, with hostile feelings mediating the effect. These results support and develop the relative deprivation theory, frustration-aggression theory, stress and coping theory, and deepen the understanding of the relationship between relative deprivation and aggression. The findings also suggest that colleges should focus more on graduate employment problems and decreasing the relative deprivation experienced by undergraduate students in efforts to prevent aggressive collective action online.

The brain correlates of hostile attribution bias and their relation to the displaced aggression.

BACKGROUND: Hostile attribution bias (HAB) has been considered as a risk factor of various types of psychosocial adjustment problem, and contributes to displaced aggression (DA). The neural basis of HAB and the underlying mechanisms of how HAB predicts DA remain unclear. METHODS: The current study used degree centrality (DC) and resting-sate functional connectivity (RSFC) to investigate the functional connection pattern related to HAB in 503 undergraduate students. Furthermore, the "Decoding" was used to investigate which psychological components the maps of the RSFC-behavior may be related to. Finally, to investigate whether and how the RSFC pattern, HAB predicts DA, we performed mediation analyses. RESULTS: We found that HAB was negatively associated with DC in bilateral temporal poles (TP) and positively correlated with DC in the putamen and thalamus; Moreover, HAB was negatively associated with the strength of functional connectivity between TP and brain regions in the theory of mind network (ToM), and positively related to the strength of functional connectivity between the thalamus and regions in the ToM network. The "Decoding" showed the maps of the RSFC-behavior may involve the theory mind, autobiographic, language, comprehension and working memory. Mediation analysis further showed that HAB mediated the relationship between some neural correlates of the HAB and DA. LIMITATIONS: The current results need to be further tested by experimental methods or longitudinal design in further studies. CONCLUSIONS: These findings shed light on the neural underpinnings of HAB and provide a possible mediation model regarding the relationships among RSFC pattern, HAB, and displaced aggression.

Longitudinal effect of self-control on reactive-proactive aggression: Mediating roles of hostile rumination and moral disengagement.

Self-control is a well-known inhibitor of aggression, but the effect of self-control on different kinds of aggression (such as reactive-proactive aggression) and the underlying mediating mechanisms of these effects are unclear. We developed a mediation model to address these issues. A three-wave study was conducted with a sample of 1203 qualifying Chinese undergraduates to test the model. The results showed that self-control at Wave 1 negatively predicted reactive aggression at Wave 3 through mediating effects of hostile rumination and moral disengagement at Wave 2 at the same time, while self-control at Wave 1 negatively predicted proactive aggression at Wave 3 only through moral disengagement at Wave 2. Furthermore, the longitudinal relationship between hostile rumination and moral disengagement is mutual. The current findings support our hypotheses regarding the mediation model of self-control inhibiting reactive-proactive aggression and suggest that moral disengagement should be a common and basic variable to predict most kinds of aggression; further, hostile rumination only has a particular effect on reactive aggression. The present study used motivation theory to explain its mediation model, which develops aggressive theory regarding varied common influencing factors and underlying mediating mechanisms of reactive and proactive aggression.

The brain correlates of state proactive aggression.

OBJECTIVE: Proactive aggression can result in many economic, social, and health problems. It has two levels: trait and state. Although the neural basis of trait proactive aggression is becoming clearer, the neural basis of state proactive aggression has been largely ignored and remains unclear. METHOD: We explore the basic brain correlates of state proactive aggression using a reward-interference task (RIT), in which participants play a competitive reactive time task against an opponent. They can make decision to give the opponent noise interference for winning the game and gaining reward or not. Forty healthy participants from a university in China performed the RIT in the scanner and their functional images were obtained on a 3.0-T Siemens Tim Trio scanner. Finally, 38 participants (21 males, M age = 19.24, SD = 1.32) were included in analyses. RESULTS: The results show that relative to the baseline, the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were activated by aggression selection and nonaggression selection in the RIT. Furthermore, relative to nonaggression selection, the MPFC, ACC, TPJ, IFG, middle cingulate cortex (MCC), and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) were more strongly activated during aggression selection and correlated with the scores of some of the three basic proactive aggression motivations (instrumental motivation, moral inhibition motivation, and moral approval motivation). CONCLUSION: The results provide preliminary evidence of neural correlates for state proactive aggression and should be replicated by other methods or with other samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal relationships among interpersonal openness trait, hostile attribution bias, and displaced aggressive behaviour: Big Five treated as covariates.

Displaced aggressive behaviour is associated with many negative outcomes. Although certain personality traits predict displaced aggressive behaviour, the uniquely longitudinal effect of indigenous interpersonal traits on displaced aggressive behaviour is ignored. To address this gap, we explored the longitudinal relationship among an indigenously interpersonal trait of China (interpersonal openness), hostile attribution bias, and self-reported displaced aggressive behaviour. Additionally, we tested whether hostile attribution bias mediated the relationship between interpersonal openness and self-reported displaced aggressive behaviour. The Interpersonal Self-Support Scale for Undergraduate Students, Word Sentence Association Paradigm for Hostility, Displaced Aggression Questionnaire, and the NEO Personality Inventory-3 were administered to 942 undergraduates on two occasions, 6 months apart. A cross-lagged model showed that, after controlling for the Big Five personality traits, interpersonal openness predicted subsequent hostile attribution bias, and hostile attribution bias predicted self-reported displaced aggressive behaviour 6 months later. Hostile attribution bias at time 2 mediated the relationship between interpersonal openness at time 1 and self-reported displaced aggressive behaviour at time 2. These results were consistent with the interpersonal self-support theory's appraisals of interpersonal openness, and they extended the social information processing and general aggression models to explain displaced aggressive behaviour.