The authors forward the hypothesis that social exclusion is experienced as painful because reactions to rejection are mediated by aspects of the physical pain system. The authors begin by presenting the theory that overlap between social and physical pain was an evolutionary development to aid social animals in responding to threats to inclusion.…

Objective: The first objective of this study was to determine if children exposed to domestic violence were significantly more likely to be cruel to animals than children not exposed to violence. The second was to determine if there were significant age and gender differences between children who were and were not cruel to animals. Method: A…

The dominance behavioral system (DBS) can be conceptualized as a biologically based system that guides dominance motivation, dominant and subordinate behavior, and responsivity to perceptions of power and subordination. A growing body of research suggests that problems with the DBS are evident across a broad range of psychopathologies. We begin by…

Theories of animal and human society based on sex and reproduction have been powerful in legitimating beliefs in the natural necessity of aggression, competition, and hierarchy. Feminists attempting to answer this bias are caught in a political-scientific struggle to formulate and articulate adequate biosocial theories. (Author/KR)

This paper reviews ten studies on the effects of television cartoon violence on aggressive behavior in children and discusses possible reasons for the inconsistent results. Methodology and results of field and laboratory studies are compared, and study limitations are noted. The impact of cartoons is discussed in terms of human vs. animal…

Aggression and cooperation, which represent two critical features in the child's social domain, have one element in common: they both emerge from children's strong developmental push to initiate and maintain relationships with other children. Aggression is defined as any intentional behavior that results in physical or mental injury to any person…

This study attempted to determine whether simple, naturalistic procedures could be used to increase the rate of physically affectionate behaviors directed at stuffed toy animals and at peers in the play of 4- and 5-year-old children. Procedures were developed for scoring affection and aggression during group play. The context of reading a story…

Preschool children's fears of animals and the dark were investigated in an effort to examine how preschoolers use play as a medium for expressing fearful emotions. A total of 48 children participated in the study. Interviews with parents were used to identify 12 preschoolers who were anxious about the dark and 12 who were anxious about dogs; 24…

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the distinct developmental experiences associated with child sexual abuse and rape. Method: For 269 sexual offenders (137 rapists and 132 child sexual abusers), developmental experiences were recorded from a behavioral checklist, a parental-bonding survey, and a sexual history questionnaire. Offender…

A study examined the use of sensory integration techniques to reduce the maladaptive behaviors that interfered with the learning of nine high school students with mental impairments attending a special school. Maladaptive behaviors identified included rocking, toe walking, echolalia, resistance to change, compulsive behaviors, aggression,…

Russian culture is very much influenced by its huge land area, peculiar topography, and harsh climate. To understand Russian culture one must know how Russians perceive nature. This paper discusses how this concept may be conveyed to U.S. middle school students through poetry. Poems about nature can provide students an opportunity to understand…

In this article, research on nonhuman animals is reviewed to show that there is no discontinuity between humans and other animals. For both, high density is not necessarily harmful. Rather, the effect of high density depends on other factors in the situation. (Author)

This study is an attempt to apply ethological tools of observation and analysis to the social behavior of 25 communally-reared children, ages 6 months to 4 years. The focus of this analysis is aggression and dominance relations. Findings indicate that: (1) agonistic behavior reveals stable and linear dominance hierarchies for children from 6…

Addresses the problem of cruelty to animals from a research perspective. Studies of possible causes of childhood cruelty to animals are reviewed and common contributing environmental factors are identified. Implications for educators are discussed and directives for detection and prevention of cruelty are suggested. (ML)

The research on parental deprivation done at the Wisconsin primate laboratories and related laboratories is summarized. Social isolation and certain other social conditions were observed in their effects on aggressive behavior. Isolate-reared rhesus monkeys show more abnormality in postures and movements than do socially reared monkeys from…