Georges Steffgen

Are Cyberbullies Less Empathic? Adolescents' Cyberbullying Behavior and Empathic Responsiveness

Meta-analyses confirm a negative relationship between aggressive behavior and empathy, that is, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Based on theoretical considerations, it was, therefore, hypothesized that a lack of empathic responsiveness may be characteristic for cyberbullies in particular. In the present study, 2.070 students of Luxembourg secondary schools completed an online survey that included a cyberbullying questionnaire(4) and a novel empathy short scale. According to the main hypothesis, analyses of variances indicated that cyberbullies demonstrated less empathic responsiveness than non-cyberbullies. In addition, cyberbullies were also more afraid of becoming victims of cyberbullying. The findings confirm and substantially extend the research on the relationship between empathy and aggressive behavior. From an educational point of view, the present findings suggest that training of empathy skills might be an important tool to decrease cyberbullying.

A towel less: social norms enhance pro-environmental behavior in hotels.

Previous research has shown that normative appeals to engage in environmentally friendly behavior were most effective when they were accompanied by a provincial norm (e.g., when norms matched individuals’ immediate situational circumstances). Analyzing hotel guests’ towel-use during their stay, the current study tests whether messages employing provincial norms were more effective in reducing towel-use than standard environmental messages. In line with previous findings, guests of two hotels used significantly fewer towels when provincial normative appeals—rather than standard environmental messages—were communicated. These findings corroborate to the body of research demonstrating the power of social norms on environmental behavior.

Measuring school climate: an overview of measurement scales

Background: School climate is a heterogeneous concept with a multitude of standardised and validated instruments available to measure it.Purpose: This overview of measurement scales aims to provide researchers with short summaries of some of the self-report instruments in existence, especially in relation to the link between school climate and aggression, within the context of Bronfenbrenner’s model. A secondary aim of this article is to show how the same instrument can sometimes be adapted to fit different theoretical approaches or to focus on different dimensions of school climate.Design and methods: After database consultation and literature hand searching, the resulting literature was screened for a statistical analysis of school climate and aggression. Those studies that had unclear operationalisations of the main variables or used qualitative methods were excluded. The resulting selection of studies were further scanned for common instruments used to evaluate school climate.Conclusions: This article will show how the California School Climate Survey (CSCS), the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (PSSM), the School Climate Survey (SCS) and the Effective School Battery (ESB) as well as different versions of self-created scales on school connectedness, school climate and school culture have been adapted by different researchers in different contexts. Finally, the necessity of adapting a pre-existing instrument or creating a new one will be discussed.

The Allure of the Forbidden Breaking Taboos, Frustration, and Attraction to Violent Video Games

Although people typically avoid engaging in antisocial or taboo behaviors, such as cheating and stealing, they may succumb in order to maximize their personal benefit. Moreover, they may be frustrated when the chance to commit a taboo behavior is withdrawn. The present study tested whether the desire to commit a taboo behavior, and the frustration from being denied such an opportunity, increases attraction to violent video games. Playing violent games allegedly offers an outlet for aggression prompted by frustration. In two experiments, some participants had no chance to commit a taboo behavior (cheating in Experiment 1, stealing in Experiment 2), others had a chance to commit a taboo behavior, and others had a withdrawn chance to commit a taboo behavior. Those in the latter group were most attracted to violent video games. Withdrawing the chance for participants to commit a taboo behavior increased their frustration, which in turn increased their attraction to violent video games.

Bringing empathy into play: on the effects of empathy in violent and nonviolent video games

While violent media has adverse effects on cognition, emotion and behavior, prosocial content promotes these variables in a prosocial way. Greater individual levels of empathy as well as increasing the level of empathy in media content typically foster prosocial behavior and reduce aggression. Two experiments replicated game content findings, and also showed that inducing empathy prior to a video game had a positive influence on behavior. However, under certain circumstances, inducing empathy before playing a violent video game may even have negative effects on behavior. As empathy is a common tool in prevention programs, the implications of these findings are discussed.

Expressive Incoherence and Alexithymia in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Expressive incoherence can be implicated in socio-emotional communicative problems in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study examined expressive incoherence in 37 children with ASD and 41 typically developing (TD) children aged 3–13 years old during a frustration task. The role of alexithymia in expressive incoherence was also assessed. Compared to TD children, children with ASD had higher expressive incoherence, such as more neutral and positive emotion expressions during negative behaviors, but not in the expression of negative emotions during positive behaviors. Further analyses revealed that alexithymia moderated the expressions of positive emotions during negative behaviors. These results suggest that children with ASD may benefit from interventions targeting alexithymia to increase emotional coherence, which may improve socio-emotional communication.

Trick with treat - Reciprocity increases the willingness to communicate personal data

Information security is a significant challenge for information and communication technologies (ICT). This includes withstanding attempts of social engineering aimed at manipulating people into divulging confidential information. However, many users are lacking awareness of the risks involved. In a field survey that tested reciprocal behavior in social interactions, 1208 participants were asked to reveal their personal password. In line with the social norm of reciprocity, more than one third of the participants were willing to do so when they received a small incentive. Elicitation was even more successful when the incentive was given right before asking for the password. The results, including moderating factors (e.g., age, gender), are discussed in the light of security awareness of ICT users and the mechanisms of psychological persuasion. Information security is a challenge for information and communication technologies.Many users are lacking the awareness of the risk of social engineering strategies.More than one third of participants were willing to reveal personal passwords.Elicitation was more successful when a small incentive (i.e., chocolate) was given.

Click or strike: realistic versus standard game controls in violent video games and their effects on aggression

The motion detection technology used in innovative game controlling devices like the Nintendo Wii-Remote® provides experiences of realistic and immersive game play. In the present study (N=62) it was tested whether this technology may also provoke stronger aggression-related effects than standard forms of interaction (i.e., keyboard and mouse). With the aid of a gesture recognition algorithm, a violent action role-playing game was developed to compare different modes of interaction within an otherwise identical game environment. In the Embodied Gestures condition participants performed realistic striking movements that caused the virtual character to attack and kill other ingame characters with a club or sword. In the Standard Interaction condition attacks resulted from simple mouse clicks. After the game session, participants showed a similar increase in negative feelings in both groups. When provided with ambiguous scenarios, however, participants in the Embodied Gestures condition tended to show more hostile cognitions (i.e., anger) than the Standard Interaction group. Results further corroborate the complexity of aggression-related effects in violent video games, especially with respect to situational factors like realistic game controls.

Effects of habitual anger on employees' behavior during organizational change.

Organizational change is a particularly emotional event for those being confronted with it. Anger is a frequently experienced emotion under these conditions. This study analyses the influence of employees’ habitual anger reactions on their reported behavior during organizational change. It was explored whether anger reactions conducive to recovering or increasing individual well-being will enhance the likelihood of functional change behavior. Dysfunctional regulation strategies in terms of individual well-being are expected to decrease the likelihood of functional change behavior—mediated by the commitment to change. Four hundred and twelve employees of different organizations in Luxembourg undergoing organizational change participated in the study. Findings indicate that the anger regulation strategy venting, and humor increase the likelihood of deviant resistance to change. Downplaying the incident’s negative impact and feedback increase the likelihood of active support for change. The mediating effect of commitment to change has been found for humor and submission. The empirical findings suggest that a differentiated conceptualization of resistance to change is required. Specific implications for practical change management and for future research are discussed.

Beeinflussen Narzissmus und Selbstkonzeptklarheit aggressives Fahrverhalten in selbstwert- bedrohlichen Situationen?

Zusammenfassung: Ausgehend von dem theoretischen Modell von Baumeister, Smart und Boden (1996) kann der bedrohte Selbstwert als eine bedeutsame Ursache fur aggressives Verhalten angesehen werden. Insbesondere narzisstische Personen mit einem instabilen Selbstwert neigen starker dazu, Situationen als selbstwertbedrohlich zu erleben und mit Aggressionen zu reagieren. Stucke (2001) belegte in diesem Kontext, dass aggressives Fahrverhalten durch die Interaktion von Narzissmus und Selbstkonzeptklarheit vorhergesagt werden kann. In der vorliegenden Studie wird die Rolle der Personlichkeitsvariablen Selbstwertbedrohung, Narzissmus und Selbstkonzeptklarheit fur aggressives Fahrverhalten von Motorradfahrern/-innen untersucht. Untersuchungsteilnehmer/-innen waren 126 Motorradfahrer/-innen (98 Manner und 28 Frauen) in dem Altersbereich von 19 bis 61 Jahren. Die regressionsanalytischen Befunde belegen, dass Argerreaktionen von Motorradfahrern/-fahrerinnen im Strasenverkehr durch die Interaktion von Narzissmus, Selbst...