Paul A. Bell

Aggression and heat: the influence of ambient temperature, negative affect, and a cooling drink on physical aggression.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the influence of ambient temperature upon physical aggression. In the first, male subjects received either a positive or negative evaluation from a confederate and were then provided with an opportunity to agress against this person by means of electric shock. On the basis of previous research, it was predicted that high ambient temperatures (92-95 degrees F) would facilitate aggression by those receiving positive evaluations but actually inhibit such behavior by those receiving negative assessments. Results confirmed both of these predictions and also indicated that more moderate but still uncomfortably warm temperatures (82-85 degrees F) produced similar effects. The second experiment employed procedures similar to the first and examined the suggestion that administration of a cooling drink would reduce the impact of high ambient temperatures upon overt aggression. This prediction, too, was confirmed. The possible mediating role of negative affect with respect to the influence of ambient temperature and other environmental factors upon aggression was discussed.

Sexual arousal and aggression by males: effects of type of erotic stimuli and prior provocation

Eighty-five undergraduate males participated in an experiment designed to investigate the impact of various types of erotic stimuli upon aggression. On the basis of previous research, it was hypothesized that exposure to mild erotic stimuli would tend to inhibit subsequent aggression, while exposure to more arousing stimuli of this type would facilitate such behavior. In order to examine this hypothesis, male subjects were first angered or treated in a more neutral manner by a confederate of the experimenter and then provided with an opportunity to aggress against this person by means of electric shock. Before aggressing, participants were exposed to one of five different types of stimuli: nonerotic pictures of furniture, scenery, and abstract art; pictures of seminude females; pictures of nude females; pictures of couples engaged in various acts of lovemaking; or explicit erotic passages. Results offered partial support for the major hypothesis. Exposure to mild erotic stimuli inhibited later aggression, while exposure to more arousing sexual materials neither facilitated nor inhibited such behavior.

Aesthetic, Affective, and Cognitive Effects of Noise on Natural Landscape Assessment

Research has shown that helicopter noise from tourist flights is very common in some national parks and wilderness areas . At Grand Canyon National Park , air craft noise has been found to be as high as 76 dB (A) with as many as 43 noise events in a 20-minute period . The present study examined the influence of 40 dB (A) or 80 dB (A) helicopter noise on assessment of a popular Grand Canyon vista in a laboratory simulation. Participants (44 female and 36 male undergraduates) viewed 68 slides of scenic vistas and assessed them on naturalness, preference, and scenic beauty and evaluated dimensions of freedom, annoyance, solitude, and tranquility. Compared to a control condition of background natural sounds (e.g.,birds, brooks), noise conditions negatively impacted all dependent measures. Although the effects were most pronounced at the 80-dB level, even the 40-dB helicopter noise negatively impacted all dependent variables. Results suggest that helicopter noise interferes with the quality of the visitor expe...

Visibility and Natural Quiet in National Parks and Wilderness Areas Psychological Considerations

For over a century, authorities have recognized cultural and psychological benefits of preserving national parks and wilderness areas. Yet, with increasesin visitation and mechanized travel, air and noise pollution are intruding moreand more into preserved natural areas. Psychological research shows that humans can detect very lowlevels of these pollutants in natural and laboratory settings, that air and noise pollution detract from the enjoyment of the visitor experience, and that people place a high value on naturally quiet, pollution-free settings. This article discusses how psychological research is essential for a more complete understanding of the value and the influence of both visibility and quiet surroundings with a focus on applied, field-based research in national parks and wilderness areas. The article concludes with recommendations for future directions in research in these areas and argues that implications of psychological research results should be addressed in the natural resource policy-making process.

In defense of the negative affect escape model of heat and aggression

This article counters Andersons interpretation of data allegedly inconsistent with the curvilinear negative affect escape model of temperature and aggression. Anderson suggests that archival studies support a rectilinear rather than curvilinear model as temperature increases from comfortable to hot and that inconsistencies surrounding curvilinearity lab studies should be resolved in favor of linearity. To the contrary, this article asserts that archival region and time period studies are inconsistent themselves, that most of them are inadequate for testing curvilinearity, and that some of them are consistent with curvilinearity

Affective State, Attraction, and Affiliation: Misery Loves Happy Company, Too

Sixty male and 60 female subjects were made to feel relatively depressed or relatively elated prior to giving attraction responses toward a target person whose affective state was presented as sad, neutral, or happy. It was hypothesized that, consistent with the Byrne-Clore affective model of attraction, the more pleasant the affective state of the target, the more liking subjects would feel for that person and the more willing they would be to work with him/her. However, consistent with fear-affiliation research, it was also predicted that depressed subjects, relative to elated subjects, would find a depressed target to be a more desirable work partner. Results supported all these hypotheses.

Effects of Noise and Heat Stress on Primary and Subsidiary Task Performance

A primary pursuit rotor task and concurrent subsidiary number processing task were performed by 72 male and 72 female paid volunteers who were experiencing ambient temperatures of 22°C, 29°C, or 35°C and noise levels of either 55 dB(A) or 95 dB(A). Performance decrements associated with high noise levels and high ambient temperatures were additive for the subsidiary task. Neither noise nor heat stress affected performance on the primary task. Results are interpreted in terms of an overload framework.

Aggression and ambient temperature: The facilitating and inhibiting effects of hot and cold environments

Seventy-two undergraduate males received either a very positive or very negative personal evaluation from a confederate, and were later given an opportunity to aggress against this individual by means of electric shock. Ambient temperature in the experimental sessions was held at either a relatively cold (64°F), cool (72°F), warm (85°F), or hot (93°F) level. It was predicted that as the amount of negative affect induced among subjects by the experimental conditions increased to moderate levels, aggression toward the victim would rise, but that at more extreme degrees of negative affect, the intensity of aggression would level off and begin to decline. Results were consistent with these predictions, and a significant (p <.05) curvilinear relationship was found between negative affect and aggression.

Attitudes, personal evaluations, cognitive evaluation and interpersonal attraction: On the direct, indirect and reverse‐causal effects

The authors hypothesized that (1) attraction toward a stranger based on attitudinal similarity is automatic, but cognitive evaluation of the strangers quality before the measurement of attraction can make attraction nonautomatic or controlled; (2) personal evaluations from the stranger activate automatic attraction and cognitive evaluation; (3) controlled attraction from attitudes and automatic attraction and cognitive evaluation from personal evaluations engender reverse-causal effects (i.e. they mediate each other); and (4) attraction and cognitive evaluation are distinct constructs. Attitudinal similarity between the participant and the stranger or personal evaluations of the former by the latter were varied in Experiment 1 (N=96), and were crossed with each other in Experiment 2 (N=240). Orders of response measurement were either cognitive evaluation followed by attraction or attraction followed by cognitive evaluation. Results confirmed the hypotheses. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Long-term consequences of the Alzheimer's caregiver role: A qualitative analysis

A qualitative analysis was performed on responses of 51 participants to open-ended questions about the experience of being family caregivers for a loved one affected by Alzheimers disease. Participants had been in the caregiver role for at least eight years. Results indicated a pattern of adapting successfully or unsuccessfully to the caregiver role, experiencing initial caregiver burden, finding relief in social support when available, and longterm distress or long-term positive change. Memories and feelings were strong about individuals and institutions that had been helpful or indifferent many years earlier as the caregivers struggled to cope with their unplanned predicament.