Psychoanalytic theory suggests that the presence of others reduces anxiety in those with oral-dependent needs. Electrodermal activity of male subjects high and low on Rorschach oral-dependent responses was monitored in one of three conditions while the subject was in a soundproof chamber for 40 minutes: alone with no task; alone working on a clerical task; and together with a male confederate, both working independently on the clerical task. Oral-dependent subjects placed in the chamber with the confederate showed fewer electrodermal increase over time than orals sitting alone or nonorals either alone or with the confederate (p less than .001). On the clerical task there was a strong main effect of orality, with nonorals showing more accuracy than orals (p less than .03).

A number of studies have demonstrated that increased socially related cognitive skills are associated with decreases in aggressive behavior. However, the link between aggression and intelligence or academic skills is less evident. While some research indicates that poor academic performance is related to aggression, it is unclear which components of intellectual ability and performance are critical to the management of aggressive behaviors. In two independent longitudinal studies of elementary school‐age children, the relationship among several aspects of cognitive competence and several aspects of aggressive behavior were examined. The results of the first study showed that aggressive behavior observed in kindergarten children was more closely related to academic performance in the first and second grades than to general cognitive ability (IQ). The results of the second study, a comprehensive three‐year investigation of upper elementary school‐age children, indicated that teachers' assessments of aggression and parents' ratings of cruelty were consistent over time for boys, but not for girls. The intercorrelations among aggression measures within each of the three years also revealed stable sex differences. Boys identified as aggressive in the classroom were more likely to be perceived as aggressive, cruel, and/or delinquent at home, but for girls, there was little correlation between aggression at school and in the home. The analyses relating measures of cognitive functioning to indices of aggressive behavior made clear the importance of discriminating among various facets of these psychological constructs. IQ had a negligible relationship with aggression and a weak inverse relationship to delinquency. An overall index of cognitive functioning was a somewhat more consistent negative correlate of aggression, cruelty, and delinquency, especially for boys. A similar pattern was found for the correlates of academic performance. Academic disability was strongly related to delinquency in boys, and to a lesser degree to aggression in boys. Of the several cognitively related factors that were explored, Low Need Achievement manifested the strongest and most consistent relationships with the different facets of aggression and antisocial behavior, especially in boys. The implications of these results for psychological interventions in the school are discussed.

We review the nonlinear mechanics of cross-linked networks of stiff filaments with a quenched anisotropic (nematic) alignment. A combination of numerical simulations and analytic calculations shows that the broken rotational symmetry of the filament orientational distribution leads to a dramatic nonlinear softening of the network at very small strain (on the order of 0.1%). We argue that one can understand this softening in terms of Euler buckling, i.e. the loss of further load-carrying capacity in compression within the network. With increasing shear strain, this source of geometric nonlinearity appears as heterogeneous nucleation (originating in particularly fragile regions, which may be identified by a linear stability analysis) and subsequently grows into 'buckling scars' that eventually spread throughout the system. We develop a simple mean-field model for the nonlinear mechanics of such networks and suggest applications of these ideas to a variety of fiber networks and biopolymer systems.

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