Agreeableness, arguably the largest dimension of the Five Factor approach to personality, is related to a range of variables associated with motives to maintain social harmony. As a personality dimension, agreeableness is less frequently studied empirically and even less well developed theoretically relative to the other four factors. At one end of this continuous personality dimension is antagonism. This chapter explores the theoretical conceptualizations related to antagonism. We discuss three classes of conceptual issues that have implications for the interpretation of empirical studies on antagonism-related outcomes (e.g., aggression, antisocial behavior): methodological assumptions, psychological mechanisms, and atheoretical approaches. Following these preliminaries, we critically reviewed theoretical approaches to the scientific explanations of empirical findings for the antagonism-agreeableness continuum.

In 1958, the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology published a report of experimental research by Walter Mischel. Several aspects of this paper provide clues about what was to come in the next 50 years. It reported focused empirical work using an experimental method to probe seemingly intractable theoretical questions. The research was published in a journal dedicated to abnormal psychology, but the clear message was that delay processes underlying abnormal behavior were on a continuum with typical behavior. The research looked toward cognitive and social psychology for explanation, rather than stimulus–response learning or psychodynamic theory. Major graduate-level textbooks covering social psychology theory quickly recognized the research as important for understanding human socialization (e.g., Jones & Gerard, 1967, pp. 95–99). In the next 50 years Mischel, his students, and his collaborators would contribute more than 200 papers, many of which addressed issues in delay of gratification and resistance to temptation. Within this time frame, researchers examined delay of gratification across the lifespan, yielding some important longitudinal results. For example, Funder, Block, and Block (1983) found significant positive relations between delay of gratification at age 4 and measurements of both ego control and ego resiliency at ages 3, 4, 7, and 11 years. Examining even more distal behaviors, Mischel and colleagues found that delay of gratification measured early in childhood was linked to long-term achievement, better coping abilities and stress management, and greater social competency in adolescence (Mischel, Shoda, & Peake, 1988; Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990). Consistent with these findings, Rodriguez, Mischel, and Shoda (1989) found that low ability to delay gratification was related to poor regulatory capacities and increased risk for disruptive behavior disorders. This chapter reviews the empirical literature and theoretical underpinnings of delay of gratification research. Definitions used in the literature are diverse, often

This study examined the association between Agreeableness and children's selection of conflict resolution tactics and their overt behaviors at school. A total of 157 second graders responded to a series of conflict resolution vignettes and were observed three times during physical education classes at school. We hypothesized that Agreeableness would be inversely related to the endorsement of power assertion tactics and to displays of problem behaviors, and positively related to the endorsement of negotiation tactics and to displays of adaptive behaviors. Consistent with hypotheses, Agreeableness was inversely related to power assertion tactics and to displays of off-task, disruptive, and verbally aggressive behaviors. There was no evidence that Agreeableness was related to more socially sophisticated responses to conflict, such as negotiation, with our sample of second grade students; however, it was related to displays of adaptive behaviors, specifically on-task behaviors. Limitations, including potential reactivity effects and the restriction of observational data collection to one school-based setting, are discussed. Future researchers are encouraged to collect data from multiple sources in more than one setting over time.

Agreeableness is a summary label for individual differences in the motivation to maintain positive relations with others. Agreeableness is one of the major dimensions in the Big Five structural model of personality. It is also a major domain in the Five Factor Model of personality. This chapter provides an overview of the considerable body of research concerning the conceptualization, assessment, and etiology of Agreeableness with a focus on its six facets. It concludes with a discussion of alternative theoretical explanations for Agreeableness. In particular, an opponent process model that involves two competing motive systems is applied to the processes underlying Agreeableness.

A large, Midwestern county implemented a four-tiered public health model of children's mental health with an interconnected systems approach involving education, health care, juvenile justice and community mental health sectors. The community sought to promote protective factors in the lives of all youth, while improving the capacity, accessibility and coordination of the continuum of care available to children and families. This article describes efforts to improve services for children in rural communities by connecting traditionally separated sectors and engaging doctoral psychology interns in the continuum of care. This article articulates lessons learned in practice, provides a case study and community outcomes; universal screening data, graduation rates and juvenile arrest rates suggest efforts are yielding positive results. Considerations for implementation in other rural communities are discussed.

In this article we illustrate the roles of school psychologists, administrators, social workers, teachers, and parents in school reform by describing the adoption, initial implementation, and formative evaluation of an evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program within several rural Midwestern school districts in a geographically large county. As part of a countywide initiative aimed at improving children's mental health services, an interdisciplinary team collaborated to select and implement a universal school-based curriculum addressing SEL objectives. Professionals in the county's special education cooperative lead the reform effort, general education teachers deliver the curriculum, and school psychologists and school social workers have served as trainers and consultants to educators and building administrators. An ecological model of organizational consultation informs these efforts. We illustrate this model by describing its application to the collaborative school-based initiative addressing SEL objectives. We also discuss implications for future consultation research, training, and practice.

Regulation has been implicated in the development of emotional and behavioral disorders in childhood. Indeed, emotion dysregulation is one of the most common reasons families seek psychological services and behavioral supports. Interventions to support children with regulatory difficulties may be enhanced if they are informed by basic psychological research on the topic. This paper includes a review of basic regulation research conducted over the last 20 years. This research base about the positive development of regulatory skills is then related to the treatment of emotion regulation deficits, emphasizing the role that school psychologists and school-based interventions may play in supporting appropriate regulatory strategies for young children.

This research examined Agreeableness and social self-efficacy as predictors of positive (compromise, negotiation) and negative (attacking, power assertion) conflict resolution strategies in emerging adults (N = 699). Participants completed self-report measures of Agreeableness and social self-efficacy. Conflict resolution strategies were assessed using a multi-method approach. As predicted, social self-efficacy significantly moderated the relation between Agreeableness and negative conflict resolution strategies, but it did not for positive resolution strategies. For individuals higher in Agreeableness, follow-up analyses revealed that those higher in social self-efficacy endorsed negative resolution strategies less frequently than those lower in social self-efficacy.

Gay and lesbian parents are raising an increasing number of children, but little is known about how these parents are viewed by school personnel. In this study, preservice teacher attitudes toward gay and lesbian parents were assessed using implicit, explicit, behavioral, and behavioroid measures. Implicit measures indicate that participants rated same-gender targets more negatively than they rated heterosexual targets, and they rated targets of gay men more negatively than they rated lesbians; however, response patterns varied by participant sex. Furthermore, implicit measures of sexual prejudice generally correlated with explicit and behavioroid measures. The implications of these findings are discussed.