Abstract
The 22nd Workshop on Aggression was held in Limassol, the 2nd second largest urban area in Cyprus, in November 22-25, 2017, and was organized by the University of Cyprus 1 . The organizing committee of the conference was chaired by Dr. Panayiotis Stavrinides and Dr. Kostas Fanti, whereas Dr. Olga Solomontos-Kountouri, Dr. Kyriakos Charalampous, Dr. Maria-Zoe Hadjicharalambous, and Dr. Chara Demetriou served as members of the committee.
The workshop draw international scholarly attention, with the active participation of more than 75 registered presenting researchers and practitioners from 17 countries. There were five keynote speakers, eight symposia, nine paper sessions and one poster session. In total, 78 high quality individual papers were presented, covering a broad area of research fields in accordance to the theme of the workshop.
This Years’ Workshop Main Thematic Focus
The thematic focus of the 22nd Workshop on Aggression 2017 was “Contemporary perspectives on aggressive behavior: Exploring trends across the lifespan”. The conference aimed to present the latest research and stimulate interdisciplinary research mainly in the fields of (a) conventional and cyber forms of aggression, (b) personality and environmental factors of aggression, (c) neuroscience and aggression, and (d) prevention and intervention programs of aggression. Considering the broad participation and the quality and breadth of the presented research, the aim was achieved.
Keynote Speakers
The five keynote speakers were prominent scholars in their fields and each gave a high profile address on an issue of interest to contemporary aggression literature. Dr. Andreas Kapardis gave a speech on monoepisodic mass murder and murderers, while Dr. Robert Thornberg addressed the issue of moral disengagement and school bullying. Dr. Christina Salmivalli presented on the eight year implementation of the Kiva anti-bullying program in Finland, and Dr. Essi Viding presented on developmental pathways to anti-social behavior. Finally, Dr. Constantinos Kokkinos gave a speech on relational aggression among adolescents. Keynote speeches were of the highest quality and captivated the interest of the conference participants.
Symposia
A number of interesting symposia were also presented to the workshop. Janne Støen and her colleagues presented a symposium entitled “Voices in bullying cases”, were they presented data from the Learning Environments project in Norway. Jan S. Pfetsch, Anja Schultze-Krumbholz and their colleagues presented a symposium on social reactions to victims of aggression, combining research concerning social reactions towards the victims of aggression and the impact on the experiences of victims of aggressive social behavior.
Laura Saldarriaga, Gerd Bohner and their colleagues, organized a symposium on the role of attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors in the prediction and prevention of gender-related aggression. Simona Trip, Rosana Stan, Gabriel Roseanu and their colleagues presented on the topic of extremism mind-set, irrational beliefs and personality traits.
Anja Schultze-Krumbholz, Jan Pfetsch and their colleagues presented a second symposium, this time on the topic of social norms and adverse social behavior, while Antonella Brighi and her colleagues organized a symposium entitled: “Coping with bullying and cyberbullying: Pathways to resilience and wellbeing”. Henrik Andershed, Kostas Fanti and their colleagues organized a symposium on the theme: “The utility of the various dimensions of psychopathy in designating a clinically important subgroup of antisocial and aggressive youth: Are CU traits enough to identify a clinically meaningful subgroup of youths with conduct problems?”
Panayiotis Stavrinides, Kyriakos Charalampous, Myria Ioannou and Stelios Georgiou organized a symposium on a multilevel approach on bullying in schools, by using integrative models incorporating contextual and individual factors. Finally, Kostas Fanti and his colleagues organized a second symposium entitled: “The profile of children with CU traits: A multi-factor analysis”.
Concluding Remarks
The 22nd Workshop on Aggression - as before the 21st Workshop on Aggression (Trip, 2017) - offered a venue for aggression researchers from all over Europe and beyond to come together, exchange ideas and to get a fresh inside on the latest advancements in a range of aggression-related research fields. The workshop combined the academic aspect with leisure, and the overall organization was of the highest standards. The feedback from conference participants corroborated the above, and the attendees renewed their appointment for the next Workshop on Aggression to be held in Berlin, 2018 2 .
