Psychology Colloquium: Professor Nicki Crick: Childhood Aggression and Gender: “Boys Will be Boys, But What About Girls?”

Mon, October 5 2009

Psychology Colloquium: Professor Nicki Crick, University of Minnesota

Title: Childhood Aggression and Gender:  Boys Will be Boys, But What About Girls?

Abstract: Only recently has the archaic belief about girls being made of “sugar and spice
and everything nice” begun to unravel.  For decades, the study and treatment of
aggressive behavior excluded females to focus on the antics of boys and men.
To address this gender inequity, Dr. Crick and her research teams have
identified and investigated a relational form of aggression that is more
characteristic of girls and women than the previously emphasized physical form
of aggression. Relational aggression includes nasty behaviors such as social
exclusion, mean gossip, and threats to end a friendship or romantic
relationship, acts that are often used to control or punish others.  Prof.
Crick’s presentation will provide an overview of what is currently known about
the predictors and consequences of relational aggression for both boys and
girls.

3:30PM in Stiteler Hall room B21. Refreshments will be served at 3:00PM in Stiteler Hall's Silverstein Forum.