09/12/07 Assignment 2 : Hedging parts

There are many hedging parts in the article. The most definite hedging parts, however, might focuses on the following three points.

First, the author clearly shows that their analyses of cases of school violence support the hypothesis that social rejection was involved in most cases of lethal school violence, on the other hand, the author mentions that cases of social violences are not explained only by the rejection quoting the article [Vossekuil et al., 2000]. Addition to this article, the author also shows the other reasons which make students violent quoting the articles [Millon, 1981] and [Vossekuil et al., 2000].

Second, the author refers to possibility of bias of analysis which indicate social rejection causes the school violence. In particular, the author thinks that the evidence that they obtained about the episodes from press reports may reflect reporters’ implicit theories about the link between rejection and aggression.

Finally, the author uses many words to hedge its article as bellow. "Several of the perpetrators explicitly explained their actions as a response to being mistreated by other students". "It is also noteworthy that, to our knowledge, few of the perpetrators attributed their violent behavior to other equally plausible causes..." "Few individuals navigate their way through adolescence without ..." "Rejection may be frustrating, angering, even maddening [Buckley, unpublished data; Twenge et al., 2001], but it is rarely sufficient to provoke premeditated violence even if the victim feels like killing people." "In particular, most of the perpetrators displayed at least one of the other three risk factors..." "First, a variety of psychological problems may be associated with an increased tendency for aggressive behavior." "Second, individuals who not only have access to guns but who are fascinated by firearms and explosives may be more likely to act on their aggressive impulses..." "Third, people who are fascinated by themes of death, and whose identity is linked to Gothic, Satanic, and other ‘‘dark’’ lifestyles may find the idea of carnage less revolting than most other people do." "It remains unclear whether death-rock music and other aspects of popular culture ..." "Previous theory and research has not adequately addressed the question of why rejection sometimes leads to anger and an impulse to aggress." "we believe that the primary motive in most of the school shootings seems to have been retribution..." "In fact, many of the cases were characterized by both an ongoing pattern of rejection and a specific rejection experience..." "At the same time, however, the evidence suggests that at least some of the perpetrators were seeking respect as well." "In particular, the evidence that we obtained about the episodes from press reports may reflect reporters’ implicit theories about the link between rejection and aggression; we may have found evidence of such a relationship because writers in the mass media selectively reported evidence consistent with their implicit theories." "In most cases, information regarding the perpetrator’s relationships with other students was mentioned only in the context of describing the kind of person he or she was." "Although we can document that most of the perpetrators of these school shootings had been subjected to ..." "Even so, from reading descriptions of their peer relationships, our sense is that most of the shooters had experienced an unusually high amount of bullying or ostracism..." "Furthermore, when an individual has psychological difficulties, an affinity for guns and explosives, or a fascination with death and gore, such peer mistreatment may evoke a catastrophic reaction."