Editorial

This double issue contains a regular article, an invited review, and articles from the “Workshop on Aggression 2018”. The 23^rd “Workshop on Aggression 2018” was organized by Rebecca Bondü and her team and held from November 1st– 3rd, 2018, in Berlin, Germany, at the Berlin Psychological College (Psychologische Hochschule Berlin)¹. Main topic of the 2018’s “Workshop on Aggression” was discrimination, radicalization, and aggression. Two of the many papers presented at the workshop have made their way into this issue:

Görzig, Bedrosova, and Machackova (2019) investigated in a sample comprising of subjects aged 18 to 35 years whether stereotypes of mental and developmental disorders predict bystander intentions in cyberbullying, referring to the Stereotype Content Model. The authors used an experimental design and measured stereotypes, emotional and behavioral responses, as well as bystander intentions. Uysal, Stemmler, and Weiss (2019) report results from a German panel study investigating antisocial behaviour, and violent delinquency among boys with a migration background, referring to the Disintegration Approach. The authors compared groups based on two different definitions of migration status (nationality vs. migration background). Both studies come to meaningful results with implications for prevention and intervention.

In an invited review, Fiedler, Sommer, Leuschner, and Scheithauer (2019) give an overview of the school-based preventive intervention program “Networks Against School Shootings” (NETWASS). This program combines a threat assessment approach with a general model of prevention of emergency situations in schools through early intervention in student psychosocial crises. Teachers are trained to recognize warning signs of targeted school violence. Especially interesting is that the authors – referring to their further studies (Böckler, Leuschner, Roth, Zick, & Scheithauer, 2018a; Böckler, Leuschner, Zick, & Scheithauer, 2018b) – conclude, that “despite the specific dynamics associated with radicalization, similarities of pathways into severe targeted school violence, and radicalization, respectively, became visible..., allowing to a certain degree for transferability of the NETWASS model to the prevention of (violent) radicalization” (p. 119).

Brown Farrell, Tullos Gilpin, Nancarrow, and Brown’s (2019) study deals with implausible lie detection in early childhood (age 3– 5). Subjects completed a battery of executive function skills, Theory of Mind, and implausible lie detection measures to explore whether self-regulation and social cognition are possible predictors in this context.

We hope that with the present double issue we can offer the readers of the IJDS interesting new results. We would also like to thank all authors and reviewers of manuscripts in 2019 for their valuable work.