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Anxiety sensitivity and retaliatory aggressive behavior in research volunteers
Author(s) -
BromanFulks Joshua J.,
McCloskey Michael S.,
Berman Mitchell E.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/ab.20175
Subject(s) - aggression , anxiety , arousal , psychology , anxiety sensitivity , personality , poison control , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , medical emergency , medicine
An important focus of recent aggression research has been to identify personality variables that influence the expression of aggression. One such variable may be anxiety sensitivity (AS). Individuals high in AS fear unpleasant anxiety‐related physiological sensations and perhaps physiological arousal in general. Accordingly, people high in AS are motivated to avoid situations that produce these sensations. With respect to aggressive encounters, an intense attack by an opponent involves significant physiological arousal. High anxiety‐sensitive individuals may therefore attempt to decrease the intensity of the interaction by responding in a non‐aggressive or conciliatory manner. To test this possibility, 112 community volunteers completed a measure of AS and a well‐validated laboratory task designed to assess aggressive behavior. As predicted, an inverse relation between AS and extreme aggressive responding was found. Specifically, as AS increases, retaliatory aggression is less likely after intense attack by an opponent. Aggr. Behav. 33:1–8, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss; Inc.