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Breaking the link: Distraction from emotional cues reduces the association between trait disinhibition and reactive physical aggression
Author(s) -
Subramani Olivia S.,
Parrott Dominic J.,
Latzman Robert D.,
Washburn David A.
Publication year - 2018
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.21804
Subject(s) - disinhibition , aggression , distraction , psychology , trait , poison control , association (psychology) , anger , provocation test , cognition , injury prevention , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , stimulus (psychology) , medicine , psychiatry , cognitive psychology , alternative medicine , pathology , computer science , psychotherapist , programming language , environmental health
Research has implicated biased attention allocation toward emotional cues as a proximal mechanism in the association between trait disinhibition and physical aggression. The current study tested this putative cognitive mechanism by incentivizing a shift of attention from a provoking stimulus to a neutral stimulus during a laboratory aggression paradigm. Participants were 119 undergraduate men. They completed a questionnaire that assessed trait disinhibition, were randomly assigned to a distraction or no‐distraction control condition, and completed a shock‐based aggression task in which they received low and high provocation from a fictitious opponent. A significant positive association between trait disinhibition and physical aggression was found among non‐distracted participants exposed to high, but not low, provocation. Distraction from provoking cues significantly attenuated this association. This study is among the first to provide experimental evidence of (a) the positive relation between trait disinhibition and laboratory‐based physical aggression, and (b) a potential method for attenuating this association.