Proactive vs. Reactive Aggression Within Two Modified Versions of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm

The Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) has been widely used to measure reactive aggression following provocation during competitive interactions. Besides being reactive, aggression can be goal-directed (proactive aggression). Our study presents a novel paradigm to investigate proactive aggression during competitive interactions. Sixty-seven healthy participants competed in two modified versions of the TAP against an ostensible opponent while skin conductance responses (SCRs) were recorded. During the proactive TAP (pTAP), only the participant could interfere with the ostensible opponent’s performance by blurring the screen. In the reactive TAP (rTAP), the opponent repeatedly provoked the participant by blurring the screen of the participant, impeding their chance to win. In both versions, the blurriness levels chosen by the participant served as a measure of aggression (unprovoked in the pTAP and provoked in the rTAP). In the pTAP, trial-by-trial mixed model analyses revealed higher aggression with higher self-reported selfishness. SCRs decreased with increasing proactive aggression. An interaction effect between gender and proactive aggression for the SCRs revealed increased SCRs at higher aggression levels in females, but lower SCRs at higher aggression levels in males. In the rTAP, SCRs were not associated with reactive aggression but aggression increased with increasing provocation and especially after losing against the opponent when provoked. While males showed higher aggression levels than females when unprovoked, reactive aggression increased more strongly in females with higher provocation. Mean levels of aggression in both tasks showed a high positive correlation. Our results highlight that, despite being intercorrelated and both motivated by selfishness, proactive and reactive aggression are differentially influenced by gender and physiological arousal. Proactive aggression is related to lower physiological arousal, especially in males, with females showing the opposite association. Reactive aggressive behavior is a result of individual responses to provocation, to which females seem to be more sensitive.

Attachment-related differences in dispositional anger and its experience and expression following an insult-based anger induction

Variation in how individuals experience and express anger has been linked to their attachment style, particularly in close interpersonal contexts. However, little research has investigated attachment-related differences in anger and aggression in non-relational settings. This multi-method investigation reports two studies. The first investigated associations between adult attachment dimensions (anxiety and avoidance) in 270 participants. The second describes a lab-based anger provocation task, based on a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm, which examined associations between attachment dimensions and pre-post test change in self-reported anger, physiological responses, anger suppression and aggressive responding (N = 77). Results from study 1 indicate that attachment anxiety was a significant independent predictor of trait anger, while attachment avoidance was not. There were no significant interaction effects, suggesting distinct effects of attachment dimensions on anger. In study 2, attachment avoidance was negatively related to anger change scores from baseline to post-provocation and positively to anger suppression (measured by the discrepancy between self-report and physiological measures). Attachment anxiety was positively associated with aggressive responding. In summary, the findings support the high arousal-low control style previously associated with attachment anxiety, evidenced by elevated trait anger and higher aggressive responding. They also align with previous studies that support an association between attachment avoidance and emotion suppression, suggesting that the attachment framework can be usefully extended to understand anger and aggression in non-relational contexts.

Associations Between Psychopathic Traits and Laboratory-Based Aggression: Moderating Effects of Provocation and Distraction

There are two distinct combinations of psychopathic traits (primary and secondary) that have been proposed to be a function of unique cognitive-affective deficits. This study sought to use theories of psychopathy to understand the factors that exacerbate (i.e., provocation) and attenuate (i.e., distraction) aggression in individuals high in psychopathic traits in a controlled laboratory task. Male undergraduates, who scored across the range of primary and secondary psychopathic traits, completed the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP; Taylor, 1967 ) under conditions of low and high provocation. Participants were also randomly assigned to either a distraction condition, in which they completed a distracting concurrent task, or a control condition, in which no such task was completed. Inconsistent with our prediction, results showed that regardless of condition, primary psychopathic traits were positively related to laboratory aggression. Consistent with our hypothesis, a positive association between secondary psychopathic traits and laboratory physical aggression was observed following high provocation among nondistracted participants; this association was significantly reduced among distracted participants. These results clarify the factors that contribute to aggression for individuals high in psychopathic traits and may provide directions for future intervention development.

Distress and Retaliatory Aggression in Response to Witnessing Intergroup Exclusion are Greater on Higher Levels of Collective Narcissism

The negative consequences of personal exclusion have been demonstrated by multiple studies. Less is known about the consequences of witnessing one’s own group being excluded by other groups, although studies suggest exclusion can be experienced vicariously and negatively affects members of the excluded group. Results of the present lab-based experiment (N= 153), indicate, in line with our predictions, that witnessing intergroup exclusion (manipulated by an adapted intergroup Cyberball paradigm) produced a sense of personal exclusion. It also increased self-reported distress and behavioral aggression measured in the Taylor Aggression Paradigm), especially among participants high on collective narcissism: a belief that the exaggerated greatness of the in-group is not sufficiently appreciated by others. Contrary to expectations, a short mindful decentration intervention (instructing participants to observe thoughts and emotions as transient mental products without engaging with them) delivered while participants were witnessing intergroup exclusion (versus inclusion) produced changes in heart rate variability reactivity indicative of emotional arousal especially among collective narcissists. We concluded that collective narcissism is associated with distress in the face of intergroup exclusion, aggressive retaliation, and in consequence it is a risk-factor predisposing group members to stress-related health and psychosocial problems. Furthermore, a mindful decentration, despite being an effective strategy to reduce maladaptive stress in most people, may be counterproductive in addressing high collective narcissists’ responses to threat to the in-group’s image.

Measurement Invariance and Item Response Theory Analysis of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm

The Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) is a widely used laboratory aggression task, yet item response theory analyses of this task are nonexistent. To estimate these aspects of the TAP, we combined data from nine laboratory studies that employed the 25-trial version of the TAP (combined N = 1,856). One- and four-factor solutions for the TAP data exhibited evidence of measurement invariance across gender (men vs. women) and experimental provocation (negative vs. positive social feedback), as well as negligible instances of differential item functioning. As such, psychometric properties of the TAP were invariant across binary representations of gender and experimental provocation. Furthermore, trials following low and high provocation were the least informative and those following moderate provocation were the most informative. Scoring approaches to the TAP may benefit from giving greater weight to trials following moderate provocation. Overall, we find great utility in applying item response theory approaches to behavioral laboratory tasks.

Measurement Invariance and Item Response Theory Analysis of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm

The Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) is a widely used laboratory aggression task, yet item response theory (IRT) analyses of this task are nonexistent. To estimate these aspects of the TAP, we combined data from nine laboratory studies that employed the 25-trial version of the TAP (combined N = 1,856). One-factor and four-factor solutions for the TAP data exhibited evidence of measurement invariance across gender (men versus women) and experimental provocation (negative versus positive social feedback), as well as negligible instances of differential item functioning. As such, psychometric properties of the TAP were invariant across binary representations of gender and experimental provocation. Further, trials following low and high provocation were the least informative and those following moderate provocation were the most informative. Scoring approaches to the TAP may benefit from giving greater weight to trials following moderate provocation. Overall, we find great utility in applying IRT approaches to behavioral laboratory tasks.

Self-Distancing as a Strategy to Regulate Affect and Aggressive Behavior in Athletes: An Experimental Approach to Explore Emotion Regulation in the Laboratory

Self-regulation, especially the regulation of emotion, is an important component of athletic performance. In our study, we tested the effect of a self-distancing strategy on athletes’ performance in an aggression-inducing experimental task in the laboratory. To this end, we modified an established paradigm of interpersonal provocation [Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP)], which has the potential to complement field studies in order to increase our understanding of effective emotion regulation of athletes in critical situations in competitions. In our experimental setting, we first tested the applicability of the self-distancing perspective and the athletes’ ability to dynamically adapt besides the self-distanced perspective a self-immersed perspective to provocation in the TAP. Secondly, we investigated how this altered perspective modulated regulatory abilities of negative affectivity, anger, and aggression. The experiment consisted of two conditions in which the participant adopted either a self-immersed or a self-distanced perspective. Forty athletes (female: 23; male: 17) from different team (n = 27) and individual sports (n = 13) with a mean age of 23.83 years (SD = 3.41) competed individually in a reaction-time task against a (fictitious) opponent. Results show that athletes are equally able to adopt both perspectives. In addition, within-person analyses indicate that self-distancing decreased aggressive behavior and negative affect compared to the self-immersed perspective. Our results suggest that self-distancing modulates different levels of athletes’ experience (i.e., affect and anger) and behavior. Furthermore, this demonstrates the feasibility of testing self-regulation of emotion in athletes in a laboratory setting and allows for further application in research in sports and exercise psychology.

Consequences Of Prefrontal TDCS On Inhibitory Control And Reactive Aggression

Increased aggression and impulsivity represent a key component of several psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorder, which is often associated with deficient prefrontal brain activation. Thus, innovative tools to increase cognitive control are highly warranted. The current study investigates the potential of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a tool to modulate cortical activation, to increase cognitive control in individuals with a high potential for impulsive and aggressive behavior. In a double-blind, sham-controlled study, we applied anodal tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in an all-male sample of alcohol dependent patients (AD), tobacco users (TU) and healthy controls (HC) who completed the Taylor Aggression Paradigm and Stop Signal Task twice. While there were no observable effects of tDCS in controls, results revealed altered aggressive behavior in AD following active stimulation. Specifically, these individuals did not show the standard increase in aggression over time seen in the other groups. Furthermore, improved response inhibition was found in AD and TU following active but not sham stimulation. Our study demonstrates that prefrontal tDCS improves our laboratory measure of impulse control in at-risk groups, illustrating the importance of sample characteristics such as nicotine intake and personality traits for understanding the effects of brain stimulation.

p-Curve Analysis of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm: Estimating Evidentiary Value and Statistical Power Across 50 Years of Research

The overall reliability or evidentiary value of any body of literature is established in part by ruling out publication bias for any observed effects. Questionable research practices have potentially undermined the evidentiary value of commonly-used research paradigms in psychological science. Subsequently, the evidentiary value of these common methodologies remains uncertain. To quantify the severity of these issues in the literature, we selected the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) as a case study and submitted 170 hypothesis-tests spanning over 50 years of research to a preregistered p-curve analysis. The TAP literature (N = 24,685) demonstrated significant evidentiary value but yielded a small average effect size (d = .29) and inadequate power (38%). Main effects demonstrated greater evidentiary value, power, and effect sizes than interactions. Studies that tested the effects of measured traits did not differ in evidentiary value or power to those that tested the effects of experimentally-manipulated states. Exploratory analyses revealed that evidentiary value, statistical power, and effect sizes have improved over time. We provide recommendations for researchers who seek to maximize the evidentiary value of their psychological measures.