Citation

Hoaken PN, Allaby DB, Earle J. Aggressive Behav. 2007; 33(5): 412-421.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. phoaken@uwo.ca

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ab.20194

PMID

17683105

Abstract

Violence is a social problem that carries enormous costs; however, our understanding of its etiology is quite limited. A large body of research exists, which suggests a relationship between abnormalities of the frontal lobe and aggression; as a result, many researchers have implicated deficits in so-called "executive function" as an antecedent to aggressive behaviour. Another possibility is that violence may be related to problems interpreting facial expressions of emotion, a deficit associated with many forms of psychopathology, and an ability linked to the prefrontal cortex. The current study investigated performance on measures of executive function and on a facial-affect recognition task in 20 violent offenders, 20 non-violent offenders, and 20 controls. In support of our hypotheses, both offender groups performed significantly more poorly on measures of executive function relative to controls. In addition, violent offenders were significantly poorer on the facial-affect recognition task than either of the other two groups. Interestingly, scores on these measures were significantly correlated, with executive deficits associated with difficulties accurately interpreting facial affect. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of a broader understanding of violent behaviour.

Language: en