Citation

Wallace PS, Taylor SP. Aggressive Behav. 2009; 35(2): 203-212.

Affiliation

Psychology Department, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, Illinois 60115-2892, USA. pwallace@niu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ab.20294

PMID

19090555

Abstract

Aggressive responding following benzodiazepine ingestion has been recorded in both experimental and client populations, however, the mechanism responsible for this outcome is unclear. The goal of this study was to identify an affective concomitant linked to diazepam-induced aggression that might be responsible for this relationship. Thirty males (15 diazepam and 15 placebo) participated in the Taylor Aggression Paradigm while covertly being videotaped. The videotapes were analyzed using the Facial Action Coding System with the goal of identifying facial expression differences between the two groups. Relative to placebo participants, diazepam participants selected significantly higher shock settings for their opponents, consistent with past findings using this paradigm. Diazepam participants also engaged in significantly fewer appeasement expressions (associated with the self-conscious emotions) during the task, although there were no group differences for other emotion expressions or for movements in general.

Language: en