Citation

Robinson MD, Traurig E, Klein RJ. Pers. Individ. Dif. 2020; 164: e110130.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.paid.2020.110130

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Prominent emotion theories contend that feelings prime actions, but such links have been challenged. To investigate potential dynamics of this type in a relatively structured manner, participants in three studies (total N = 466) indicated their levels of felt anger as well as their likelihoods of engaging in an aggressive action (unlabeled as such) in response to 10 provocation event descriptions. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed robust within-subject relationships between anger and aggression, such that aggressive behaviors were considerably more likely if anger had been aroused. In addition, such slopes varied by trait anger, such that anger arousal was a more potent trigger of corresponding behaviors at higher, relative to lower, levels of the trait continuum. Further results, which revealed differences between proactive and reactive forms of aggression, point to the utility of feeling-action probes in understanding the social cognitive processes that contribute to individual differences in emotional impulsivity.

Language: en

Keywords

Action; Feeling; Reactive aggression; Social cognition; Trait anger