Developing a Cognitive Control Theory of Emotion Regulation Through the Lens of Hostility, Anger, and Aggression

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Strong emotional reactions to minor provocations can be detrimental to the psychological and physical health of individuals and those around them. The psychology literature has shown that such strong reactions are not characteristic of all individuals and that people differ substantially in the extent to which they experience anger when provoked. Yet, why individuals differ in reactivity to provocation has been insufficiently studied. The project proposes that some individuals react strongly to minor provocations because they lose their ability to control their attention, thoughts, and behaviors under such circumstances. The loss of such abilities, in turn, renders these individuals vulnerable to impulsive and short-sighted actions such as attempting to harm someone who is not blameworthy. An experimental approach will be used to examine the mechanisms underlying reactivity effects of this type. Provocation will be induced by the presentation of aversive noise or exposure to film clips previously shown to arouse moderate levels of anger (versus neutral, non-provocation conditions). Subsequently, abilities to control attention, thoughts, and behaviors will be assessed using well-validated cognitive tasks. It is hypothesized that individuals generally predisposed to react with anger will exhibit deficits in controlling attention, thoughts, and behaviors following provocation. Further, deficits of this type should predict aggressive behavior in the laboratory, daily life, and also higher levels of blood pressure in response to stressful inductions. Overall, the project seeks to determine exactly how and why some individuals appear to lose their psychological self-control when provoked. In part, the significance of this work comes from the role that anger plays in violent crimes, the harm it creates in social relationships (including marital and parental ones), and its other effects (e.g., risk for cardiovascular disease). Given the emphasis on the mechanisms behind these detrimental effects, the results should be of considerable utility in developing scientifically sound anger-management efforts that directly target the pathways by which these individuals lose their self-control when provoked. For example, to the extent that these highly reactive individuals exhibit particular deficits in controlling attention following provocation, interventions seeking to improve the control of attention should be efficacious in promoting effective anger-control. Moreover, while the project focuses on difficulties in controlling anger, this work has implications for other problems that are related to issues of self-control and lead to disruptions of personal and social functioning.