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

通过敌意、愤怒和攻击性的视角发展情绪调节的认知控制理论

• 批准号: 0843982
• 负责人: Michael Robinson
• 金额: $ 42.83万
• 依托单位: North Dakota State University Fargo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-06-15 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0843982&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Developing; Cognitive; Control; Theory; Emotion

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.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。对轻微挑衅的强烈情绪反应可能对个人及其周围的人的心理和身体健康有害。心理学文献表明，这种强烈的反应并不是所有人的特征，人们在被激怒时经历愤怒的程度有很大差异。然而，为什么个体对挑衅的反应不同还没有得到充分的研究。该项目提出，有些人对轻微的挑衅反应强烈，因为他们在这种情况下失去了控制注意力，思想和行为的能力。这种能力的丧失反过来又使这些人容易受到冲动和短视行为的影响，例如试图伤害不应受到指责的人。实验方法将被用来检查这种类型的反应性效应的机制。通过呈现令人厌恶的噪音或暴露于先前显示引起中等水平愤怒的电影片段（相对于中性，非挑衅条件）来诱导挑衅。随后，控制注意力，思想和行为的能力将使用经过充分验证的认知任务进行评估。据推测，一般倾向于愤怒反应的人在受到挑衅后会表现出控制注意力、思想和行为的缺陷。此外，这种类型的缺陷应该预测实验室中的攻击行为，日常生活，以及对压力诱导的高血压水平。总的来说，该项目旨在确定一些人在被激怒时如何以及为什么会失去心理自我控制。在某种程度上，这项工作的意义来自愤怒在暴力犯罪中所扮演的角色，它在社会关系（包括婚姻和父母关系）中造成的伤害，以及它的其他影响（例如，心血管疾病的风险）。鉴于对这些有害影响背后机制的强调，这些结果应该在开发科学合理的愤怒管理工作中具有相当大的实用性，这些工作直接针对这些人在被激怒时失去自我控制的途径。例如，在某种程度上，这些高度反应的个体在被激怒后表现出控制注意力的特殊缺陷，寻求改善注意力控制的干预措施应该能有效地促进有效的愤怒控制。此外，虽然该项目侧重于控制愤怒的困难，但这项工作对与自我控制问题有关的其他问题也有影响，并导致个人和社会功能的中断。