Aggressive Impulse Management

攻击性给社会造成了巨大的损失，了解人们如何抑制攻击性冲动是至关重要的。不幸的是，与控制其他情绪冲动相比，人们控制攻击性的方法似乎越来越少，效果越来越差。一个关键问题是，流行的减少攻击性的策略往往在脾气暴躁的时候效果最差。这项拟议的研究引入了一种新的激励方法来绕过这个问题。这项工作将有助于制定更有效的减少攻击性的方法。这一点至关重要，因为减少攻击性有助于防止无数暴力行为，从家庭暴力到严重攻击和杀人。这项拟议的研究将直接针对攻击性冲动。先前的研究表明，攻击性冲动的特征是对接近行为的强烈驱动力，例如，脱口而出侮辱性言论或殴打某人。通过阻止这种接近行动的动机，可能会降低人们的进攻性冲动。这项拟议的研究将系统地调查这些动机影响，并将测试通过实验操纵回避(与接近)动机是否可以减少已知的增加攻击性的因素的影响，包括酒精、男性性激素睾丸素和接触媒体暴力。此外，这项拟议的研究将制定一项旨在减少攻击性动机的培训计划。预计，降低接近动机将特别减少愤怒个体的攻击性，这些人是由他们的冲动驱动的，因此，否则最有可能攻击性。

Aggression takes a tremendous toll on society, and it is vital to learn how people may withhold their aggressive impulses. Unfortunately, people seem to have fewer and less effective techniques for controlling aggression than for controlling other emotional impulses. A key problem is that popular strategies for reducing aggression tend to be least effective in the heat of the moment, when tempers can flare. The proposed research introduces a new motivational approach that circumvents this problem. This work will contribute towards the development of more efficient methods for reducing aggression. This is critically important, as aggression reduction is instrumental in preventing countless acts of violence, ranging from domestic violence to aggravated assault and homicide. The proposed research will target aggressive impulses directly. Prior research has shown that aggressive impulses are characterized by a strong drive towards approach actions, for instance, to blurt out an insulting remark or to hit someone. By blocking this motivation towards approach actions, it may be possible to lower people's impulse to aggress. The proposed research will systematically investigate these motivational influences, and will test whether experimentally manipulating avoidance (versus approach) motivation can reduce the impact of factors that are known to increase aggression, including alcohol, the male sex hormone testosterone, and exposure to media violence. In addition, the proposed research will develop a training program that is geared towards reducing the motivation to aggress. It is expected that lowering approach motivation will particularly reduce aggression among angry individuals who are driven by their impulses and, thus, otherwise most likely to aggress.