Aggression, fast and slow: Intuition also favors defensive aggression

Abstract

In certain threatening social encounters, humans seem to act distrustfully, uncooperatively, even aggressively by default, and must reason themselves towards comity and moderation. Yet, the contemporary scientific literature mostly supports the opposite view, according to which we are “intuitively prosocial”: acting cooperatively by default in positive-sum interactions in games such as the Prisoner’s dilemma. Could a change in the nature of the game elicit a different profile of default behavior? Across four studies we investigate whether intuition might also favor defensive aggression. We develop a “pre-emptive strike game” in which two players make a series of decisions about whether to live-and-let-live, or instead pay a small cost to imposing a large cost on the other player, knocking them out of the game. In this setting we find that default aggression prevails. Moreover, this aggressive tendency can be overridden when playing the game against in-group members, but tends not to be when playing against out-group members. In short, when faced with a social partner who may choose to harm them, people default towards defensive aggression.

The dual-process approach to human sociality: Meta-analytic evidence for a theory of internalized heuristics for self-preservation

“…Researchers tend to distinguish between two types of aggression, one more deliberative and goal-oriented, and one that is more impulsive, reactive, defensive (Nelson & Trainor, 2007;De Dreu, Scholte, van Winden & Ridderinkhof, 2015). Recently, Everett, Ingbretsen, Cushman and Cikara (2018) introduced a novel economic game, that they named pre-emptive strike game, to study whether defensive aggression is intuitive or deliberative. They found that time pressure increases aggression, especially against outgroup members.…”

The dual-process approach to human sociality: Meta-analytic evidence for a theory of internalized heuristics for self-preservation.

“…Reactive aggression, for instance, is often impulsive and defensive, while goal-oriented aggression tends to be more deliberative (Nelson & Trainor, 2007). Everett et al (2018) developed a novel economic game, called the "pre-emptive strike game," to study whether defensive aggression is intuitive or deliberative. They found that time pressure increases aggression, especially against out-group members.…”

Música Em Instituição Correcional: Motivos Que Podem Prejudicar a Educação Musical Dos Adolescentes

“…ISSN 2319-0566 DOI: 10.22481/recuesb.v10i17.9939 música como meio de socioeducação na instituição correcional Fundação CASA. Como referenciais teóricos na área de psicologia, utilizamos Everett, Ingbretsen, Cushman e Cikara (2018), Gopalan, Bakar e Zulkifli (2020) e Thomas e Bebeau (2013). Na área de sociologia, utilizamos Bauman (2005) e Giddens (1991).…”