Drawn to danger: trait anger predicts automatic approach behaviour to angry faces

Veenstra, Lotte; Schneider, Iris K.; Bushman, Brad J.; Koole, Sander L.

doi:10.1080/02699931.2016.1150256

Cited by 51 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In line with the expected deficits in cognitive control of emotional action tendencies and previous findings in angerprone or aggressive individuals, [38][39][40] patients with BPD showed relatively faster approach than avoidance responses to angry faces. Our data add to previous reports of an increased likelihood to detect subtle signals of facial anger, 41,42 a stronger initial orientation toward negative emotional faces, 43 and an increased percentage of attention shifts toward threatening emotional faces 44,45 in patients with BPD.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Neural correlates of emotional action control in anger-prone women with borderline personality disorder

Bertsch

Roelofs

Roch

et al. 2018

jpn

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Neural correlates of emotional action control in anger-prone women with borderline personality disorder

Bertsch

Roelofs

Roch

et al. 2018

jpn

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“…A final goal of this study was to replicate findings by Veenstra et al (2017), showing that approach-avoidance effects can be reversed in people high in trait anger. Here, we were not able to replicate Veenstra and colleagues (2017) findings, indicating that more research is necessary to firmly establish this theoretically relevant effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Trait anger questionnaire We measured trait anger with the trait dimension of the State-Trait Anger Scale (STAI; Clausen et al, 2016;Spielberger, Jacobs, & Russell, 1983;Veenstra et al, 2017). The trait dimension of the STAI consists of ten statements (e.g., "I am quick tempered") for each of which participants indicate how they generally feel or react.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the effect is far from established as a study by Clausen et al (2016), for example, did not yield reversed effects in war veterans high in trait anger (although see Harmon-Jones & Gable, 2018, for dissociations between valence and neurological markers of approach-avoidance motivations). Both Clausen et al (2016) and our second experiment used an American sample, whereas Veenstra et al (2017) used a Dutch sample. It is therefore also possible that cultural differences influence whether participants high in trait anger approach rather than avoid angry faces.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A mobile approach-avoidance task

et al. 2020

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When the original approach-avoidance task (AAT; Solarz, 1960) that measures these tendencies was redesigned to run on regular desktop computers, it made the task much more flexible but also sacrificed some important behavioral properties of the original task-most notably its reliance on physical distance change (Chen & Bargh, 1999). Here, we present a new, mobile version of the AAT that runs entirely on smartphones and combines the flexibility of modern tasks with the behavioral properties of the original AAT. In addition, it can easily be deployed in the field and, next to traditional reaction time measurements, includes the novel measurement of response force. In two studies, we demonstrate that the mobile AAT can reliably measure known approach-avoidance tendencies toward happy and angry faces both in the laboratory and in the field.

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“…Interpersonal distance preferences are also likely influenced by personality. Importantly, emotional context and personality appear to be interacting factors, with some traits selectively affecting approach‐avoidance tendencies to specific emotions [Sambo and Iannetti, ; Schienle et al, ; Veenstra et al, ]. Personality traits associated with deficient emotional and empathic responses are characteristic of psychopathic personalities [Blair, ; Frick and White, ; Marsh, ], and may be particularly impactful in shaping interpersonal distance preferences in emotional contexts [Hammer and Marsh, ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion and personal space: Neural correlates of approach‐avoidance tendencies to different facial expressions as a function of coldhearted psychopathic traits

Vieira

Tavares

Marsh

et al. 2016

Human Brain Mapping

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In social interactions, humans are expected to regulate interpersonal distance in response to the emotion displayed by others. Yet, the neural mechanisms implicated in approach-avoidance tendencies to distinct emotional expressions have not been fully described. Here, we investigated the neural systems implicated in regulating the distance to different emotions, and how they vary as a function of empathy. Twenty-three healthy participants assessed for psychopathic traits underwent fMRI scanning while they viewed approaching and withdrawing angry, fearful, happy, sad and neutral faces. Participants were also asked to set the distance to those faces on a computer screen, and to adjust the physical distance from the experimenter outside the scanner. Participants kept the greatest distances from angry faces, and shortest from happy expressions. This was accompanied by increased activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, inferior frontal gyrus, and temporoparietal junction for angry and happy expressions relative to the other emotions. Irrespective of emotion, longer distances were kept from approaching faces, which was associated with increased activation in the amygdala and insula, as well as parietal and prefrontal regions. Amygdala activation was positively correlated with greater preferred distances to angry, fearful and sad expressions. Moreover, participants scoring higher on coldhearted psychopathic traits (lower empathy) showed reduced amygdala activation to sad expressions. These findings elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying social approach-avoidance, and how they are related to variations in empathy. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1492-1506, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Drawn to danger: trait anger predicts automatic approach behaviour to angry faces

Cited by 51 publications

References 25 publications

Neural correlates of emotional action control in anger-prone women with borderline personality disorder

Neural correlates of emotional action control in anger-prone women with borderline personality disorder

A mobile approach-avoidance task

Emotion and personal space: Neural correlates of approach‐avoidance tendencies to different facial expressions as a function of coldhearted psychopathic traits

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