The impact of rumination on aggressive thoughts, feelings, arousal, and behaviour

Abstract

Although rumination following a provocation can increase aggression, no research has examined the processes responsible for this phenomenon. With predictions derived from the General Aggression Model, three experiments explored the impact of two types of post-provocation rumination on the processes whereby rumination augments aggression. In Experiment 1, relative to distraction, self-focused rumination uniquely increased the accessibility of arousal cognition, whereas provocation-focused rumination uniquely amplified the accessibility of aggressive action cognition. In Experiment 2, provocation-focused rumination uniquely increased systolic blood pressure. In Experiment 3, both types of rumination increased aggressive behaviour relative to a distraction condition. Angry affect partially mediated the effects of both provocation- and self-focused rumination on aggression. Self-critical negative affect partially mediated the effect of self-focused rumination but not provocation-focused rumination. These findings suggest that provocation-focused rumination influences angry affect, aggressive action cognition, and cardiovascular arousal, whereas self-focused rumination increases self-critical negative affect, angry affect, and arousal cognition. These studies enhance our understanding of why two types of post-provocation rumination increase aggressive behaviour.

Are You Insulting Me? Exposure to Alcohol Primes Increases Aggression Following Ambiguous Provocation

“…A form in the first envelope instructed them to circle the duration that the other participant should be distracted using a 9-point scale, which started at 1 = no distraction at all ( 0 s ) and increased by 10-s intervals to 9 = very strong distraction (80 s). As in previous studies (e.g., Ballard & Lineberger, 1999; Pedersen, 2006; Pedersen, Bushman, Vasquez, & Miller, 2008, Pedersen et al, 2011; Vasquez et al, 2005; Vasquez et al, 2013), longer duration recommendations were taken to indicate greater physical aggression toward the other participant. The validity of this so-called cold pressor task as a measure of aggression is supported by studies indicating that the cold pressor and other measures of physical aggression (e.g., hot sauce allocation and white noise blast intensity) demonstrate similar patterns of association with independent variables intended to elicit aggression (see Pedersen et al, 2008; Vasquez et al, 2013), and by studies in which the cold pressor has been used to induce pain in the laboratory (e.g., Lovallo, 1975; Rutchick & Slepian, 2013).…”

Examining the influence of psychopathy, hostility biases, and automatic processing on criminal offenders' Theory of Mind

“…Being stared at could be particularly evoking for psychopathic people as it might signal provocation. Therefore, the prolonged presentation could have led psychopathic participants to engage in a more focused, elaborate processing of the possible intention depicted by the eyes, a process that has been referred to as 'provocation-focused rumination,' which has found to amplify the accessibility of aggressive thoughts (Pedersen et al, 2011). This interpretation is congruous with a study by Wilkowski, Robinson, and Meier (2006) showing low agreeableness to be related to difficulties in disengaging attention from antisocial stimuli.…”

Self-affirmation facilitates cardiovascular recovery following interpersonal evaluation

“…Another study found that criticisms from an irritated experimenter caused an increase in mean arterial blood pressure (Mauss, Evers, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2006). Indeed, many studies have successfully used interpersonal provocation or insult to induce changes in cardiovascular activity (e.g., Anderson, Linden, & Habra, 2005;Ax, 1953;Pedersen et al, 2011).…”