Joy and compassion as prosocial antidotes to aggression: an experimental comparison

Background Aggression is a key factor in various mental health problems including personality disorders, underscoring the importance of effective interventions for regulating or preventing aggression. Positive psychology suggests that promoting prosocial emotions such as joy and compassion may help to buffer against aggression. Objectives This experimental study examined (1) whether joy- or compassion-based writing exercises can buffer against anger and aggression in response to provocation, (2) whether trait prevention focus (a self-regulation style focused on avoiding negative outcomes) influences these effects, and (3) how positive and negative affect evolve over time. Methods A total of N = 148 university students were randomly assigned to one of three writing interventions: joy, compassion, or a procedural control. After the writing task, participants were provoked by exposing them to unsolvable anagrams and a standardized provocation by a condescending confederate. Measures of anger, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and post-provocation. Behavioral aggression was assessed post-provocation, using the competitive reaction time task (CRTT). Results Controlling for baseline levels, neither joy or compassion significantly buffered against increased anger, NA, and behavioral aggression, or against decreased PA after provocation, compared to the control condition. However, affective trajectories differed by condition: In the joy condition, post-intervention PA was significantly higher (compared to the control condition) and NA significantly lower (compared to compassion and control). However, following provocation, PA dropped and NA rose significantly more sharply in the joy condition compared to the other conditions. Prevention focus did not moderate any outcomes. Conclusion These findings suggest that brief joy and compassion interventions do not buffer against aggression. Compared to inducing compassion, inducing joy does lead to more immediate improved affect, though this impact is only short-lived, potentially illustrating an affective contrast effect. More research is needed to further explore timing, contrast, and longer-term mood effects of prosocial interventions as antidotes to aggression.