Aggressiveness, inhibitory control, and emotional states: A provocation paradigm

Abstract The current study examines the effects of trait aggressiveness, inhibitory control and emotional states on aggressive behavior in a laboratory paradigm. One hundred and fifty‐one adult participants took part (73 men, 71 women, and 7 nondisclosed). Event Related Potentials (ERPs) during a Go/No‐Go task were utilized to capture the extent of inhibitory processing, with a laboratory provocation paradigm used to assess aggression. Contrary to the expectations, negative affective responses to provocation were negatively associated only with short‐lived aggression and only among those with high past aggressiveness. Furthermore, past aggressiveness was related to a continuous increase in laboratory aggressive behavior regardless of the level of inhibitory control (P3 difference amplitude). However, feeling hostile was associated with short‐lived aggressive behavior, only in those with lower levels of inhibitory control. These findings demonstrate the effect of distinct mechanisms on different patterns of aggressive behavior.