۱- Introduction

۲- Method

۳- Study 1

۴- Study 2

۵- Discussion

References

Abstract

Lack of self-control is considered to be a key factor in generating aggression and violence. However, across two studies, aggression was associated with greater self-control when participants felt that violence was undesirable but morally required. Using a within-subjects retrospective method, in Study 1 (N = ۹۵) participants recalled having greater self-control when they themselves engaged in aggression as a perpetrator that they felt was automatically aversive but morally right compared to when they avoided such aggression. The opposite pattern was found for aggression that participants felt was automatically desirable but morally wrong, replicating prior results. Using a between-subjects vignette-based method, in Study 2 (N = ۲۱۳), it was found that higher trait levels of self-control predicted greater willingness to fight when participants saw aggression as undesirable but morally right in a hypothetical scenario. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of how perpetrator motivation determines the role of self-control in aggression.

Introduction

A fundamental cause of suffering is the violence that humankind inflicts upon itself. This aggression ranges from spontaneous brawls to carefully plotted acts of revenge. It includes people who fight for themselves and those who fight for others. Sometimes people fight because they want to; other times they fight because they have to. In some cases, perpetrators regret their actions, while in others they swear they would do it again. In spite of this diversity in aggression and motives for pursuing it, the ability to regulate emotions and exert self-control over violent impulses is thought to be a key factor in reducing many forms of violence. According to self-regulatory theories of aggression, people have violent impulses that engage automatically in response to aversive or threatening stimuli, but their sense of self-control acts to inhibit these violent impulses. When self-control is weakened through depletion, frustration, or other exertion, the inhibitory mechanisms restraining violent impulses break down, enabling aggression (DeWall, Anderson, and Bushman, 2011; DeWall, Deckman, et al., 2011; Denson, DeWall, & Finkel, 2012). In support of these theories, trait measures of self-control find that higher levels of self-control predict more aggressive behavior, including child misconduct, intimate partner violence, and crime (Brannigan, Gemmell, Pevalin, & Wade Terrance, 2002; de Ridder, LensveltMulders, Finkenauer, Stok, & Baumeister, 2012; Denson, Capper, Oaten, Friese, & Schofield, 2011; Derefinko, DeWall, Metze, Walsh, & Lynam, 2011; Finkel et al., 2012; Finkel, DeWall, Slotter, Oaten, & Foshee, 2009; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Experimentally depleting self-control through fasting, hot temperature, time pressure, and cognitively draining tasks increases aggressive responses to provocation (Cleare & Bond, 1995; Bjork, Dougherty, Moeller, Cherek, & Swann, 1999; Gailliot et al., 2007; DeWall, Baumeister, Stillman, & Gailliot, 2007; DeWall, Bushman, Giancola, & Webster, 2010; DeWall, Finkel, and Denson, 2011). Improving self-control through training or glucose consumption decreases aggressive responses to provocation (Gailliot & Baumeister, 2007; Denson et al., 2011; DeWall, Finkel, and Denson, 2011).