title: The impact of aggressive priming, rumination, and frustration on prison sentencing.
abstract: We tested the hypothesis that ruminating about a previous aggressive prime interacts with a subsequent minor frustration to augment aggression. Sixty participants watched a video showing a murder during a bank robbery (the aggressive prime). Those in the rumination condition were asked to write about the video for 20 min. In the no rumination condition, participants were given 20 min to complete an irrelevant task. Participants were then either frustrated or not frustrated. Our results supported the main hypothesis. Relative to the control condition, neither rumination nor frustration alone impacted aggression. Rumination, in combination with a minor frustration, however, increased the recommended prison sentence towards the targets. We discuss the implications of our findings.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1061, USA. eddieavasquez@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Eduardo Antonio
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Vasquez
authors.forename: Vanessa O
authors.initials: VO
authors.lastname: Bartsch
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D002140:California; D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005639:Frustration; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011330:Prisons / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology