Approach and avoidance towards aggressive stimuli and its relation to reactive and proactive aggression.
This study assessed the association between indirectly measured behavioural approach- and avoidance-related tendencies on the one hand, and reactive versus proactive aggression on the other hand. Reactive aggression (i.e. the impulsive, anger-driven aggression expressed in response to threatening stimuli) was differentiated from proactive aggression (i.e. the more controlled aggression motivated towards obtaining specific goals). A mixed sample of 118 patients and healthy controls filled out a self-report measure to assess their degree of reactive and proactive aggression, and then performed an Approach Avoidance Task in which they were asked to pull or push a joystick in response to a format-feature of a series of pictures, irrespective of their contents. The pictorial stimuli used in this task included attack-related scenes and angry faces, along with neutral, positive and negative control stimuli. The results were controlled for the level of personality disorder pathology, gender, and age. The findings indicated that reactive but not proactive aggression was related to the relative behavioural tendency to approach attack-related scenes, along with positive stimuli. These findings reflect the hyper-reactivity of the approach-related reward system in reactive aggression, and further our knowledge into the distinct correlates and precursors of reactive and proactive aggression.
Faculty of Psychology and Neuropsychology, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Jill.Lobbestael@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
Jill
J
Lobbestael
Addiction Development and Psychopathology (ADAPT) Lab, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social, and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Developmental Psychology, Weesperplein 4, 1018 XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.cousijn@uva.nl.
Janna
J
Cousijn
Faculty of Psychology and Neuropsychology, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Suzanne.Brugman@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
Suzanne
S
Brugman
Addiction Development and Psychopathology (ADAPT) Lab, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social, and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Developmental Psychology, Weesperplein 4, 1018 XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: R.Wiers@uva.nl.
Reinout W
RW
Wiers
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000786:Anger; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D057566:Self Report; D012919:Social Behavior; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
Approach; Approach avoidance task; Avoidance; Proactive aggression; Reactive aggression