title: Are target-shooters more aggressive than the general population?
abstract: Although psychological research shows that guns are aggressive cues, proponents of liberal gun control argue that people rather than guns are to blame for gun-related violence. For instance, athletic target-shooters might classify guns as athletic rather than aggressive stimuli and thus should not be more aggressive than the general population. The present work investigated aggression and emotion-regulation in target-shooters. A longitudinal study found that initial self-reported aggression in target-shooters was higher than in the general population and further increased over 1 year. Additionally, the sample exhibited deficient emotion-regulation strategies, and this was related to self-reported aggression. In contrast, their implicit self-construct became more peaceful over time but was unrelated to all other measures. Two further cross-sectional experiments explored the causal impact of athletic target-shooting and other athletic activities (shooting a basketball) on aggression. Target-shooters and basketball players were tested before and after their regular team practice and aggressive thoughts and feelings were measured. Target-shooting but not basketball practice activated aggressive and anxiety-related thought more strongly than positive thought. Future research avenues, implications for the indirect measurement of aggression, and possible interventions to decrease aggression in target-shooters are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 43:3-13, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thorsten M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Erle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barth
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Friederike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kälke
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Science, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duttler
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Science, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Science, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petko
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Economic Cognition, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Topolinski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005389:Firearms; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D000068356:Self-Control; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: IAT; aggression; emotion-regulation; gun violence; target-shooting