Do attachment patterns predict aggression in a context of social rejection? An executive functioning account.
People tend to respond to rejection and attack with aggression. The present research examined the modulation role of attachment patterns on provoked aggression following punishment and proposed an executive functioning account of attachment patterns' modulating influence based on the General Aggression Model. Attachment style was measured using the Experiences in Close Relationships inventory. Experiments 1a and b and 2 adopted a social rejection task and assessed subsequent unprovoked and provoked aggression with different attachment patterns. Moreover, Experiment 1b and 2 used a Stroop task to examine whether differences in provoked aggression by attachment patterns are due to the amount of executive functioning following social rejection, or after unprovoked punishment, or even before social rejection. Anxiously attached participants displayed significant more provoked aggression than securely and avoidantly attached participants in provoked aggression following unprovoked punishment in Experiments 1 and 2. Meanwhile, subsequent Stroop tests indicated anxiously attached participants experienced more executive functioning depletion after social rejection and unprovoked aggression. The present findings support the General Aggression Model and suggest that provoked aggression is predicted by attachment patterns in the context of social rejection; different provoked aggression may depend on the degree of executive functioning that individuals preserved in aggressive situations. The current study contributes to our understanding of the importance of the role of attachment patterns in modulating aggressive behavior accompanying unfair social encounters.
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, China.|Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, China.
Yuanxiao
Y
Ma
School of Foreign Languages for Business, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), Chengdu, China.
Haijing
H
Ma
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, China.|Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, China.
Xu
X
Chen
Institute of Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong, China.
Guangming
G
Ran
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, China.|Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, China.
Xing
X
Zhang
D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D012929:Psychological Distance; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult
GAM; attachment pattern; executive functioning; provoked aggression; social rejection; unprovoked aggression