Control Yourself

Reactive Aggression (RA) and Proactive Aggression (PA) represent two functions for engaging in aggressive behaviors. Proactive Aggression (PA) is considered to be a “cold” aggression that results in planned behaviors. In contrast, Reactive Aggression (RA) has been described as a “hot” aggression that occurs in response to an external threatening stimulus. Emotion dysregulation is a person’s inability to recognize emotions and employ strategies to control these emotions. Most past research related to the relationship between aggression and emotion dysregulation focused on younger populations and on one dimension of aggression, as opposed to the two-dimensional RA/ PA model. Given the developmental nature of emotion regulation, it is appropriate to investigate these same variables in adults. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and compensated using funds from the Institute of Education Sciences’ (IES) Pathways to the Education Sciences Research Training Program. The current study used multiple linear regression analyses to test the hypothesis that lower scores on emotion dysregulation subscales will predict higher levels of proactive aggression; whereas, higher scores on emotion dysregulation subscales will predict higher levels of reactive aggression. The major finding of the study was that PA was related to being able to engage in goal-directed behaviors while emotionally aroused, while the opposite was true for RA. Additionally, PA was related to impulsivity and trouble clarifying emotions. Findings suggest that adults who present with PA may benefit from learning impulse control strategies and how to clarify and sort out their emotions. Adults who present with RA may benefit from learning calming techniques, such as mindfulness, and social skills to stop and think about the goals of the interaction. However, due to limitations of the study’s ability to confirm all linear regression assumptions, results should be interpreted with caution.