PSY 005 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Executive Functions, Claude Steele, Kimveer Gill
23 Dec 2020
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Some conditions make it more difficult to engage in the higher-order processing that can inhibit aggressive impulses. High arousal, for example, impairs the cognitive control of aggression. Alcohol is implicated in the majority of violent crimes, suicides, and automobile fatalities. Even among individuals who are usually not aggressive, those who drink more aggress more. A meta-analysis indicates that alcohol reduces anxiety, which in turn lowers people"s inhibitions against aggressing. The more people expect alcohol to affect them and make them more aggressive, the more likely it is that it will have that effect. Situational influences: putting it all together negative affect, arousal, and aggression-related thoughts can lead to aggression. And a number of factors influence whether one is likely to experience negative affect, arousal, and aggressive thoughts, such as aversive experiences (frustration, crowding, heat, provocation), situational cues (guns), and individual and cultural differences (chronic hostility, cultures of honour).
