The motivation of aggression: A cognitive neuroscience approach and neurochemical speculations.

Blair, James

doi:10.1037/mot0000247

Cited by 14 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 196 publications

(281 reference statements)

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“…From a theoretical perspective, we proposed and tested the co-mediating and moderating role of moral disengagement and harm aversion between angry rumination and reactive-proactive aggression, which extends previous research (Wang et al, 2020; White & Turner, 2014) and deepens our understanding of the mechanisms of reactive and proactive aggression. Importantly, the present study developed an aggressive motivation perspective to comprehensively explain the moderated mediation model, which extends current aggression theories such as the GAM (Anderson & Bushman, 2002) and various aggression motivation theories (e.g., Blair, 2022; Harmon-Jones & Schutter, 2022). From a practical perspective, our findings may help develop more effective prevention and intervention programs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Common Mechanisms Underlying the Effect of Angry Rumination on Reactive and Proactive Aggression: A Moderated Mediation Model

Hou,

Li,

Xia

2023

J Interpers Violence

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The different influencing factors and mechanisms of the two basic kinds of aggression (i.e., reactive and proactive aggression) are salient. However, they also have common influencing factors and mechanisms, which are ignored to some extent. In addition, discovering the common mechanisms is conducive to further revealing the nature and law of aggression. To address these issues, this study tested a relational model incorporating angry rumination, moral disengagement, harm aversion, reactive aggression, and proactive aggression from the perspective of aggressive motivation. A total of 1,186 undergraduate students from eight universities were recruited. The results showed that angry rumination was significantly associated with reactive and proactive aggression. Importantly, moral disengagement acted as a common mediator, and harm aversion acted as a common moderator in the effect of angry rumination on reactive and proactive aggression. Specifically, the enhancement effects of low levels of harm aversion on these relationships are due to that it could promote the effects of angry rumination on the common mediator of moral disengagement. An aggressive motivation perspective was developed to comprehensively explain the common mediating and moderating effects. The present study contributes to a greater understanding of the mechanisms of reactive and proactive aggression and how aggressive motivations shape the model of aggressive behavior. These findings support and extend current aggression theories, especially aggression motivation theories. This study could provide insights for targeted aggression prevention interventions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Common Mechanisms Underlying the Effect of Angry Rumination on Reactive and Proactive Aggression: A Moderated Mediation Model

Hou,

Li,

Xia

2023

J Interpers Violence

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“…ASPD is seen as an heterogenous disorder, which is often sub-typed based on the presence or absence of psychopathic and other personality traits ( Marsden et al, 2019 ). Psychopathy is a personality construct characterized by difficulties in affective, interpersonal and behavioral domains ( Carré et al, 2013 ; Nentjes et al, 2022 ), and is sometimes considered a particularly severe subtype of ASPD (but see Blair, 2022a , b ), with emotional deficits and a lack of remorse likely being more central in psychopathy than ASPD ( Blair, 2022a , b ). Approximately 30% of adults with ASPD also meet the criteria for Psychopathy, while most individuals with Psychopathy meet the criteria for ASPD ( Sarkar et al, 2011 ; Blair, 2022a , b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The inconsistency across studies, and proliferation of null-findings might be due to methodological characteristics like limited power, sample population, imprecise labeling of peak coordinates, and suppression effects of different psychopathic trait sub-dimensions ( Deming et al, 2022 ). Alternatively, findings of reduced amygdala responsiveness may be specific to adolescence ( Blair, 2022a , b ), signaling the need to test whether and how developmental effects may unfold over time, and especially during early adulthood. Yet another possibility is that amygdala activity in both typically developing and antisocial young adults is context-dependent ( Dotterer et al, 2017 ; Gothard, 2020 ; Deming et al, 2022 ), and may be involved in fine-tuning and flexibility of social functions in different and changing social situations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emotional processes (e.g., emotional experiences, emotional understanding, emotion recognition, and emotion regulation, Smeijers et al, 2020 ) are thought to reduce information processing demands and support goal-directed behavior ( Lemerise and Arsenio, 2000 ; Smeijers et al, 2020 ). Indeed, impaired emotional processes do not only affect the first two–but rather all SIP steps, probably also interactively, and have been shown to contribute to (the development of) aggressive behavior ( Lemerise and Arsenio, 2000 ; Smeijers et al, 2020 ; Blair, 2022a , b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A neurocognitive model of early onset persistent and desistant antisocial behavior in early adulthood

Groep

Bos

Popma

et al. 2023

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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It remains unclear which functional and neurobiological mechanisms are associated with persistent and desistant antisocial behavior in early adulthood. We reviewed the empirical literature and propose a neurocognitive social information processing model for early onset persistent and desistant antisocial behavior in early adulthood, focusing on how young adults evaluate, act upon, monitor, and learn about their goals and self traits. Based on the reviewed literature, we propose that persistent antisocial behavior is characterized by domain-general impairments in self-relevant and goal-related information processing, regulation, and learning, which is accompanied by altered activity in fronto-limbic brain areas. We propose that desistant antisocial development is associated with more effortful information processing, regulation and learning, that possibly balances self-relevant goals and specific situational characteristics. The proposed framework advances insights by considering individual differences such as psychopathic personality traits, and specific emotional characteristics (e.g., valence of social cues), to further illuminate functional and neural mechanisms underlying heterogenous developmental pathways. Finally, we address important open questions and offer suggestions for future research to improve scientific knowledge on general and context-specific expression and development of antisocial behavior in early adulthood.

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“…In contrast, findings indicate that unprovoked aggression (e.g., quiet attack) also involves the amygdala [24][25][26][27] , but additionally recruit the lateral hypothalamus 24,[28][29][30][31] , septal area 24,32 , medial and lateral PFC 33, 34 , and VTA 24,33,35 . In humans, reactive aggression appears to rely on similar brain structures than in rage attacks in animals 36,37 but is believed to be modulated by frontal cortices, including the lateral orbitofrontal cortex 36 extending to the ventrolateral PFC and anterior insula [37][38][39][40][41] . In contrast, proactive aggression (analogous to quiet-biting attacks) is thought to be characterized by activity in the amygdala, ventral striatum, medial orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial PFC, and posterior cingulate cortex 37,[42][43][44] , which are commonly involved during fMRI task on reinforcement-based decision-making and motivational processes 45 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dark Sides of the Brain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Studies on Aggression

Dugré,

hopfer,

Winters

2023

Preprint

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Background. Aggression is a worldwide issue that has significant consequences for both the victims and societies. However, aggression is an umbrella terms with subcomponents such as motivation (i.e., Reactive versus Proactive) and forms (i.e., Physical versus Verbal) which aggressive behaviors may occur. Yet, brain circuits differentiating these subcomponents remains largely unknown.Method. A systematic search strategy was conducted up to May 1st 2023, using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, to identify relevant studies. Coordinate-based meta-analysis was conducted on General Aggression, Reactive Aggression, Proactive Aggression, Physical Aggression and Verbal Aggression using spatial convergence (ALE) and effect-size (SDM-PSI) approaches.Results. Sixty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis revealed similar yet distinct neural correlates for General Aggression (i.e., Amygdala, Precuneus, Intraparietal Sulcus, Angular and Middle Temporal Gyri), Reactive Aggression (i.e., Amygdala, Periaqueductal Grey, Posterior Insula, & Central Opercular Cortex), Proactive Aggression (i.e., Septal Area, & Amygdala), Physical Aggression (i.e., Dorsal Premotor Cortex, Dorsal Caudate, & Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex), and Verbal (i.e., Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex). Exploratory analyses revealed the importance of affective, cognitive and social cognition processes as well as serotoninergic, dopaminergic, and cholinergic systems in the neural underpinnings of aggressive behaviors.Conclusion. Our findings highlight the importance of examining the subcomponents of aggression (i.e., motivation and forms) within a transdiagnostic framework. Hence, characterizing the neurobiological substrates of aggression may expand our search for targeted neuromodulation and pharmacological treatments.

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The motivation of aggression: A cognitive neuroscience approach and neurochemical speculations.

Cited by 14 publications

References 196 publications

Common Mechanisms Underlying the Effect of Angry Rumination on Reactive and Proactive Aggression: A Moderated Mediation Model

Common Mechanisms Underlying the Effect of Angry Rumination on Reactive and Proactive Aggression: A Moderated Mediation Model

A neurocognitive model of early onset persistent and desistant antisocial behavior in early adulthood

The Dark Sides of the Brain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Studies on Aggression

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