Memory competition
A new experiment to assess unprovoked and provoked aggression
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21284282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Xiaoke Qiu, Fenja Ziegler (0000-0002-3519-9262), Susan Chipchase (0000-0003-3554-9047), B Majolo (0000-0002-0235-3040) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 266 |
| Pages | 106843 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Acta Psychologica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-6918 • E-ISSN: 1873-6297 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106843 |
| PMID | 42034762 |
| OpenAlex | W4413355237 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 46 |
Aggression can be provoked or unprovoked. Most studies on provoked and unprovoked aggression have used questionnaires, making it hard to quantify aggression's costs and benefits. We designed a new experiment that assigns variable costs and benefits to aggression, and it effectively measured both types. In our first study, unprovoked aggression was positively correlated with the level of unprovoked aggression measured by the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, and self-reported anger was positively correlated with provoked aggression. In our second study, we used the novel experiment to test the hypothesis that provoked aggression is positively correlated with self-reported anger state and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. The result supported our predictions. The two studies indicate that our new memory competition game can effectively measure the two types of aggression. Moreover, our results confirm that provoked aggression is linked to a weak capacity to effectively adjust emotional responses to perceived threats. • We design a novel memory competition experiment to analyze the occurrence and cost/benefit of provoked/unprovoked aggression. • Study 1 shows that our experiment effectively distinguishes and measures unprovoked and provoked aggression. • Study 2 finds maladaptive emotion regulation and emotional resilience are related to provoked aggression. • This new experiment allows to estimate the cost/benefit of aggression
Aggression · Biology · Competition (biology) · Developmental psychology · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Ecology · Psychology · Resilience and Mental Health · Social Psychology
Violence and gender reexamined.
Two types of aggression in human evolution
Social Information-Processing Mechanisms in Reactive and Proactive Aggression
Cyberbullying and traditional bullying in adolescence
Psychological Resilience
Measuring facial movement
Reactive and proactive aggression
Emotion regulation and aggression
Development of a new resilience scale
Emotion regulation
Human Aggression
Multidimensional Assessment of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation
Dual-Processing Accounts of Reasoning, Judgment, and Social Cognition
The anger-infused Ultimatum Game
Measurement of Laboratory Aggression
Gender Differences in Reactive and Proactive Aggression
Lack of correspondence between the reactive proactive questionnaire and the impulsive premeditated aggression scale among forensic psychiatric outpatients
Construct validity of a competitive reaction-time aggression paradigm
Does cost–benefit analysis or self‐control predict involvement in two forms of aggression
The reactive–proactive aggression questionnaire
Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes
When Is Retaliation Respected? Status and Vengefulness in Intergroup and Interpersonal Contexts
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |