Mitigating circumstance information, censure, and aggression
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6206404 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Johnson (0000-0002-6695-4291), Thomas E Johnson (0000-0003-4073-938X, University of Alberta, corresponding author), Brendan Gail Rule |
| Year | 1986 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 537-542 |
| Publication date | 1986-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/0022-3514.50.3.537 |
| PMID | 3701592 |
| OpenAlex | W2010721771, W4248851464 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
| References cited | 4 |
One hundred men received one of two levels of mitigating circumstance information either before or after being insulted or not insulted by a co-worker. Participants were then provided with an opportunity ostensibly to deliver aversive noise to the co-worker under either high or low social censure conditions. Physiological data and self-report measures revealed that participants who learned of mitigating circumstance information before being provoked exhibited smaller increases in physiological arousal and reported less annoyance than did those who learned of mitigating circumstance information after insult. Aggression data showed that angered participants evaluated their provoker more favorably and retaliated less when they learned of mitigation before rather than after being insulted. These findings supported attribution theory assumptions that mitigating circumstance information known before the provoking incident influences the individual's interpretation of harm, thereby reducing anger and the instigation to aggression. The reduced impact of information on aggression that is acquired after provocation may reflect the provoked individual's shift of attention from cues surrounding harm to a consideration of inhibitory factors for aggression.
Aggression · Anger · Annoyance · Arousal · Attribution · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Harm · Insult · Medical emergency · Poison control · Social information processing · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Information and Cyber Security · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Psychology of Social Influence · Social Psychology
Excuses, excuses
Breaking the link between provocation and aggression
What gives victims satisfaction when they seek revenge
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
Disrespect and the Experience of Injustice
Negotiation
Equity and derogation of those against whom we have aggressed
Empathy
Retaliatory motivation enhances attributions of hostility when people process ambiguous social stimuli
Empathy and risk status for child physical abuse
Aggression inhibition in high- and low-risk subjects for child physical abuse
How attribution influences aggression
Social Accounts in Conflict Situations
Psychophysiology of Aggression, Psychopathy, and Conduct Problems
| Citations per year | 0.62 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1989 - 2018 (30) |
| Highly cited | No |