Blending theoretical perspectives from the aggression and self-control literatures, the proposed research sheds light on who is at risk for behaving antisocially, when antisocial behaviors are most likely to occur, and how metabolic, psychological, and hemodynamic processes help explain why people engage in antisocial behaviors. It also focuses on how to increase prosocial behavior. The proposed program of research to be conducted over the course of 5 laboratory studies is novel in several ways. First, it blends perspectives from two influential social psychological theoretical perspectives, namely the General Aggression Model and the limited resource model of self-control. The proposed research will provide the first integration of these perspectives in a single program of research. Second, it uses an extremely diverse methodological approach, including daily diary, experimental, quasi-experimental, and fMRI. Therefore, the proposed research will be able to provide converging empirical evidence that can impact researchers who use each of these diverse methods. Third, it provides the first examination of whether the capacity to override aggressive impulses relies on the same metabolic processes in humans and non-human animals.
Findings from this work should be of interest to scholars from a broad range of disciplines who wish to understand how physical and mental self-control processes can decrease antisocial behavior and increase prosocial behavior. The project will also provide a unique, interdisciplinary training opportunity for two graduate students and many different undergraduate research assistants. The graduate student researchers will work closely with members of the senior research team, which will constitute a unique training experience in the use of multiple perspectives and methods. Finally, the proposed work will help lay people who have difficulty controlling their aggressive and selfish impulses. The investigators will give lectures that are open to members of the community and to people who are interested in applying the theoretical principles of effective self-control to reducing aggression and increasing prosocial behavior. Additional outreach will be provided to law enforcement agencies regarding how to prevent aggression and shooting of unarmed suspect.
