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. 2022 Jan 14:15:751336.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.751336. eCollection 2021.

Cognitive Control Processes and Defense Mechanisms That Influence Aggressive Reactions: Toward an Integration of Socio-Cognitive and Psychodynamic Models of Aggression

Jean Gagnon  1   2   3 , Joyce Emma Quansah  1   2   3 , Paul McNicoll  1   2   3
Affiliations

Cognitive Control Processes and Defense Mechanisms That Influence Aggressive Reactions: Toward an Integration of Socio-Cognitive and Psychodynamic Models of Aggression

Jean Gagnon et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Research on cognitive processes has primarily focused on cognitive control and inhibitory processes to the detriment of other psychological processes, such as defense mechanisms (DMs), which can be used to modify aggressive impulses as well as self/other images during interpersonal conflicts. First, we conducted an in-depth theoretical analysis of three socio-cognitive models and three psychodynamic models and compared main propositions regarding the source of aggression and processes that influence its enactment. Second, 32 participants completed the Hostile Expectancy Violation Paradigm (HEVP) in which scenarios describe a hostile vs. non-hostile social context followed by a character's ambiguous aversive behavior. The N400 effect to critical words that violate expected hostile vs. non-hostile intent of the behavior was analyzed. Prepotent response inhibition was measured using a Stop Signal task (SST) and DMs were assessed with the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-60). Results showed that reactive aggression and HIA were not significantly correlated with response inhibition but were significantly positively and negatively correlated with image distorting defense style and adaptive defense style, respectively. The present article has highlighted the importance of integrating socio-cognitive and psychodynamic models to account for the full complexity underlying psychological processes that influence reactive aggressive behavior.

Keywords: aggression; control process; defense mechanisms; event-related potentials (ERP); hostile attribution bias; psychological regulation; response inhibition control.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
ERP waveforms at electrodes of anterior, central and posterior sites of the midline for the match and mismatch, and hostile and non-hostile condition (blue: hostile-match; green: hostile-mismatch; red: non-hostile-mismatch; aqua: non-hostile-mismatch).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean ERP difference waveforms (ERP mismatch minus ERP match) for the hostile and non-hostile condition (blue: hostile; green: non-hostile).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Topographic maps of mean ERP differences waveforms (ERP mismatch minus ERP match) for the violation of non-hostile intention expectency (hostile mismatch – match) and the violation of hostile intention expectency (non-hostile mismatch – match) conditions for the 450–650 ms post critical word time window.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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