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Repulsed by violence: disgust sensitivity buffers trait, behavioral, and daily aggression.

Author
Abstract
:

Many models of aggression include negatively valenced emotions as common elicitors of aggressive behavior. Yet, the motivational direction of these emotions is not taken into account. The current work explored whether sensitivity to a negative emotion associated with behavioral avoidance-disgust-will predict lower levels of aggression. Five studies tested the hypothesis that disgust sensitivity predicts less aggression. In Study 1 (N = 92), disgust sensitivity predicted less trait physical and verbal aggression. In Study 2 (N = 268), participants high in disgust sensitivity were less likely to behave aggressively towards a stranger on a reaction-time task. In Study 3 (N = 51), disgust sensitivity was associated with less intimate partner violence inclinations. Study 4 (N = 247) replicated this effect longitudinally. In Study 5 (N = 166), each domain of disgust (i.e., moral, sexual, and pathogen disgust) had a buffering effect on daily aggression when daily experiences activated those specific domains. These results highlight the usefulness of considering the motivational direction of an emotion when examining its influence on aggression.

Year of Publication
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2012
Journal
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Journal of personality and social psychology
Volume
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102
Issue
:
1
Number of Pages
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175-88
ISSN Number
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0022-3514
URL
:
http://content.apa.org/journals/psp/102/1/175
DOI
:
10.1037/a0024296
Short Title
:
J Pers Soc Psychol
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