From Antecedent Conditions to Violent Actions: A General Affective Aggression Model

Abstract

The General Affective Aggression Model (GAAM) posits that variables that increase aggression do so by increasing aggressive affect, aggressive cognition, or arousal. The effects of trait hostility, pain, and cognitive cues on state hostility (Experiment 1), on lexical decisions for aggressive and control words (Experiment 2), on escape motives (Experiment 3), and on aggressive behavior (Experiment 4) are presented. Consistent with GAAM, trait hostility increased both flight and fight motives, presumably due to affective reactions. Pain also increased hostile affect but increased aggression only when aggressive thoughts were made highly accessible (i.e., after viewing gun pictures). Theoretical implications are discussed.