CONFIRMED: Research Psychology Masters Thesis Defense by Jill Pellegrini
Location: ROOM 374, LARTS, College of Arts & Sciences If you prefer to attend via zoom: Join Zoom Meeting https://umassd.zoom.us/j/93469055850?pwd=woZj412TF2VP7RiH7QfCsskPCnOtTH.1 Meeting ID: 934 6905 5850 Passcode: 834205 Title: Anger-Related Cognitive Processes and Affect: Considering Context Misperceptions to Understand Aggression Abstract: Use of aggression among undergraduates has demonstrated associations with negative mental and physical health outcomes. Evaluating factors which may influence aggressive tendencies is a promising approach to understand how individuals may be primed to utilize aggression. With this, the present study examined cognitive and affective factors which may impact the perception of situational context and ultimately predispose individuals to act aggressively. As such, it was expected that the relationship between anger rumination and aggression would be mediated serially by hostile attribution bias (HAB) and context-incongruent (CI) anger. Furthermore, as unique types of aggression can be utilized to exploit different outcomes, it was hypothesized that for those who ruminate, becoming angry in particular contexts (i.e., in threatening contexts [CIT anger] or in positive contexts [CIP anger]) may relate more strongly to one function of aggression over another. This study included a sample of 137 undergraduate students who completed assessments examining anger rumination, HAB, CI anger, context-congruent (CC) anger, and reactive and proactive aggression. Mediation analyses were completed to test the proposed hypotheses. As expected, HAB and CI anger individually mediated the relationship between anger rumination and aggression; this was not true for the serial mediation including both HAB and CI anger as mediators. Notably, substituting CC anger into this model did not result in significant findings. An alternative serial mediation model (i.e., anger rumination and CI anger mediating between HAB and aggression) did yield a significant serial mediation. As hypothesized, CIT anger, but not CIP anger, mediated between anger rumination and reactive aggression. Unexpectedly, CIP anger did not mediate between anger rumination and proactive aggression, but CIT anger did. These findings accentuate that together, anger-related cognitions and affect (particularly that which is seemingly incongruent with contextual cues) are associated with aggression among young adults. Results warrant further exploration and may be useful particularly in clinical settings. Advisor: Dr. Robin Arkerson Committee Members: Dr. Judith Sims-Knight, Dr. Ted Powers For additional information, please contact Verna Drayton at vdrayton@umassd.edu or 508-999-8380
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Psychology Department
508.999.8380