Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T22:25:09.296Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Relationships between Functional and Dysfunctional Impulsivity and Aggression across Different Samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Andreu Vigil-Colet,
Fabia Morales-Vives and
Jordi Tous
Andreu Vigil-Colet*
Affiliation:
Universitat Rovira I Virgili (Spain)
Fabia Morales-Vives
Affiliation:
Universitat Rovira I Virgili (Spain)
Jordi Tous
Affiliation:
Universitat Rovira I Virgili (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be adressed to Andreu Vigil-Colet, CRAMC (Research center for behaviour assessment), Departament de Psicologia, Facultat de C.C. E. E. i Psicologia, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43007 -Tarragona, Spain. E-mail: avc@urv.cat.
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

E. S. Barratt proposed the term impulsive aggression to define a kind of aggression that is characterized by acting without thinking because of high levels of impulsivity. Previous research using psychometric measures has shown that impulsivity and aggression are related as far as psychometric measures are concerned. Nevertheless, most of the research has been done with samples of university students. Our research tests whether this relationship is stable across different samples; university students, teenagers and workers. Our results show that impulsivity and aggression have a consistent pattern of relationships across these samples, with impulsivity being specially related to emotional and instrumental aspects of aggression. Furthermore, the effects of anger on aggression seem to show a pattern of relationship that depends on age, with a tendency to physical aggression in young people and verbal aggression in adults.

E. S. Barratt ha propuesto el término agresión impulsiva para definir un tipo de agresión que se caracteriza por actuar sin pensar debido a altos niveles de impulsividad. Investigaciones anteriores con medidas psicométricas han mostrado que impulsividad y agresión están relacionadas en lo que a las medidas psicométricas se refiere. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las investigaciones han empleado muestras de estudiantes universitarios. Nuestro trabajo trata de comprobar si esta relación se mantiene en muestras diferentes. Nuestros resultados indican que impulsividad y agresión muestran una pauta de relación consistente across these samples, estando la impulsividad especialmente relacionada con los aspectos emocionales e instrumentales de la agresión. Además, los efectos de la ira sobre la agresión muestran al parecer una pauta de relación dependiente de la edad, encontrándose una tendencia a la agresión física en gente joven y la agresión verbal en adultos.

Keywords

impulsivityimpulsive aggressionangerimpulsividadagresión impulsivaira

Information

Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , November 2008, pp. 480 - 487
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Andreu, J. M., Peña, M. E., & Graña, J. L. (2002). Adaptación psicométrica de la versión española del Cuestionario de Agresión. Psicothema, 14(2), 476–482.Google Scholar
Archer, J. (2004). Sex differences in real-word settings: A meta-analytic review. Review of General Psychology, 8, 291–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archer, J., Kilkpatrick, G., & Bramwell, R. (1995). Comparison of two aggression inventories. Aggressive Behavior, 21, 371–380.3.0.CO;2-P>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archer, J., & Webb, I. A. (2006) The relation between scores on the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire and aggressive acts, impulsiveness, competitiveness, dominance, and sexual jealousy. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 464–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ávila, C., & Parcet, M. A. (1997). Impulsivity and anxiety differences in cognitive inhibition. Personality and Individual Differences, 23(6), 1055–1064.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barratt, E. S. (1991). Measuring and predicting aggression within the context of a personality theory. Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 3, 535–539.Google ScholarPubMed
Barratt, E. S. (1994). Impulsiveness and Aggression. In Monahan, J. & Steadman, H.J. (Eds.), Violence and mental disorders: Developments in risk assessment (pp. 61–79). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Barratt, E. S., & Slaughter, L. (1998). Defining, measuring, and predicting impulsive aggression: A heuristic model. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 16, 285–302.3.0.CO;2-4>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barratt, E. S., Stanford, M. S., Dowdy, L., Liebman, M. J., & Kent, T. A. (1999). Impulsive and premeditated aggression: A factor analysis of self-reported acts. Psychiatry Research, 86, 163–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barratt, E. S., Stanford, M. S., Kent, T. A., & Felthous, A. (1997). Neuropsychological and cognitive psychophysiological substrates of impulsive aggression. Biological Psychiatry, 41, 1045–1061.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, I. H., and Gesn, P. R. (1997). On the dimensionality of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Behavior Research and Therapy, 35, 563–568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. P. (1992). The Aggression Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(3), 452–459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chico, E., Tous, J. M., Lorenzo-Seva, U., & Vigil-Colet, A. (2003). Spanish adaptation of Dickman's Impulsivity Inventory: Its relationship to Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1883–1892.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Condon, L., Morales-Vives, F., Ferrando, P. J, & Vigil-Colet, A. (2006). Sex differences in the full and reduced versions of the Aggression Questionnaire: A question of differential item functioning? European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 22, 92–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickman, S. J. (1990). Functional and dysfunctional impulsivity: Personality and cognitive correlates. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(1), 95–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J. (1993). The nature of impulsivity. In McCown, W. G., Johnson, J. L., & Shure, M. B. (Eds.), The impulsive client: Theory, research and treatment (pp. 57–70). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, S. B. G. (1997). Psychoticism as a dimension of personality. In Nyborg, H. (Ed.), The scientific study of human nature (pp. 109–121). Oxford, England: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Eysenck, S. B. G., Pearson, P. R., Easting, G., & Allsopp, J.F. (1985). Age norms for impulsiveness, venturesomeness, and empathy in adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 613–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felthous, A.R. (1998) Introduction to impulsive aggression. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 13, 281–283.3.0.CO;2-2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrando, P. J., Condon, L., & Chico, E. (2004). The convergent validity of acquiescence: An empirical study relating balanced scales and separate acquiescence scales. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1331–1340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fink, A. D., & McCown, W. G. (1993). Impulsivity in children and adolescents: Measurement, causes and treatment. In McCown, W., Johnson, J. L., & Shure, M. B. (Eds.), The impulsive client: Theory, research and treatment (pp. 279–308). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerbing, D. W., Ahadi, S. A., & Patton, J. H. (1987) Toward a conceptualisation of impulsivity: Components across the behavioural and self-report domains. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 22, 357–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helfritz, L. E., & Stanford, M. S. (2006). Personality and psychopathology in an impulsive-aggressive college sample. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 28–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horna, N. R., Dolan, M., Elliott, R., Deakin, J. F., & Woodruff, P. W. (2003). Response inhibition and impulsivity: An fMRI study. Neuropsychologia, 41, 1959–1966CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, G. D., Schachar, R. J., & Tannock, R. (1997). Impulsivity and inhibitory control. Psychological Science, 8, 60–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, D. M., Dougherty, D. D., Mathias, C. W., Moeller, F. G., & Hicks, L. R. (2002). Comparisons of women with high and low trait impulsivity using behavioral models of response-disinhibition and reward-choice. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1291–1310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMurran, M., Blair, M., & Egan, V. (2002). An investigation of the correlations between aggression, impulsiveness, social problem-solving, and alcohol use. Aggressive Behavior 28, 439–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J., Flory, K., Lynam, D., & Leukefeld, C. (2003). A test of the four-factor model of impulsivity related traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 1403–1418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, E., Joseph, S., & Tudway, J. (2004). Assessing the component structure of four self-report measures of impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 349–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morales-Vives, F. (2007). El efecto de la impulsividad sobre la agresividad y sus consecuencias en el rendimiento de los adolescentes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universitat Rovira i Virgili,Tarragona, Spain.Google Scholar
Morales-Vives, F., Codorniu-Raga, M. J., & Vigil-Colet, A. (2005). Psychometric properties of the reduced versions of Buss and Perry's Aggression Questionnaire. Psicothema. 17, 96–100.Google Scholar
O'Connor, D. B., Archer, J., Hair, M., & Wu, F. W. C. (2002). Exogenous testosterone, aggression and mood in eugonadal and hypogonadal men. Physiology and Behavior. 75, 557–566.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patton, J. H., Stanford, M. S., & Barratt, E. S. (1995). Factor structure of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 768–774.3.0.CO;2-1>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramirez, J. M., & Andreu, J. M. (2006). Aggression, and some related psychological constructs (anger, hostility, and impulsivity): Some comments from a research project. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 276–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramírez, J., Andreu, J. M., & Fujihara, T. (2001). Cultural and sex differences in aggression: A comparison between Japanese and Spanish students using two different inventories. Aggressive Behavior, 27, 313–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, B. W., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2001). The kids are allright: Growth and stability in personality development from adolescence to adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 81, 670–683.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Smillie, L. D., and Jackson, C. J. (2006). Functional impulsivity and reinforcement sensitivity theory. Journal of Personality, 74, 47–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spear, L. P. (2000). The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24 ‚417–463CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vigil-Colet, A. (2007). Impulsivity and decision-making in the balloon analogue risk-taking task. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 37–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigil-Colet, A., & Codorniu-Raga, M.J. (2004). Aggression and inhibition deficits: The role of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences. 37, 1431–1440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigil-Colet, A., & Morales-Vives, F. (2005). How impulsivity is related to intelligence and academic achievement. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 8, 199–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whiteside, S. P., & Lynam, D. R. (2001). The five-factor model and impulsivity: Using a structural model of personality to understand impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 669–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, T. Y., Boyd, J. C., Cascardi, M. A., & Poythress, N. (1996). Factor structure and convergent validity of the Aggression Questionnaire in an offender population. Psychological Assessment, 4, 398–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar