Cognitive load,trigger salience,and the facilitation of triggered displaced aggression

Researchers hypothesize that a state of limited cognitive processing capacity increases aggression. In the context of the triggered displaced aggression (TDA) paradigm, a 2 (Salience of triggering event: high/low) × 2 (Cognitive load at trigger: yes/no) × 2 (Cognitive load at aggression: yes/no) between participants experiment tested this hypothesis. Results showed that inducing cognitive load in previously provoked participants while they received a triggering provocation augmented aggression toward the target when the latter was highly salient. Affective reactions to the trigger partially mediated this effect. In contrast to expectation, however, inducing cognitive load while participants aggressed against their target did not affect aggression levels. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.