| Abstract: | The present study investigated differences in processing times between positive and negative outcomes to an aggressive reaction to provocation. The effects of outcome, sex, trait aggressiveness and current mood on subsequent subject‐generated material were also examined. Fifty subjects read stories line by line on a computer screen. Reading time for the key sentence describing a positive or negative outcome to an aggressive reaction to provocation was recorded and subjects wrote a continuing sentence to half the stories. Subjects took less time to process the negative outcome. The positive outcome resulted in more subject‐generated aggression than the negative outcome. There were few sex differences but men wrote more aggressive endings than women for the stories containing physical aggression. Trait aggressiveness was correlated with producing more aggressive content in the continuing sentence for both outcomes. Feeling peaceful was correlated with producing prosocial material to neutral stories. Subjects therefore expect a negative outcome to aggressive behaviour. Reading stories which present a positive outcome to aggression increases the accessibility of aggressive cognitions. Subjects high in trait aggressiveness are not inhibited by a negative outcome. Aggr. Behav. 30:284–297, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
