Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T20:56:08.683Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Differentiating defensive and predatory aggression: Neuropsychological systems and personality in sex differences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

Philip J. Corr
Affiliation:
School of Social Work and Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. Philip.corr@btopenworld.com
Adam M. Perkins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, School of Human Sciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom. 342095@swansea.ac.uk

Abstract

We draw a distinction between defensive and predatory forms of aggression, and how these forms relate to basic neuropsychological systems, especially the Fight-Flight-Freeze-System (FFFS; putatively related to defensive aggression), and the Behavioural Approach System (BAS; putatively related to predatory aggression). These systems may help further to account for proximal brain processes and personality influences in the context of sex differences.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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.)

References

Archer, J. (2000a) Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin 126:651–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bettencourt, B. A. & Kernahan, C. (1997) A meta-analysis of aggression in the presence of violent cues: Effects of gender differences and aversive provocations. Aggressive Behavior 23:447–56.3.0.CO;2-D>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanchard, D. C. (1997) Stimulus and environmental control of defensive behaviors. In: Learning, motivation, and cognition: The functional behaviorism of Robert C. Bolles, ed. Bouton, M. & Fanselow, M., pp. 283305. American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanchard, D. C., Hynd, A. L., Minke, K. A., Minemoto, T. & Blanchard, R. J. (2001) Human defensive behaviors to threat scenarios show parallels to fear- and anxiety-related defense patterns of non-human mammals. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 25:761–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carver, C. S. (2004) Negative affects deriving from the behavioural approach system. Emotion 4:322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carver, C. S. & Harmon-Jones, E. (2009) Anger is an approach-related affect: Evidence and implications. Psychological Bulletin 135:183204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corr, P. J. (2002) J. A. Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory and frustrative nonreward: A theoretical note on expectancies in reactions to rewarding stimuli. Personality and Individual Differences 32:1247–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corr, P. J. (2008) Reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST): Introduction. In: The reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality, ed. Corr, P. J., pp. 143. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C. (1859/1911) On the origin of species by means of natural selection. Murray.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diaz, A. & Pickering, A. D. (1993) The relationship between Gray's and Eysenck's personality spaces. Personality and Individual Differences 15:297305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1991) Eysenck Personality Scales (EPS Adult). Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Gray, J. A. & McNaughton, N. (2000) The neuropsychology of anxiety: An enquiry into the functions of the septohippocampal system, 2nd edition.Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McNaughton, N. & Corr, P. J. (2004) A two-dimensional neuropsychology of defense: Fear/anxiety and defensive distance. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 28:285305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNaughton, N. & Corr, P. J. (2008) The neuropsychology of fear and anxiety: A foundation for Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. In: The reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality, ed. Corr, P. J., pp. 4494. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panksepp, J. (1971) Aggression elicited by electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus in albino rats. Physiology and Behavior 6:321–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perkins, A. M. & Corr, P. J. (2006) Reactions to threat and personality: Psychometric differentiation of intensity and direction dimensions of human defensive behavior. Behavioural Brain Research 169:2128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., McClearn, G. E. & McGuffin, P. (2001) Behavioral genetics, 4th edition. Worth.Google Scholar
Watson, J. B. (1919) Psychology from the standpoint of a behaviorist. Lippincott.CrossRefGoogle Scholar