The present thesis and series of studies explores the underlying cognitive and neuropsychological processes that underlies propensity for aggressive response in adult men and women, both sober and intoxicated. Previous research demonstrated that poor executive functioning, either pre-existing (idiopathic) or induced by alcohol-intoxication, was associated with heightened aggressive responses. The first study demonstrates that although cognitively impaired when alcohol intoxicated, men with above average pre-alcohol Executive Cognitive Functioning (ECF) do not act aggressively if they are properly motivated to remain non-aggressive, suggesting some ability to use residual executive function. The second study directly compares the aggression-eliciting effects of alcohol in both men and women, an under-investigated issue. Results indicate that aggression levels in the women are not significantly less than those of men, and that alcohol-intoxication is not as predictive a factor in women as in men. The third study, a post-hoc analysis of the second, indicates that like for men, executive function level in women is highly related to propensity for aggressive response, in fact far more predictive than acute alcohol-intoxication. The fourth study was intended to investigate a possible behavioural explanation for the ECF-aggression relationship. Specifically, this study was designed to assess whether the aggression manifested by individuals with poor ECF was rapid or impulsive, i.e. due to a disinhibition process. Contrary to this popular contention, this study demonstrates that when faced with complex, social interactions, low-ECF individuals act aggressively, but only after a somewhat slow period of apparent contemplation. These findings and others conducted by the author are discussed in a speculative model of the ECF-aggression relationship. Means by which to test this model are proposed, as are other theoretical implications of the work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.37899 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Hoaken, Peter Neil Spencer. |
| Contributors | Pihl, R. O. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001844941, proquestno: NQ75641, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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