健康与遗传心理学研究室知识库

高水平的特质愤怒与诸如暴力行为、心血管疾病以及有害健康的行为习惯之类的多种不利后果相关联，为了帮助脾气不好的人摆脱或减缓这种脾气带来的不良后果，探索特质愤怒背后的机制就显得非常有实际意义。心理学家发现敌意性解读、愤怒沉酒和高级控制等三种认知过程与特质愤怒息息相关。前两者是导致或加剧愤怒的认知偏差，而高级控制则是有助于愤怒调控的积极因素。大量证据显示，高水平的高级控制机能对应着低水平的特质愤怒。从高级控制的角度来理解特质愤怒符合“积极心理学”运动的宗旨。然而，高级控制机能是一个复杂的结构。不仅人格测验所反映的高级控制本身可以细分为止动控制和启动控制两个维度;人格测验与反应时技术所反映的高级控制也不能混为一谈，它们分别代表着社会情绪控制和执行功能。我们认为，要从高级控制的视角来理解特质愤怒的机制，必须区分高级控制不同子功能的独特作用。

为此，我们开展了三个研究。在研究一中，我们在中国文化背景下验证人格问卷法评估的高级控制与特质愤怒之间的关系;包括验证止动控制和启动控制的双因子结构，并考察两个因子对特质愤怒的独立预测作用;在研究二中，我们在中国文化背景下验证反应时技术评估的高级控制与特质愤怒之间的关系，并分别考察以人格问卷法和反应时技术评估的高级控制对特质愤怒的独立预测作用;在研究三中，我们在研究二的基础上进一步考察两种方式评估的高级控制是否分别通过不同的高级控制子功能(社会情绪控制VS执行功能)来影响个体的特质愤怒水平。

结果发现:(1)自我控制在中国被试中也更加适合用两维结构来描述，即止动控制和启动控制;(2)止动控制和启动控制都可以独立地预测特质愤怒，其中止动控制可以通过“控制外怒”与特质愤怒有关联;而启动控制既可以通过“控制外怒”，也可以通过“控制内怒”与特质愤怒有关联;(3 )两种认知控制(敌意启动的认知控制&敌意信息的注意转移)互相关联，但两者均与社会情绪控制没有关联，也与特质愤怒没有关联。

High levels of trait anger are associated with a variety of adverse consequences such as violence, cardiovascular disease and problematic health behaviors and so on. To help people with bad temper get away from these adverse conditions, it is important to explore the mechanism behind trait anger. Psychologist found that individual differences in 3 cognitive processes jointly contribute to a person's level of trait anger and reactive aggression, including hostile interpretation, ruminative attention, and effortful control. Hostile interpretation causes anger, ruminative attention exasperates anger, and effortful control regulates anger.

Plenty of empirical evidences showed that high levels of effortful control are associated with low levels of trait anger, and revealing the cognitive basis of trait anger from the perspective of effortful control is in accordance with the tenet of the "positive psychology" movement. However, effortful control is a complicate structure. For example, effortful control evaluating by self-report questionnaire an be differentiated as two factors: start control and stop control, and the "control" reflecting by self-report questionnaire is also not as same as the one reflecting by reaction latency techniques. The former indicates socio-affective control, and the latter indicates executive function. Keeping all these in mind, we suggest that it is necessary to differentiate the effects of different "control" on trait anger.

For the purpose mentioned above, we will conduct three studies. In the first study, we will examine the relationship between trait anger and the "control" evaluating by self-report questionnaire in Chinese population, including confirming the two factor model of the self control scale and the unique contribution of the two factors to trait anger. In the second study, we will examine the relationship between trait anger and the "control" evaluating by reaction latency techniques,and differentiates the contributions of "control" evaluating by questionnaire and "control" evaluating by reaction latency techniques to trait anger. And in the third study, we will further examine if "controls" evaluating by different instruments affect persons' level of trait anger through different functions (socio-affective control VS executive function).

The results are as follows: (1)Self control had better be described as a two-factor model in Chinese population, which include a stop control factor and a start control factor; (2) stop control and start control can predict trait anger independently, and the relationship between trait anger and stop control is mediated by "control\out", while the relationship between trait anger and start control is mediated by both "control\out" and "control\in"; (3) "hostility-primed cognitive control" and "deviation from hostile stimuli" are correlated with each other, and both of them are not correlated with socio-affective control and trait anger; The implications of the results are discussed.