Violence / Aggression
The Association between Gender, Physiological Reactivity, and Aggressive Behavior
Lynette C. Krick, B.A.
Doctoral Student
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alexander A. Puhalla, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist
Coatesville Virginia Medical Center
Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Kristen Sorgi-Wilson, M.A.
Doctoral Student
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nicole K. Ciesinski, M.A.
Doctoral Student
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Joey C. Cheung, M.A.
Doctoral Student
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
McKenzie Himelein-Wachowiak, B.A.
Doctoral Student
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Michael S. McCloskey, Ph.D.
Director of Clinical Science Training, Professor
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aggression (i.e., actions intended to cause harm to others or objects; Geen & Donnerstein, 1998) is a widespread public health concern leading to serious financial and societal losses (Krug et al., 2002). Though serious acts of violence (e.g., homicide) tend to be more common in men than women (U.S Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2019), controlled research studies on gender differences in aggression have yielded mixed results, with some suggesting greater levels of aggression in women than men (e.g., Archer, 2004; Fahlgren et al., 2020) and others finding no gender differences (Archer & Coyne, 2005; Fahlgren et al., 2021). Thus, there remains a need to identify potential mechanisms that may moderate the relationship between gender and aggression. Physiological reactivity is associated with both self-report and laboratory measures of aggression. For example, increased electrodermal activity (EDA; i.e., skin conductance) is associated with acute aggressive behavior (Lorber, 2004). However, there is limited research with inconsistent findings on how gender and physiological reactivity may interact in the presentation of aggressive behavior (e.g., Murray-Close & Crick, 2007). The present study analyzed the relationship between physiological reactivity and aggressive behavior in response to provocation. Undergraduate students (N = 72) at a large northeastern university completed a laboratory aggression analogue (the Taylor Aggression Paradigm [TAP], Taylor 1967) with concurrent psychophysiological (EDA) activity recording. A hierarchical linear regression on aggressive TAP responses showed no effect of gender or EDA on TAP aggression at step one (ps > .60). However, adding the gender x EDA interaction at step two significantly improved the predictive ability of the model (R2Δ = .107, F = 8.222, p = .006). Specifically, both EDA (β = -.710, t = -2.380, p = .02) and the EDA x gender interaction (β = .805, t = 2.867, p = .006) significantly predicted aggression in the full model. Post-hoc simple slope analyses showed EDA did not predict TAP aggression for men (β = 0.267, t = 1.465, p = .154) but was significantly (negatively) associated with TAP aggression in women (β = -0.391, t = -2.687, p = .010). Thus, for women (but not men), greater skin conductance predicted lower aggression. This finding suggests that although men and women engage in similar levels of aggressive behavior in response to provocation, their aggression is differentially associated with physiological reactivity. Further research is required to assess the extent to which the interplay of gender and physiological reactivity relates to aggressive behavior.