Aggression and inhibition deficits, the role of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity

Impulsivity has often been related to aggressive behavior. One explanation for this relationship is that the inhibition deficits related to impulsivity can lead to aggressive behaviours and, in particular, to anger. In this study we aim to analyze this relationship using a "stop/go" task with 84 undergraduate students. We then relate the results of the task to Dickman's impulsivity questionnaire and Buss & Perry's Aggression questionnaire. The results seem to indicate that inhibition deficits are related specifically to the anger scale and that this relationship is due to the effect of impulsivity. Impulsive subjects also show shorter reaction times and take less time to answer the questionnaires, which could indicate non-reflexive strategies that give more importance to speed than to accuracy. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.