High levels of psychopathic traits increase the risk of transferring reactive aggression to innocent people after provocation: Evidence from an ERP study

Abstract

This study investigated the neuropsychological underpinnings of reactive aggression toward innocent people in a student population with different levels of psychopathic traits. While recording event-related potentials, participants (divided into high/low psychopathic [HP/LP] traits groups) competed against two fictitious opponents in a modified Taylor Aggression Paradigm. We found that the HP group compared to the LP group selected more often high-intensity punishment for the second innocent opponent after being provoked by the first opponent. Further, a more negative N2 and a smaller P3 was found in the HP group while punishing the innocents—reflecting a tendency on antisocial-aggressive behavior. Finally, both groups showed a more negative FRN for losing than winning trials when seeing the outcome of the game. Our results suggest that high psychopathic traits increase the risk of transferring provoked aggression to innocent people—offering a psychophysiological perspective for explaining and predicting aggression against the innocents in social interactions.