Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping

Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping

People can go to great lengths to protect their self-image and present themselves in ways that they want others to see them. Sociologist Erving Goffman presented the idea that a person is like an actor on a stage. Calling his theory dramaturgy, Goffman believed that we use “impression management” to present ourselves to others as we hope to be perceived. Each situation is a new scene, and individuals perform different roles depending on who is present (Goffman, 1959). Think about...

Regression Toward the Mean

Regression Toward the Mean

Regression toward the mean (“RTM”) is a phenomenon in which extremely high or low values—for example, and individual’s blood pressure at a particular moment—appear closer to a group’s average upon remeasuring. Although this statistical peculiarity is the result of random error and chance, it has been problematic across various medical, scientific, financial and psychological applications. In particular, RTM, if not taken into account, can interfere when...

Self-Report Tests of Personality

Self-Report Tests of Personality

Self-report inventories are objective personality assessments that use multiple-choice items or numbered scales, typically ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). They are often called Likert scales after Rensis Likert. These inventories are widely used due to their ease of administration and cost-effectiveness. One of the most prominent examples is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), initially developed in the 1940s to assess abnormal personality traits.

Aggression

Aggression

Humans engage in aggression when they seek to cause harm or pain to another person. Aggression takes two forms depending on one’s motives: hostile or instrumental. Hostile aggression is motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain; a fight in a bar with a stranger is an example of hostile aggression. In contrast, instrumental aggression is motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain (Berkowitz, 1993); a contract killer who murders for...

Self-Discrepancy Theory

Self-Discrepancy Theory

One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.

Trait and State Self-Esteem

Trait and State Self-Esteem

The term self-esteem is often used generically, to refer to how people feel about themselves. However, according to research, there are three distinct constructs that should not be used interchangeably (Brown & Marshall, 2006).

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Psychopathy facets and suicide risk among violently injured adults.

Frontiers in psychiatry·2026

Same author

Interpersonal threat reactivity differentiates reactive and proactive aggression.

Physiology & behavior·2026

Same author

History of Child Maltreatment and Suicide Risk Among Individuals Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence: Examining the Role of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms.

Psychological reports·2026

Same author

Impact VR: Building Socioemotional Resilience in Youth with Conduct Disorder.

Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research·2026

Same author

Exploring the Association Between Suicidality and Firearm Violence Among Injured Adults.

Psychological reports·2025

Same author

Victims and Violence: Childhood Maltreatment, Neighborhood Safety Concerns, and Firearm-Involved Violence in Violently Injured Patients.

Journal of interpersonal violence·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 24, 2025

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

Published on: February 20, 2019

Clarifying the relationship between trait aggression and self-control using random item slope regression.

Samuel J West^1,2, Nicholas D Thomson²

¹Department of Psychology, Virginia State University, Petersburg, Virginia, USA.

Journal of Personality

|June 14, 2024

Summary

Conflicting findings on self-control and aggression may stem from unaccounted random item slopes. Accounting for these slopes reveals a more complex, sometimes positive, relationship between trait aggression and self-control.

Keywords:

aggression impulsivity personality random item slope regression self‐control

More Related Videos

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Published on: August 29, 2016

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

Published on: April 28, 2022

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 24, 2025

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

Published on: February 20, 2019

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Published on: August 29, 2016

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

Published on: April 28, 2022

Area of Science:

Psychology
Quantitative Psychology

Background:

Previous research often shows a negative association between self-control and aggression.
Recent literature suggests a more complex, potentially positive, relationship.
Conflicting results may arise from statistical artifacts in measurement models.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the hypothesis that self-control shares random item slopes with trait aggression facets.
To determine if unaccounted random item slopes contribute to Type I errors in aggression-self-control research.

Main Methods:

Utilized random item slope regression analysis.
Employed the Buss-Perry Questionnaire for trait aggression.
Used the Brief Self-Control Scale for self-control assessment.
Sample size (N=1386).

Main Results:

Significant shared random item slopes were found between trait aggression facets and self-control.
Many of these shared slopes were positive, contradicting simpler negative associations.
Models ignoring random slopes exhibited Type I error inflation.

Conclusions:

Shared random item slopes may explain inconsistencies in the aggression-self-control literature.
Researchers should consider testing for random item slopes when examining self-control and aggression.