Considering incentives for aggression

Physical aggression is a major cause of mortality, disability, and economic burden. A majority of serious aggression is committed by a small proportion of adults and children, many of whom have disorders like psychopathy that are characterized by serious, persistent aggression. An extensive literature has identified mechanisms that may cause such people to struggle to inhibit aggression. But relatively little literature has addressed incentives that may drive persistently aggressive people to aggress in the first place. This review considers forms that physical aggression can take, neurocognitive substrates that support them, and incentives that may motivate some people to engage in these forms of aggression. Defensive aggression is motivated by the desire to defend the self or close others from imminent danger, a justifiable motivation that can result in unjustifiable aggression (beyond what the situation warrants) when committed against non-imminent threats, often due to cognitive or emotional biases that distort perceptions of threat. Frustrative aggression is motivated by the anger evoked by discomfort, provocation, or frustration that can be justifiably aimed at eliminating a source of pain. But frustrative aggression can also be motivated by its subjectively pleasurable, mood-regulating qualities or by social dominance goals. Proactive aggression is motivated by the desire to achieve an instrumental goal using aggression, often because punishment and causing others suffering are inadequate deterrents, but sometimes because causing suffering is the goal. Considering these incentives for aggression, including the neurocognitive mechanisms that support them, may help in developing improved interventions and treatments for serious, persistent aggression. • The small proportion of individuals who are persistently aggressive account for most aggression • It is vital to identify incentives for aggression in persistently aggressive adults and children • Defensive, frustrative, and proactive forms of aggression may be driven by distinct incentives • Identifying the neurocognitive basis of these incentives may help develop improved treatments