When Aggression Is Out of Control: From One-Person to Two-Person Neuropsychology

Abstract

From a neuropsychological perspective, impulsive aggression and its treatment are usually conceptualized in most research as a closed executive functioning system, as though the behavior was the product of the person’s cerebral functioning only. However, recent studies in social cognitive neuroscience have emphasized the influence of social factors on cognitive processes and cerebral functioning for the development and maintenance of impulsive aggression. This chapter will review studies that highlight the relevance of initiating a shift of paradigm from a one-person-cerebral functioning model to a social interactive-cerebral functioning model of impulsive aggression. First, the influences of an aversive environment on a child’s cognitive processes and executive functioning will be discussed with the aim of explaining the development of impulsive aggressive behaviors in early childhood. Second, we will review studies that have shown how the link between social information processes and executive/inhibitory functioning serve to maintain behaviors. Finally, strengths and weaknesses of existing inhibitory control strategies will be discussed with the intention of proposing some novel ideas that incorporate a two-person neuropsychological approach.