Angry rumination and self-regulation 1 Running Head: ANGRY RUMINATION AND SELF-REGULATION Angry Rumination and the Self-Regulation of Aggression

Angry rumination is an emotion regulation mechanism that requires extensive cognitive resources. Resource depletion models of self-regulation posit that self-control is a limited, renewable resource. In this chapter, I review evidence that angry rumination is capable of increasing aggressive behaviour and that this is at least partially due to increased demand on executive control mechanisms. Thus, angry rumination overwhelms self-control mechanisms, which results in aggression even toward innocent targets. Furthermore, alcohol, which is known to reduce self-regulatory capacity, exacerbates the aggression-augmenting effects of angry rumination. This holds true whether angry rumination is experimentally manipulated or examined within the context of individual differences. Individual differences in displaced aggression may be especially informative in this regard because such individuals exhibit nonaggressive, controlled behavior immediately following a provocation, yet ultimately harm innocents due to excessive angry rumination. Additional evidence from social neuroscience demonstrates that brain regions involved in executive control and emotion regulation are recruited during angry rumination, and therefore at risk for depletion.