공격성 수준에 따라 나타나는 부정적 정서지각 편향성과 시공간적 표상 능력 연구

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the self-reported aggressiveness level measured by the Korean version of Aggression Questionnaire (K-AQ), and the computerized cognitive tasks (emotion perception task and mental rotation task). Participants were divided into three groups according to their self-reported aggressiveness levels (low-range, middle-range, and high-range), and their performances in the two computerized cognitive tasks were examined. Results demonstrated that in emotion perception task, the low-range K-AQ score group showed a lower bias score toward negative emotion perception compared to middle-range and high-range groups. This suggests that there was an increase in the tendency of participants to show a negative emotional bias to a certain extent with increased level of self-reported aggressiveness, and the level of negative emotional bias seems to be maintained once the aggressiveness level reaches the higher-end of the spectrum. However, there was no significant group difference for the bias score toward positive emotion perception. In mental rotation task, there was a significant group difference in response times, where participants in the middle-range aggression group showed slower response times compared to both low-range and high-range groups. But, there was no group differences in their accuracy rates. This suggests that visuo-spatial representation ability may not be static in nature but it seems to decline to a certain extent in accordance to the aggressiveness level. This exploratory study has examined the negative emotion perception bias and visuo-spatial representation ability in relation to the level of aggression by dividing the aggressiveness level into three levels. The implications of investigating human emotion on a continuous spectrum is discussed.