Can Emotion Regulation Affect Aggressive Responses? A Study on the Ukrainian–Russian Conflict in a Non-Directly Exposed Sample

Clarissa Cricenti, Emanuela Mari, Benedetta Barchielli, Alessandro Quaglieri, Jessica Burrai, Alessandra Pizzo, Ivan D’Alessio, Anna Maria Giannini, Stefano Ferracuti and Giulia Lausi
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Clarissa Cricenti: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Emanuela Mari: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Benedetta Barchielli: Department of Dynamic, Clinical Psychology and Health, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Quaglieri: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Jessica Burrai: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Alessandra Pizzo: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Ivan D’Alessio: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Anna Maria Giannini: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Stefano Ferracuti: Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Giulia Lausi: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: On 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade neighbouring Ukraine; a typical trend during the war is considering events in a one-sided way, emphasising the exclusive contribution of one opponent over the other for the outbreak of war. War may trigger the experience of emotions, such as anger, shame, and disgust. The present study reproduces previous studies on the influence of emotional regulation in support of aggressive reactions (AR) in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. A questionnaire referring to the Russian–Ukrainian conflict has been implemented and spread in the Italian territory. A multiple moderated mediation model was proposed to evaluate the effect of emotional cognitive reappraisal on the propensity for AR, including conflict-related emotions (anger, shame, disgust) as mediators and political alignment and the appraisal of one’s own emotions subscale of the brief emotional intelligence scale as moderators. The results show that cognitive reappraisal of emotions has a negative effect on AR; moreover, recognising and regulating emotions decreases anger, while taking sides with Ukraine or not siding seems to have an effect on AR depending on the emotion felt (anger or shame). The results are discussed according to the current literature on the topic, highlighting the practical implications and limits of the research.

Keywords: emotions; emotional intelligence; intergroup conflict; moderated mediation; outgroup; ingroup (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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