The psychophysiological influence of self- and situation-focused cognitive reappraisal on aggression

Cognitive reappraisal is often regarded as an effective strategy for regulating anger and aggression, yet it remains unclear whether distinct reappraisal strategies yield differential behavioral, subjective, or physiological effects under provocation. In this experiment, 99 participants were randomly assigned to a situation-focused reappraisal, self-focused reappraisal, or non-reappraisal condition before completing a competitive computer task designed to elicit aggressive behavior. Aggression was assessed via noise-blast settings during the task and a subsequent hot sauce allocation. Cardiac vagal activity, indexed by vagally-mediated heart rate variability, was recorded at rest, during provocation, and during recovery. Contrary to predictions, neither reappraisal strategy reduced aggressive behavior or subjective anger relative to non-reappraisal, and no condition differences emerged in vagal reactivity from rest to task. During recovery, however, the self-focused reappraisal group showed a more favorable vagal recovery profile, reflected by higher recovery-related changes in cardiac vagal activity compared to both other groups. Exploratory analyses further indicated strategy-specific subjective responses: The self-focused group perceived the instruction as more helpful for reducing annoyance. Together, these findings suggest that brief reappraisal instructions may have limited impact on aggressive behavior in dynamic provocation tasks, while distancing-based strategies may selectively support post-conflict physiological recovery. Because the sample consisted of healthy university students from a Western context, the generalizability of the present findings—particularly regarding aggressive behavior and vagal recovery dynamics—may be limited to comparable populations and laboratory-based provocation paradigms.