TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Are target-shooters more aggressive than the general population?
JO  - Aggressive behavior
A1  - Erle, Thorsten M.
A1  - Barth, Niklas
A1  - Kälke, Friederike
A1  - Duttler, Gabriel
A1  - Lange, Harald
A1  - Petko, Andreas
A1  - Topolinski, Sascha
SP  - 3
EP  - 13
VL  - 43
IS  - 1
N2  - Although psychological research shows that guns are aggressive cues, proponents of liberal gun control argue that people rather than guns are to blame for gun-related violence. For instance, athletic target-shooters might classify guns as athletic rather than aggressive stimuli and thus should not be more aggressive than the general population. The present work investigated aggression and emotion-regulation in target-shooters. A longitudinal study found that initial self-reported aggression in target-shooters was higher than in the general population and further increased over 1 year. Additionally, the sample exhibited deficient emotion-regulation strategies, and this was related to self-reported aggression. In contrast, their implicit self-construct became more peaceful over time but was unrelated to all other measures. Two further cross-sectional experiments explored the causal impact of athletic target-shooting and other athletic activities (shooting a basketball) on aggression. Target-shooters and basketball players were tested before and after their regular team practice and aggressive thoughts and feelings were measured. Target-shooting but not basketball practice activated aggressive and anxiety-related thought more strongly than positive thought. Future research avenues, implications for the indirect measurement of aggression, and possible interventions to decrease aggression in target-shooters are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 9999:1-11, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.<br><br>© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0096-140X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ab.21657
ID  - ref1
ER  -