AlMoghrabi N, et al. – This research scrutinized the impacts of a novel cognitive bias modification paradigm (CBM–I) designed to target interpretations related to aggressive behavior. The current study provided evidence that this novel CBM–I paradigm can be used to modify interpretations, and suggests that these interpretations are associated with mood and aggressive behavior.

Methods

• For this study, members aged 18–33 years old were randomly assigned to either a single session of positive training (n = 40) aimed at increasing prosocial interpretations or negative training (n = 40) aimed at increasing hostile interpretations.

Results

• According to the findings obtained, the positive training resulted in an increase in prosocial interpretations while the negative training seemed to have no impact on interpretations.
• A positive change in interpretations was associated with lower anger and verbal aggression scores after the training in the positive condition.
• In this condition, members also reported an increase in happiness.
• In the negative training no such impacts were observed.
• The better participants performed on the negative training, the more their interpretations were changed in a negative direction and the more aggression they demonstrated on the behavioral aggression task.