Humiliation and Aggression:

The proposed research seeks to gain a better understanding of how intense emotions, such as humiliation, contribute to the protracted nature of conflict. By developing greater insight into this phenomenon, we can design a variety of systemic interventions (ranging from policy to education) to help prevent individuals from engaging in violent behavior that may result from experiencing certain types of humiliating events. Humiliation has been shown to be a central factor contributing to the intractability of conflict (Coleman, 2003; Crocker, Hampson & Aall, 2004; Friedman, 2003; Lindner, 2002). However, our knowledge is severely limited regarding the precise role humiliation plays in conflict (Hartling and Luchetta, 1999), especially concerning how different types of humiliation impact individuals ’ emotional and behavioral reactions. The purpose of this research is to determine whether different types of humiliation cause differential emotional and behavioral (i.e., aggressive) reactions in individuals, both immediately after the humiliating experience occurs, as well as in the longer term