The Impact of Moral Emotions Upon Violent and Aggressive Behavior: A Review of the Literature

In recent years, the United States has had to cope with a flood of violence by American adolescents. Research has been conducted in an effort to uncover possible factors and/or reasons leading to youth violence. This review examined several of these experiments and found that many ignored the role moral emotions have upon a person\u27s behavior. Thus, it was the purpose of this review to examine research that explored the role between moral emotions and a person\u27s proneness towards behaving in violent and aggressive ways. Of the research examined, all of the studies indicated a link between one\u27s ability to attribute moral emotions and one\u27s tendency towards violence. It was concluded from the research that having a decreased ability to attribute moral emotions generally led to proneness towards violent and aggressive behavior. Recommendations were made for future research to continue the exploration of the importance moral emotions can have on a person\u27s tendency towards violence