Using I³ theory to clarify when dispositional aggressiveness predicts intimate partner violence perpetration.

“Theoretically, the greatest likelihood for IPV would occur when instigation and impellance processes are strong and inhibitory processes are weak, previously described as “perfect storm” conditions (Finkel et al., 2012; Finkel & Eckhardt, 2013).”

“…per se, spouses whose psychological resources are intact rather than depleted tend to behave in relationship-constructive ways (Buck & Neff, 2012; Finkel & Campbell, 2001; Finkel et al., 2012), presum-ablybecausethedepletionleavesthemwithinsufficientabilityormotivationtoinvestintheirrelationship.”

“Whereas Finkel et al. (2009) manipulated (dis)inhibition and instigation, the current study measured an impellor (i.”

“The VDT is a validated task that has been used for measuring aggressive behaviors (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“People high (vs. low) in trait physical aggression show various indicators of relationship instability, including greater IPV perpetration (Finkel et al., 2012), higher blood pressure when provoked (Suls & Wan, 1993), and stronger neural activity in brain regions associated with anger in response…”

“…ratings and ensure these aggressive responses were directed toward the partner, we followed prior assessments of aggression and aggressive motives (Finkel et al., 2012; Lemay, Overall, & Clark, 2012) by also asking participants to report on the degree to which they felt antagonistic and…”

“, to criticize a partner’s drawing) has demonstrated associations between an individual’s own depletion and IPA perpetration (Finkel et al., 2009; Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Self-regulation also reduces aggression toward strangers and romantic partners (Bushman, DeWall, Pond, & Hanus, 2014; Denson, DeWall, & Finkel, 2012; Finkel et al., 2012).”

“To ensure that these behaviors captured aggressive motivations directed toward the partner, we followed prior assessments of relationship aggression (e.g., Finkel et al., 2012; Overall et al., 2016) by gathering ratings of anger toward the partner (‘‘I felt angry at my partner;’’”

“A strong instigation, combined with strong impelling and weak inhibiting factors, can thus create a ‘perfect storm’ that renders the individual susceptible to behaving aggressively (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Finally, the current studies join a growing body of research demonstrating that various psychological processes are not inherently beneficial or harmful; rather, their implications often depend on other intrapersonal perceptions, traits, and motivations (e.g., Baker & McNulty, 2011; Finkel, Campbell, Buffardi, Kumashi…”

“The VDT is a validated task that has been used for measuring harming behaviors (DeWall et al., 2013; Finkel et al., 2012; Slotter et al., 2012).”

“Violence and aggression are closely related to individuals' health outcomes and undesirable behaviors, so that the World Health Organization (WHO) has considered anger and aggression among the 20 main causes of years-life-lost due to disability (YLD).(13,14) Aggression is expressed in various ways such as physical, ve…”

“For example, the I-cubed theory proposes three processes that underlie aggression (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“The GAM's focus on aggressive cognitions has since been criticized as being too narrow (Finkel, 2007; Finkel et al., 2012).”

“In Finkel’s I3 framework, individuals with low self-control are viewed as having weak violenceinhibiting forces (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“This result is in line with aggression theories explaining aggression as a result of inhibition problems (Finkel et al., 2012) and low self-control (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990).”

“understand aggression and intimate partner violence (Finkel et al., 2012; Slotter et al., 2012), but it also can foster greater process-oriented precision at the intersection of evolutionary and relationship science perspectives on relationship processes.”

“To date, the VDT only has been used to assess adults’ aggression against other adults (e.g., Finkel et al., 2012; Slotter et al., 2012).”

“…the I3 Model framework demonstrates that IPV is more likely when instigation and impellance factors are strong and inhibition factors are weak (e.g., Finkel et al., 2012; Slotter & Finkel, 2011), a situation referred to as a “perfect storm” (i.e., the ‘Perfect Storm Theory’; Finkel, 2014, p. 33).”

“Individuals with low state self-control and high dispositional aggression were found to be more likely to engage in IPV (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Second, although I 3 theory provides a general framework to explain aggression, to date it has been more theoretical than empirical (Finkel, 2014; Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Studies using the I3 model have postulated a number of variables that can deplete inhibition including alcohol intoxication, poor self-control, fatigue, and low performance on the Stroop task (Denson et al., 2012; Finkel et al., 2012).”

“…be explained by differences in perceived severity of the offense (indeed, controlling for severity did not alter the findings2), making it less likely that participants with high versus low executive control did experience different levels of the “urge to retaliate” (cf. Finkel et al., 2012).”

“…DeWall, Slotter, Oaten, & Foshee, 2009) and Finkel, Eckhardt, Simpson, and Campbell (2013) have recently outlined the I3 theory of IPA in which dispositional aggression and selfregulation are thought to mediate the relationship between contextual factors and IPA perpetration (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Finally, we examined an interactive prediction that follows from some self-regulation perspectives (e.g., Finkel et al., 2012; Hofmann, Gschwendner, Friese, Wiers, & Schmitt, 2008).”

“Consequently, the likelihood of aggression is highest when instigating and impelling factors are high and inhibiting factors are low (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“So far, it has been used across research settings (i.e., online vs. laboratory) and study contexts, including aggression against refugees (Dyduch-Hazar & Mrozinski, 2020), abusive supervisors (Liang et al., 2018), or romantic partners (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Inhibition plays a crucial role in the display of aggression (Finkel, 2007; Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Contemporary theories of crime and aggression such as the I-cubed theory, situational action theory, the general aggression model, and the general theory of crime all acknowledge the importance of the combined influence of psychological states and situations in creating risk for aggressive and criminal acts (Anderson…”

“The I3 theory (Finkel et al., 2012) outlines inhibition- a facet of the broader construct of self-control- as one of the three processes that underpin aggression.”

“Inhibiting these common urges decreases both inclinations toward physical aggression (Finkel et al., 2012; Study 2) and actual acts of physical aggression in both married (Finkel et al., 2012; Studies 1 and 4) and dating couples (Finkel et al., 2012; Study 3).”

“Trait anger is defined as a broad predisposition to experience anger and/or respond to stressful and distressing situations with anger (Spielberger, 1988) and is a robust correlate of intimate partner violence (Finkel et al., 2012; Shorey et al., 2011; Taft et al., 2010).”

“I-Cubed-Theory (Finkel et al. 2012), for example, argues that three elements predict violent behavior: strong instigation, strong urge to action (impellance), and weak inhibition.”

“In a study using daily diary methods, the presence of an instigator (e.g., provocation) on a given day was most likely to lead to IPA when the partner was high on dispositional aggression and low on a measure of ECF (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“For instance, in laboratory studies, partner provocation consistently predicted aggression toward romantic partners only for participants high on dispositional aggressiveness (DeWall et al., 2011; Finkel et al., 2012).”

“…that have proven useful for bettering our prediction of IPV perpetration and informing targeted interventions for complex risk profiles (e.g., Birkley & Eckhardt, 2015; Finkel & Eckhardt, 2013; Finkel et al., 2012; Halmos, Leone, Parrott, & Eckhardt, 2018; Maldonado, DiLillo, & Hoffman, 2014).”

“Several prior investigations have found empirical support for the predicted two- and three-way Perfect Storm interactions across diverse samples, measurement and assessment techniques, and aggression paradigms (Finkel, 2014; Finkel et al., 2012; Watkins et al., 2015).”

“…(Gilhooly & Fioratou, 2009), reasoning (see DeLoache, Miller, & Pierroutsakos, 1998), and inhibitory control (Brady, Baker, & Miller, 2019; Finkel et al., 2012), predict greater problem-solving ability and thus may determine the need for or benefits of various partner-regulation…”

“According to I3 (I-cubed) theory (Finkel, 2007; Finkel et al., 2012), many of the known risk factors for IPV are elements of three core processes or pathways to violence.”

“In general, I 3 theory is suited to predicting exceptional, catastrophic behaviours, such as intimate partner violence (Finkel et al. , 2012; Slotter et al. , 2012), and not common, everyday behaviours, such as counter-regulatory eating in dieters (Morton, 2014).”

“Inhibitory factors are variables that have been shown to substantially alter the magnitude of the link between known risk factors and IPV perpetration or even eliminate them altogether (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“…theory of crime has been linked to both offending and victimization separately in the context of relationship violence (Chapple and Hope 2003; Finkel et al. 2012, 2009; Gover et al. 2011; Gover, Kaukinen, and Fox 2008; Kerley, Xiaohe, and Sirisunyaluck 2008; Payne, Triplett, and Higgins…”

“Whereas previous studies have found high impellance individuals in high provocation situations are sensitive to person-level inhibitory processes (e.g., self-control, executive function, relationship commitment; Finkel et al., 2012; Slotter et al., 2012; Watkins, DiLillo, Hoffman, & Templin, 2015), this study’s result…”

“…be verbally or physically aggressive during conflicts (Burnette et al., 2014; Denson et al., 2012; Dewall, Baumeister, Stillman, & Gailliot, 2007; Finkel et al., 2012; Finkel, DeWall, Slotter, Oaten, & Foshee, 2009; Finkel & Campbell, 2001) and less likely to forgive others’ transgressions…”

“Recent strides have been made to develop and test theoretical perspectives on IPV (e.g., Cobb, DeWall, Lambert, & Fincham, 2013; Finkel et al., 2012; Slotter et al., 2012).”

“This dimensional approach to PDs was formalized with the addition of the “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders” to Section III of DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), which presents emerging measures and models of psychopathology.”

“In one study, aggression toward an intimate partner was more likely to occur when the perpetrator reported feeling provoked (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“However, in the absence of such hostile views of women, AD may no longer relate to physical IPV perpetration, suggesting that positive (or neutral) views of women may act as a protective or inhibiting factor, in keeping with the I 3 model (Finkel et al., 2012).”

“Gaps in the Literature The prevailing explanation for the link between affect instability and aggression is that it reflects a broader self-regulatory failure to inhibit situationally-induced and transient aversive affective states that then elicit an aggressive response (Denson, Capper, Oaten, Friese, & Schofield, 20…”

“…contribute to a growing literature which is beginning to elucidate how the complex interplay among I3 processes facilitates IPV perpetration (Finkel et al., 2012; Maldonado, DiLillo, & Hoffman, 2015; Slotter et al., 2012) and sheds new light on sexual IPV victimization as a powerful risk…”

“Both the multiple-thresholds model of alcoholrelated aggression (Fals-Stewart, Leonard, & Birchler, 2005; Leonard & Quigley, 2017) and the I3 (I-cubed) model of aggression (Finkel et al., 2012) focus on the balance of instigation and inhibition in the context of provocation.”

“These findings have been replicated using experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal methods, and with dating and married participants (Finkel et al., 2011).”

“According to Finkel’s (2007; Finkel et al. 2012) three-process theoretical framework, IPV is influenced by a combination of distal, situational, relational, and dispositional factors; future investigators could consider further exploring each of these domains in order to identify those factors that…”