About Our Research

Dr. Dahlen's initial research program at the University of Southern Mississippi focused on the assessment and treatment of adults with clinically dysfunctional anger; however, a secondary focus on clinical traffic psychology (i.e., the study of driver personality in motor vehicle accidents and accident-related behavior) soon emerged. For the first few years of the lab, most of our work fell into one of these two areas. While we had been studying overt aggression in a driving context (i.e., aggressive driving), we soon became interested in overt and relational aggression in other contexts. For example, we began to explore the potential impact of relational aggression on college students. Our work on aggression led us to examine a number of personality and individual difference variables, including both normal and "dark personality" traits (e.g., psychopathy, narcissism).

Overt and Relational Aggression/Victimization

Alison Poor
Overt forms of aggressive behavior (i.e., physical and verbal aggression) have received considerable attention in the literature; however, less is known about relational aggression, a form of aggression aimed at harming victims' relationships, reputation, and/or sense of belonging. Much of our recent work has focused on relational aggression and victimization in the peer and/or dating relationships of college students.

Examples of our early work in this area include:
  • Interpersonal jealousy and relational aggression in college students’ romantic relationships
  • The Five Factor model of personality and social anxiety as predictors of relational aggression
  • Parenting style and parental psychological control in relational aggression and prosocial behavior of emerging adults
  • The identification of adverse correlates of relational aggression and victimization among college students
  • Relational aggression and dating violence in college students' romantic relationships
We have recently started to explore electronic aggression (also known as cyber aggression when it occurs in adults and cyber bullying when it occurs in children) and expect to continue this line of work, as our initial findings have been encouraging.

While much of our work has focused on the aggressors, we are beginning a series of studies which will examine peer victimization among college students. Not only is peer victimization a predictor of aggression, but it has a number of important social, emotional, and academic correlates. By improving our understanding of these relationships, we hope to develop programs to prevent peer victimization and reduce its impact.

Dysfunctional Anger

Anger is a common emotion that can become problematic when it is experienced too intensely, too frequently, or when it is expressed in destructive ways. Dysfunctional anger is associated with a number of adverse health-related problems (e.g., coronary heart disease, hypertension, reduced social support, domestic violence, occupational burnout, substance misuse). Although it is becoming more common for people to seek help for problem anger, many clinicians are unprepared when it comes to working with angry clients. In part, this is likely due to the paucity of research on anger as compared with emotional problems (e.g., depression or anxiety). This can pose a challenge, but it also means that research is needed to advance our understanding of anger and expand what we know about the prevention and treatment of anger problems.

Examples of our early work on anger include:
  • The identification of individuals at risk for developing problems with anger and the development of prevention and early intervention strategies
  • Assessing attitudes toward seeking help for anger problems and overcoming barriers to effective care
  • Developing and evaluating innovative approaches to anger management
  • Investigating the psychosocial costs of problem anger
Some of our more recent work in this area has focused on the role of anger rumination in relational aggression, and additional work in this area is planned.

Dark Personality Traits

Savannah Merold thesis proposal
Although we have long been interested in using broad models of normal personality (e.g., the Five Factor model) in our research, we have become increasingly interested in dark personalty traits over the last few years. The starting point for this work has been the Dark Triad (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism).

Examples of our early work on dark personality traits include:
  • Dark personality traits in cyber aggression among college students
  • The HEXACO model of personality and Dark Triad in relational aggression
  • Vulnerable narcissism and difficulties in emotion regulation in self-injurious behavior and self-criticism
  • Psychopathic traits as a moderator of the relationship between social intelligence and relational aggression
We have found these constructs to be useful in advancing our understanding of aggressive and other anti-social behaviors and plan continue research in this area. We are also planning to incorporate additional dark personality variables in some upcoming projects.
Anger and Personality Lab
The lab is directed by Dr. Eric R. Dahlen, and the content of this website represents his views (see disclaimer). Graduate students in Counseling Psychology and undergraduate Psychology majors at the University of Southern Mississippi study overt and relational aggression/victimization, dysfunctional anger, college student mental health, and related areas.