been rightly concerned. Who we hang out with can influence dis-
ruptive behaviors. We tend to choose friends who are like us,
a process called social selection. Fairly inhibited people with rela-
tively low levels of impulsivity may reinforce each other’s tendency
to think through their choices when things don’t go their way. They
aren’t as inclined to lash out or attack and can come up with
alternatives to deal with frustrations. But adolescents with disposi-
tions toward delinquency, for example, tend to select, and be
selected into, groups of kids who also have a propensity to
delinquency.^34 Once in that group, it tends to increase the like-
lihood of engaging in those behaviors.
Impulsivity and disinhibition make a powerful combina-
tion when people get frustrated. For some sensation-seeking peo-
ple, frustrations can lead to problems with anger and aggression. In
2013, researchers Jeff Joireman, Jonathan Anderson, and Alan
Strathman found that disinhibition and boredom susceptibility
were related to anger, hostility, and physical and verbal
aggression.^35 Sensation-seekers may be less likely to use avoidance
strategies like disengagement or find less risky ways to deal with
frustrations. Sensation-seekers who score high on boredom sus-
ceptibility and disinhibition may also be attracted to situations
where aggression is likely. They may have little concern for the
future consequences of their behavior and are more likely to
become hostile and angry and engage in aggression in those situa-
tions. They also report feeling calmer after fighting. They may not
only be more likely to let an altercation escalate into a fight, but
also sometimes they go hunting for one.
Of all the forms of self-control, perhaps one of the most
important to master has to be the ability to control aggressive
behavior. Even the most mild mannered of us must conjure an
image of running our shopping cart into a fellow shopper who is
wandering aimlessly and slowly as you are trying to make your way
efficiently through the shopping aisles (I call them meanderthals).
Why don’t I ram them with my metal shopping cart? Many reasons,
not the least of which is that the immediate consequences are
pretty easy to figure out and there are much better ways to achieve
your final goal. Acting aggressively is sometimes the first thing
people think to do, but most of the time it’s not the best option,
and many times it’s the worst one. Despite this (too) many people
engage in aggressive acts despite what must seem like obvious
negative consequences.152 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:20:10, subject to the Cambridge