Neural activity during provocation and aggressive responses in people from different social classes

This study examined neural activity during provocation and aggressive responses among people from different social classes. Participants completed the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to high-class participants, low-class participants behaved more aggressively and exhibited greater activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) during provocation and greater activity in the insula and striatum during aggressive responses. The relationship between social class and aggression was moderated by OFC and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity to provocation; that is, low-class participants behaved more aggressively than high-class participants when OFC/ACC activity was relatively low. However, this difference was not significant when OFC/ACC activity was higher. Our findings suggest that low-class individuals display higher neural sensitivity during social provocation and aggressive responses than high-class individuals. These results promote future research on the relationship between social class and aggression.