Hi there! Although we could not identify any published studies that tested methods for reducing anger bias specifically in maltreated youths, several studies have examined strategies for altering emotional-response tendencies in other populations, which are groupable into “topdown” and “bottom-up” approaches. We have a problem about how to choose between these two approaches, and therefore wonder if anyone happens to know more about them and could give us some advice?

My pleasure.

I see. Thanks.

Top-down cognitive approaches assume that changing deliberative (and controllable) conscious thought processes can help prevent problematic behavior. Thus, for example, role-playing, modeling, and behavioral rehearsal techniques (e.g., “think before acting”) have been used to reduce tendencies toward interpreting others’ intentions as hostile among youths with disruptive behavior disorders. These have been used, for example, to correct for deficits in fear recognition that may underlie reduced empathy and risk for conduct problems among youths with callous-unemotional traits. Anger bias, however, may largely operate automatically— affording relatively little opportunity for top-down cognitive control or conscious effort. If so, intervention strategies that employ top-down approaches are unlikely to alter anger bias. Instead, strategies that target automatic, underlying emotion recognition tendencies, that is, bottom-up approaches, may maximize aggression prevention. Indeed, studies testing bottom-up intervention approaches show promise for changing emotion recognition biases and reducing behavioral problems in a range of populations, some of which are like maltreated youths.