Contexts of urgency may go beyond emotion

IntroductionUrgency has been defined as the tendency towards rash speech and behavior in the context of emotion. Measures of Urgency have been found to have robust predictive power for psychopathologies and problematic behaviors. In the current study, we question whether emotions are unique drivers of urgency, or if emotions are potent exemplars of contexts that lead to rash speech and behavior. The Emotion Specific model and the Broader Contexts model correspond with these two conceptualizations of urgency, and they frame our pre-registered hypotheses.MethodsParticipants from two well-powered samples (n = 600,n = 588) completed 9 modified items from the Urgency and Positive Urgency scales to assess rash responses in each of four contexts – “Upset,” “Excited,” “Tired,” and “Hungry” – and a fifth “In General” set. After data cleaning, we used principal components analysis to construct a unidimensional, 4-item set that was applied to capture impulsive behavior across the five contexts.ResultsWe found that this research tool, called the Contexts of Impulsive Behaviors (CIBS), replicated in the second dataset, and it had adequate internal reliability in both samples. Although the Emotion Specific model was supported by the fact that the Upset context had a greater mean and greater variance than the Tired and Hungry contexts, most results supported the Broader Contexts model. That is, CIBS contexts were highly intercorrelated, and bivariate correlations with psychopathology were not significantly different across contexts. In partial correlations, effects of the Upset and Excited contexts were partially or fully statistically mediated by the Tired and Hungry contexts.DiscussionThese findings suggest that emotions are potent contexts for impulsive behaviors. At the same time, those with high urgency are vulnerable to impulsivity in other contexts, such as fatigue and hunger, that challenge the regulatory functions of the prefrontal cortex. Limitations, future directions, and clinical implications are discussed.