Where does provocation collide?

In the criminal law, provocation is conduct, historically by the victim, that causes a defendant to lose self-control and kill, and that, where recognised, can reduce murder to manslaughter. Ashworth's 1976 article The doctrine of provocation examines the doctrine's rationale and limits. The referent is a legal category of partial excuse turning on loss of self-control and the reasonableness of the reaction, and it is a different construct from a clinical test or an aggression stimulus, sharing only the word.[1]

Unit

Whether the conduct and loss of self-control meet the legal threshold for mitigation

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Judged against legal tests of a loss of self-control and whether an ordinary person might have reacted similarly

In clinical medicine, a provocation (or challenge) test deliberately applies a controlled stimulus (such as inhaled histamine or methacholine, exercise, or an allergen) to elicit and measure a latent abnormal response for diagnosis, as when airway hyper-responsiveness is unmasked. Cockcroft and colleagues' 1977 method for bronchial reactivity to inhaled histamine is a standard example. The referent is a diagnostic procedure that provokes a measurable physiological reaction, unrelated to a legal excuse or a psychological instigator beyond the shared idea of calling forth a response.[2]

Unit

The dose or stimulus intensity producing a defined response (e.g., a provocative concentration)

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Quantified by the stimulus level that triggers a set change, such as the concentration causing a given fall in airway function

In social psychology, provocation is an aversive interpersonal act (an insult, attack, or thwarting) that instigates aggression in the person who receives it. Berkowitz's 1989 reformulation of the frustration–aggression hypothesis treats such aversive events as triggers of aggressive inclinations. The referent is an eliciting social stimulus studied as a cause of aggressive behaviour, a different construct from a diagnostic test or a legal defence, joined to them only by the shared word.[3]

Unit

The intensity of the aversive instigating act

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Manipulated experimentally and gauged by the aggressive responses it elicits