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According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is...
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Correspondence bias, also referred to as the fundamental attribution error, describes the tendency to attribute another person’s behavior to internal characteristics rather than situational influences. This cognitive bias leads individuals to overlook external factors that may be influencing actions, thereby fostering potentially inaccurate assessments of others’ intentions and dispositions.Empirical Evidence for Correspondence BiasResearch has consistently demonstrated the...
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Correspondent inference theory, proposed by Jones and Davis in 1965, seeks to explain how individuals infer stable personality traits from observed behaviors. It suggests that people attribute actions to underlying dispositions rather than external circumstances, particularly when the behavior appears intentional and socially significant.Voluntary Behavior and Dispositional AttributionAccording to this theory, individuals are more likely to attribute behavior to personal traits when it appears...
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Hostile attributional bias and aggressive behavior in global context.

Kenneth A Dodge1, Patrick S Malone2, Jennifer E Lansford2

  • 1Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; dodge@duke.edu.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|July 15, 2015
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Summary

Children who perceive hostile intent are more likely to exhibit reactive aggression. This hostile attributional bias helps explain individual and group differences in aggressive behavior problems worldwide.

Keywords:
aggressive behaviorcultural differenceshostile attributioninterpersonal conflictsocial cognition

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cross-Cultural Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Reactive aggression in children is a significant concern.
  • Understanding the psychological mechanisms behind aggression is crucial for intervention.
  • Previous research suggests cognitive biases may play a role in aggressive behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test a model where hostile attributional bias explains individual differences in reactive aggression.
  • To investigate if this bias contributes to group differences in chronic aggressive behavior problems.
  • To examine this mechanism across diverse cultural contexts.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 1,299 children (ages 8.3+), across 12 groups in 9 countries over 4 years.
  • Children rated intent (hostile/benign) and predicted responses (aggression/nonaggression) to ambiguous vignettes.
  • Mothers and children independently rated chronic aggressive behavior problems.

Main Results:

  • In all groups, attributing hostile intent predicted reactive aggression.
  • Hostile attributional bias scores predicted higher chronic aggressive behavior problems, controlling for prior aggression.
  • Group differences in hostile attributional bias statistically explained group differences in chronic aggression.

Conclusions:

  • Hostile attributional bias is a key psychological mechanism linking provocation to reactive aggression in children.
  • This bias contributes to both individual and global group differences in aggressive behavior.
  • Findings suggest interventions targeting hostile attributional bias may reduce aggressive behavior.