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Trait aggressiveness predicting aggressive behavior: The moderating role of meta-cognitive certainty
David Santos1, Pablo Briñol2, Richard E Petty3
1IE School of Human Sciences and Technology, IE University, Madrid, Spain.
Aggressive Behavior
|January 30, 2019
Summary
Certainty in trait aggressiveness moderates predictions of aggressive behavior. Understanding how confidently individuals view their aggressiveness improves forecasting aggressive outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Personality Psychology
Background:
- Individual-difference measures are crucial for predicting aggressive behavior.
- Metacognition research shows self-view certainty enhances predictive accuracy of individual-difference inventories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if assessing certainty in trait aggressiveness improves its predictive power for aggressive outcomes.
- To merge aggression research with metacognitive insights on self-view certainty.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted involving participants reporting trait physical aggressiveness and response certainty.
- Aggressive behavioral intentions and actual aggressive behavior served as dependent measures.
Main Results:
- Certainty significantly moderated the relationship between trait aggressiveness and aggressive outcomes.
- This finding held true for both aggressive behavioral intentions and actual aggressive behavior.
Conclusions:
- Assessing the certainty of trait self-views is valuable for understanding aggression.
- Certainty in personality traits aids in predicting the consistency between personality and behavior.
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