Work

Capturing the Hostile Attribution Bias Through Conditional Reasoning Tasks: The Hostile Reasoning Test as an Indirect Measure of Aggressiveness

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT The hostile attribution bias is considered a central component of aggressiveness. It is thought to be a rather impulsive mechanism which justifies (reactive) aggressive behaviour as logical and reasonable. Therefore, reasoning tasks may provide an unobtrusive means to make the hostile attribution bias accessible to measurement. In this manuscript, we developed such a task, the Hostile Reasoning Test (HRT), and assessed its psychometric properties. In three studies, we found that the HRT is reliable, shows convergent and discriminant validity for a male (Study 1, N = 206) and female (Study 3, N = 207) sample, and demonstrates incremental validity beyond self‐reported aggressiveness in predicting reactive aggressive behaviour (Study 2, N = 78). The present results indicate that reasoning tasks such as the HRT are a promising complement to self‐report measures, in particular if the more reactive and impulsive aspects of aggressiveness are of interest.

Source: European Journal of Social Psychology

DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.70124

Authors: Paul Bacher, Manuel Becker, Fabian Hölzenbein, Hannes Krahl, Karl Christoph Klauer, Sarah Teige‐Mocigemba

Institutions: University of Freiburg, Philipps University of Marburg

Language: English

Topic: Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,980

Funder: Baden-Württemberg Stiftung