Why narcissists are more likely to be aggressive? The role of hostile attribution bias.

Narcissism is commonly associated with aggressiveness, but the underlying mechanisms of this relationship are still not yet fully understood. Based on previous research showing that narcissists are suspicious, the present research investigated whether hostile attribution of intent could explain the relationship between narcissism and aggression. In Study 1, participants (N = 347) completed a self-report measure of grandiose narcissism (Narcissistic Personality Inventory) and a measure of hostile attribution bias (Social Information Processing-Attribution Emotion Questionnaire). Analyses revealed that narcissism was a strong predictor of hostile attribution bias, angry feelings, and aggressive reactions. Moreover, hostile attribution bias appeared to mediate the relation between narcissism and aggressive reactions. Study 2 (N = 130) replicated the findings of Study 1 using a measure of vulnerable narcissism (Hypersensitive narcissism scale). In addition, perspective taking was manipulated in Study 2 and the results showed that participants in the high perspective-taking condition (vs. low perspective taking) were less likely to make hostile attributions. These findings suggest that hostile attribution of intent is particularly relevant to understand narcissistic aggression. (170 words).

The effect of anger on intentionality bias.

More than a decade of research on emotions has demonstrated the role of affect in social judgments. Emotions influence the way individuals make inferences about others' behavior. Building on these previous findings, the present research investigates the effects of anger and sadness on the attribution of intentionality. In Experiment 1, angry, sad, or neutral participants read a series of sentences describing simple actions and had to indicate whether the actions were done intentionally or accidentally. Results showed that anger significantly predicted the proportion of intentional judgment when participants were asked to interpret ambiguous sentences. In Experiment 2, the effect of anger on intentionality was replicated. Angry participants endorsed more intentional explanations than neutral participants. This finding helps explain how anger increases the inclination to make hostile inferences.

Of guns and snakes: testing a modern threat superiority effect.

Previous studies suggest that ancient (i.e. evolutionary-based) threats capture attention because human beings possess an inborn module shaped by evolution and dedicated to their detection. An alternative account proposes that a key feature predicting whether a stimulus will capture attention is its relevance rather than its ontology (i.e. phylogenetic or ontogenetic threat). Within this framework, the present research deals with the attentional capture by threats commonly encountered in our urban environment. In two experiments, we investigate the attentional capture by modern threats (i.e. weapons). In Experiment 1, participants responded to a target preceded by a cue, which was a weapon or a non-threatening stimulus. We found a larger cuing effect (faster reaction times to valid vs. invalid trials) with weapons as compared with non-threatening cues. In Experiment 2, modern (e.g. weapons) and ancient threats (e.g. snakes) were pitted against one another as cues to determine which ones preferentially capture attention. Crucially, participants were faster to detect a target preceded by a modern as opposed to an ancient threat, providing initial evidence for a superiority of modern threat. Overall, the present findings appear more consistent with a relevance-based explanation rather than an evolutionary-based explanation of threat detection.

'Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder': people who think they are drunk also think they are attractive.

This research examines the role of alcohol consumption on self-perceived attractiveness. Study 1, carried out in a barroom (N= 19), showed that the more alcoholic drinks customers consumed, the more attractive they thought they were. In Study 2, 94 non-student participants in a bogus taste-test study were given either an alcoholic beverage (target BAL [blood alcohol level]= 0.10 g/100 ml) or a non-alcoholic beverage, with half of each group believing they had consumed alcohol and half believing they had not (balanced placebo design). After consuming beverages, they delivered a speech and rated how attractive, bright, original, and funny they thought they were. The speeches were videotaped and rated by 22 independent judges. Results showed that participants who thought they had consumed alcohol gave themselves more positive self-evaluations. However, ratings from independent judges showed that this boost in self-evaluation was unrelated to actual performance.

The disguise of sobriety: unveiled by alcohol in persons with an aggressive personality.

This investigation examined the factor structure of 8 well-validated self-report measures that assess traits that fall under the rubric of an "aggressive personality" and then determined how those factor(s) moderated the association between alcohol intoxication and aggression. Participants were 518 (252 men and 266 women) healthy social drinkers between 21 and 35 years of age. Following the consumption of an alcoholic or a placebo beverage, participants were tested on a laboratory aggression paradigm in which electric shocks were received from, and administered to, a fictitious opponent. Aggression was operationalized as the shock intensities and durations administered to the opponent. Results demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure for the aggressive personality traits, which were then combined into a latent variable. The aggressive personality variable moderated the alcohol-aggression relation. Specifically, alcohol was significantly more likely to increase aggression in persons with higher, compared with lower, aggressive personality scores.

The role of alcohol consumption in female victimization: findings from a French representative sample.

Alcohol is frequently related to interpersonal aggression, but information regarding the role of alcohol consumption by victims of severe aggression is however lacking. In order to better understand the dynamic of victimization, we investigated contextual, facilitator, and psychological impact variables related to victimization in a French sample composed of 1,033 females aged 18-74 years. The participants were recruited using quota sampling methodology, and responses were measured using Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewer. A logistic regression was conducted using a backward elimination procedure to identify the significant predictors of blows and wounds suffered in the past 24 months. The results indicated that victims, relative to nonvictims, did binge drink significantly more often, had a higher aggression trait, and had experienced more social hardships in the past. The study's limitations are noted.

"There is no such thing as an accident," especially when people are drunk.

The intentionality bias is the tendency for people to view the behavior of others as intentional. This study tests the hypothesis that alcohol magnifies the intentionality bias by disrupting effortful cognitive abilities. Using a 2 × 2 balanced placebo design in a natural field experiment disguised as a food-tasting session, participants received either a high dose of alcohol (target BAC = .10%) or no alcohol, with half of each group believing they had or had not consumed alcohol. Participants then read a series of sentences describing simple actions (e.g., "She cut him off in traffic") and indicated whether the actions were done intentionally or accidentally. As expected, intoxicated people interpreted more acts as intentional than did sober people. This finding helps explain why alcohol increases aggression. For example, intoxicated people may interpret a harmless bump in a crowded bar as a provocation.

Automatic effects of alcohol and aggressive cues on aggressive thoughts and behaviors.

Numerous studies have shown that alcohol increases aggression. In this article it is proposed that the link between alcohol and aggression is so strong that mere exposure to alcohol-related cues will automatically activate aggressive thoughts and behaviors. Two experiments tested this automaticity theory of alcohol-related aggression. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to alcohol- or weapon-related primes made faster lexical decisions about aggression-related words than did participants exposed to neutral primes. In Experiment 2, participants exposed to alcohol- or aggression-related subliminal primes were more aggressive toward the experimenter than were participants exposed to neutral subliminal primes. In both experiments, the effects of alcohol-related cues were as strong as the effect of aggression-related cues on aggressive thoughts and behaviors. People do not need to drink a drop of alcohol to become aggressive; exposure to alcohol cues is enough to automatically increase aggression.