Attributions of aggressive and nonagressive African-American male early adolescents: A study of construct accessibility.

Abstract

This study proposed that aggressive and nonaggressive children might differ in the readiness with which biased causal beliefs are accessed from memory and used as guides to interpersonal judgment. Aggressive and nonaggressive African-American male early adolescents were randomly assigned to a condition that primed the perception of negative outcomes as intentionally caused or unintentionally caused or to a no-priming control condition. Participants then read a description of hypothetical peer provocation, and they made inferences about the peer's intent, the amount of blame and anger, and the likelihood of aggressive retaliation. In the unintentional and control conditions, aggressives made more extreme judgments than nonaggressives. In the intentional priming condition, the judgments of aggressives and nonaggressives were equally extreme