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Angry rumination and hostile attribution bias are important cognitive factors of aggression. Although prior theoretical models of aggression suggest that aggressive cognitive factors may influence each other, there are no studies examining the longitudinal relationship between angry rumination and hostile attribution bias. The present study used cross-lagged structural equation modeling to explore the longitudinal mutual relationship between hostile attribution bias and angry rumination; 941 undergraduate students (38.5% male) completed questionnaires assessing the variables at two time points. The results indicate that hostile attribution bias showed a small but statistically significant effect on angry rumination 6 months later, and angry rumination showed a quite small but marginally significant effect on hostile attribution bias across time. The present study supports the idea that hostile attribution bias influences angry rumination, and argue that the relationship between angry rumination and hostile attribution bias may be mutual. Additionally, the results suggest that there may be a causal relation of different aggression-related cognitive factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election was a big surprise to many, as the majority of polls had predicted the opposite outcome. In this two-stage cross-sectional study, we focus on how Democrats and Republicans reacted to this electoral surprise and how these reactions might have influenced the way they allocated resources to each other in small groups. We find that, before the election, Republicans showed greater in-group favoritism than Democrats, who treated others equally, regardless of their political affiliation. We then show that Democrats experienced the election outcome as an ego shock and, in the week following the election, reported significantly higher levels of negative emotions and lower levels of self-esteem than Republicans. These reactions then predicted how individuals’ decided to allocate resources to others: after the election, Republicans no longer showed in-group favoritism, while Democrats showed out-group derogation. We find these decisions when the tables were turned can be partially explained by differences in participants’ state self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the types of situations that caused Chinese professional and non-professional drivers to become angry and investigated the differences in driving-elicited anger, considering the influences of type A behavior pattern and trait anger between the two groups. The 20-item revised Driving Anger Scale (DAS) was used to assess a sample of 232 drivers (57% professional, 43% non-professional). The non-professional drivers reported significantly higher levels of anger than the professional drivers on the overall Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and the traffic obstructions and discourtesy subscales. In both groups, the preferred driving speeds were positively related to driving anger. Furthermore, drivers with a type A personality exhibited higher overall driving anger scores and higher anger scores in response to traffic obstructions and slow driving than drivers with a type B personality. Trait anger was significantly related to driving anger in both groups. In the non-professional group, type A behavior patterns (TABPs) and time hurry (TH) were positively correlated with anger evoked by slow driving. In the professional group, TABPs, TH and competitive hostility (CH) were positively related to driving anger, and the TABPs exerted an indirect effect on driving anger by mediating the influence of trait anger. Overall, these findings provide a theoretical basis for implementing targeted interventions for driving anger in both professional and non-professional drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hypothesis that anger is related to high energetic arousal (EA), but only at a low level of agreeableness was tested. In the first two studies, the association between trait anger, agreeableness, and EA was explored. In the next two studies, the interactions of agreeableness with constructs conceptually and empirically close to EA, in predicting anger were tested. Study 3 revealed that anger was predicted by a low level of agreeableness and a high level of positive affect. In study 4 task engagement (construct containing an energetic component) was included in the context of cognitive performance. At a high level of agreeableness the association between anger and task engagement was negative, whereas among individuals with low agreeableness this relation was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Shorter telomere length (TL) may signal premature cellular aging and increased risk for disease. While depression and psychosocial stress have been associated with shorter telomeres, other psychological risk factors for cardiovascular disease have received less attention. Purpose: To evaluate the association between TL and psychological risk factors (symptoms of anxiety and depression, hostility and defensiveness traits) for heart disease, and to examine whether chronological age and sex moderate the associations observed. Methods: 132 healthy men and women (Mage = 45.34 years) completed the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory II, The Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale. Relative TL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of total genomic DNA samples. A series of hierarchical linear regressions were performed controlling for pertinent covariates. Results: Shorter TL was observed among individuals high in defensiveness (β = -.221) and depressive symptoms (β = -.213), as well as in those with less hostility (β =.256) and anxiety (β =.220)(all Ps<.05). Psychological variables explained 19% of the variance over and above that explained by covariates (age, sex, exercise, alcohol consumption, systemic inflammation, and 24-hr mean arterial pressure). Age moderated the relation between TL and defensiveness (β =.179, p =.03). Sex did not influence any of the relations. Conclusions: Telomere length is associated with psychological burden though the direction of effect differs depending on the psychological variables under study. Further research is needed to determine the reasons for and implications of these seemingly contradictory findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the current study is to clarify the relationship between social information processing (e.g., visual attention to cues of hostility, hostility attribution bias, and facial expression emotion labeling) and aggressive tendencies. Thirty adults were recruited in the eye-tracking study that measured various components in social information processing. Baseline aggressive tendencies were measured using the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ). Visual attention towards hostile objects was measured as the proportion of eye gaze fixation duration on cues of hostility. Hostility attribution bias was measured with the rating results for emotions of characters in the images. The results show that the eye gaze duration on hostile characters was significantly inversely correlated with the AQ score and less eye contact with an angry face. The eye gaze duration on hostile object was not significantly associated with hostility attribution bias, although hostility attribution bias was significantly positively associated with the AQ score. Our findings suggest that eye gaze fixation time towards non-hostile cues may predict aggressive tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]