Hostile attribution bias and aggression in adults - a systematic review

Human aggression is highly prevalent and has a large impact on the lives of victims and society in general. Causes and mechanisms of aggression are manifold. One prominent component of aggression is the tendency to interpret ambiguous behavior of others as hostile, so called Hostile Attribution Bias (HAB). This systematic review investigated the association between HAB and aggression in adults. PsychInfo, Embase, PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched and 25 studies were included. These studies reported small to medium associations between HAB and aggression in adults. The association was present across different population samples, varying from students to forensic psychiatric patients. As most studies were cross-sectional and HAB measurements varied in quality, conclusions and implications for interventions are preliminary. This review provides an overview of existing research on HAB and aggression in adults, and highlights the importance of longitudinal studies and adequate HAB measurements for future research.