Question

As they walk down the hallway, Bob accidentally bumps into Chuck, a well-known neighborhood bully. Chuck immediately becomes aggressive, demanding that Bob tell him what he meant to do when he bumped into him. Chuck's behavior demonstrates the _____ attributional bias.

Answer 1

The correct answer is Hostile

The researchers consistently found that children who exhibit an unfriendly attribution bias (tendency to perceive others unlike hostile intent) are more likely to engage in aggressive behaviors. More specifically, hostile attribution polarization has been associated with reactive aggression, as opposed to proactive aggression, as well as victimization. Whereas proactive aggression is unprovoked and goal-oriented, reactive aggression is an irritated response, retaliation for some type of perceived provocation. Therefore, children who are victims of aggression may develop peer views as hostile, causing them to be more likely to engage in retaliation, or reactive, aggression.

The survey also indicated that children may develop hostile attribution bias by engaging in aggression in the context of a video game. In a 1998 study, participants played either a very violent or non-violent video game and were then asked to read several hypothetical stories, where it was ambiguous for an intent pair. For example, participants can read about their peers hitting someone on the head with a ball, but it is not clear whether or not the peer did it intentionally or not. Participants then answered questions about their peers' intent. Children who played the violent video game, compared to participants who played the non-violent game, were more likely to say that their peers harmed someone on purpose. This evidence discovered since just playing a violent video game can cause children to develop a short-term hostile attribution bias.