Hostile Attribution Bias as a Mediator of the Relationships of Psychopathy and Narcissism With Aggression

Hostile attribution bias (HAB), the tendency to perceive hostility in ambiguous situations, has been linked to aggressive outcomes, such as reactive aggression. HAB has been connected to personality types involving hostile beliefs and reactive aggression, including narcissism and psychopathy. Specifically, secondary psychopathy is associated with HAB and reactive aggression. Despite research and theory connecting these constructs, few studies have examined if HAB mediates the relationships among psychopathy, narcissism, and aggression. The current study explores this possible mediation in an urban college sample. Narcissism was associated with aggression but not hostile aggression or HAB. Reactive aggression and HAB were both associated with psychopathy, but there were no mediation relationships. The associations with aggression may be, therefore, due to underlying traits of secondary psychopathy rather than the hostile attributions to which the traits contribute; consequently, treatments focused on reducing aggressive responses by correcting interpretations of social situations may not be successful.