Dodge, Kenneth A.: Aggression and a Hostile Attribution Style

Why is it that when some people get bumped in a hallway they interpret it benignly—that is, “the individual bumped into me by accident”—but other people are convinced that the person bumped into them on purpose and respond with aggression? Kenneth A. Dodge, a pioneer in the research on aggression, argues that the reason why some individuals are more aggressive than others depends on whether they make benign or hostile attributions to potentially provocative behavior. People who are aggressive tend to make hostile attributions, whereas those who are less aggressive make benign attributions to potentially threatening behaviors. In short, developing a hostile attribution style is a major cause of delinquent behavior.

Notably, in his earlier research Dodge and his colleagues argued that children develop a hostile attribution style because of early negative socialization experiences. However, in his later work, Dodge argues that aggressive behavior and hostile attributions are inherent universal human characteristics. He assumes that individuals are innately on-guard against potentially threatening behavior, and that this is an evolved characteristic that has been favorably selected across generations. Thus, Dodge (2008, p. 134) contends that “humans are inherently born ready to learn to associate a negative” personal experience (i.e., a behavior that is goal thwarting, restraining, or conflicting) as a behavior that is threatening. He further suggests that they represent it as an attribution of hostile intent, and they naturally respond with aggression.

The question then becomes why are some people more aggressive than others if we are all born to react to negative personal experiences with aggression? In his article “On the Meaning of Meaning When Being Mean: Commentary on Berkowitz's ‘On the Consideration of Automatic as well as Controlled Psychological Processes in Aggression,’” Dodge argues that the key is individual differences in the capacity to infer benign intent. Children who learn to attribute behaviors that are provocative to a benign intent will not interpret negative experiences as threatening behaviors that demand an aggressive response. Thus, a fundamental cause of aggression—violence—is the failure of children to make benign attributions. It is these children who develop a hostile attribution bias style.

For Dodge, the failure to develop the capacity to attribute behavior to a benign intent has potentially lifelong consequences. The development of a hostile attribution style takes on a trait-like significance. It becomes an enduring personality predisposition that generalizes across varied situations and can manifest itself across the life span. Thus, children who develop a hostile attribution style may become chronic offenders with a diminished likelihood of aging out of crime.