Implicit aggressive personality: Enhancing threat detection bias and sensitivity in the presence and absence of true threat

Kelly T Scherer, Purdue University

Abstract

The ability to correctly identify a situation as threatening will help not only a policeman or soldier, but also civilians who own guns, not to mention possible offenders or bystanders. Though threat detection concerns are of great importance, neither practitioners nor researchers have a complete understanding of the antecedents of threat detection, specifically, systematic differences in threat detection bias. The present study extended research and practice's understanding of the antecedents to threat detection bias by showing that (1) both implicit and explicit aggression can work interactively with threat context to predict a heightened bias to perceive threats and (2) threat context (holding a threatening vs. a non-threatening object), cognitive load, and the implicit motive to aggress may (interactively) contribute to the prediction of threat detection sensitivity and, more generally, threat detection inaccuracy.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

LeBreton, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Psychology|Personality psychology

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