Explicit and implicit aggressiveness as a predictor of aggressive behavior

Abstract

The present study attempted to examine whether explicit and implicit measures of aggressiveness would predict aggressive behavior and whether the effects would be moderated by provocation. Seventy-one students voluntarily participated in the experiment, with their explicit aggressiveness measured by the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ) and their implicit aggressiveness measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Aggressive behavior was deduced by the levels of unpleasant noises which the participants gave a partner in the evaluation of his/her drawings either in the provocation or non-provocation conditions. The results showed that only IAT was significantly related with the level of unpleasant noises, independently of provocation, suggesting that aggressive behavior was predicted by the implicit measure of aggressiveness but not by the explicit measure of it.