The effect of anger on the hostile inferences of aggressive and nonaggressive people: Specific emotions, cognitive processing, and chronic accessibility

Abstract

The effects of anger, sadness, and happiness on the hostile inferences of aggressive and nonaggressive people were examined. In a cued recall paradigm, anger was associated with more hostile inferences than sadness, happiness, or neutrality in aggressive participants. Anger was not associated with hostile inferences in nonaggressive participants. Measures intended to capture depth of processing were also included. These results, as well as a mediational analysis, suggested that anger affects the hostile inferences of aggressive, but not nonaggressive participants, because people are not sufficiently reflective when angry and thus rely on their chronically accessible explanations. Implications about aggression and the effects of specific emotions on cognitive processing are discussed.