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The voodoo doll task: Introducing and validating a novel method for studying aggressive inclinations
Author(s) -
DeWall C. Nathan,
Finkel Eli J.,
Lambert Nathaniel M.,
Slotter Erica B.,
Bodenhausen Galen V.,
Pond Richard S.,
Renzetti Claire M.,
Fincham Frank D.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/ab.21496
Subject(s) - aggression , harm , psychology , construct (python library) , personality , task (project management) , social psychology , trait , convergent validity , similarity (geometry) , construct validity , clinical psychology , psychometrics , computer science , artificial intelligence , management , internal consistency , economics , image (mathematics) , programming language
Aggression pervades modern life. To understand the root causes of aggression, researchers have developed several methods to assess aggressive inclinations. The current article introduces a new behavioral method—the voodoo doll task (VDT)—that offers a reliable and valid trait and state measure of aggressive inclinations across settings and relationship contexts. Drawing on theory and research on the law of similarity and magical beliefs (Rozin, Millman, & Nemeroff [1986], Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 50, 703−712), we propose that people transfer characteristics of a person onto a voodoo doll representing that person. As a result, causing harm to a voodoo doll by stabbing it with pins may have important psychological similarities to causing actual harm to the person the voodoo doll represents. Nine methodologically diverse studies (total N = 1,376) showed that the VDT had strong reliability, construct validity, and convergent validity. Discussion centers on the importance of magical beliefs in understanding the causes of aggressive inclinations. Aggr. Behav. 39:419–439, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.