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The moderating role of aggressiveness in response to campaigns and interventions promoting anti‐violence attitudes
Author(s) -
Cárdaba Miguel A. M.,
Briñol Pablo,
Brändle Gaspar,
RuizSanRomán José A.
Publication year - 2016
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.21643
Subject(s) - psychology , psychological intervention , trait , social psychology , intervention (counseling) , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , poison control , injury prevention , clinical psychology , medicine , medical emergency , psychiatry , computer science , programming language
This research indicates that a critical factor for understanding the success or failure of anti‐violence campaigns is the aggressiveness of the target audience. We propose that person and situation interact in predicting post‐intervention attitudes toward violence, fighting expectations, and intentions to learn how to use real guns. Across two studies conducted in different countries and with different age populations, we found that anti‐violence campaigns were effective, only for those for whom the message was already pro‐attitudinal (low trait aggressiveness). In contrast, for individuals with relatively higher scores in trait aggressiveness, there was no difference in attitudes toward violence between those who received the anti‐violence intervention and those assigned to the control group. In fact, the anti‐violence messages resulted in a boomerang effect, increasing the favorability of attitudes toward violence in one of the studies. Aggr. Behav. 42:471–482, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.