Trait aggression and its impact on memory for violent information

Abstract

I investigated whether an individual difference, specifically trait aggression, affects how violent information is remembered. My main hypothesis was that participants with higher trait aggression would better remember details of violence and be more accurate in identifying the perpetrators of violent actions than those with lower scores, while memory for non-violent events would not differ based on trait aggression. To test this, I used an eyewitness memory paradigm wherein participants watched a violent or non-violent video and indicated how aggressive they perceived the content and the person who committed the violent/non-violent act to be. Memory for the videos was measured with recall and recognition questions for the people in the videos. During the delay between the video and the lineups, participants completed the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992). Next, participants completed a target-present or target-absent lineup for each of the two individuals from the video. Contrary to my hypothesis, increased trait aggression was not associated with increased memory for violent events, though it was associated with biased perceptions. Participants high in trait aggression perceived more aggression in non-violent videos and less aggression in violent ones than participants low in trait aggression. An implication of this research is that if an eyewitness perceives relatively neutral information as aggressive, this could affect how administrators of justice perceive the suspect, in turn potentially affecting investigations and subsequent sentencing.