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social psychology
You interpret neutral social interactions as deliberate attacks.
A 1980 study found that highly aggressive individuals are significantly more likely to assume others act with harmful intent during ambiguous social interactions.
This is the hostile attribution bias. If someone bumps into you, you assume they were aggressive rather than clumsy. Your baseline expectation of the world dictates how you read the intentions of others.
The motive you assign to others tells the story of your own mindset.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Kenneth Dodge, 1980
- What the check found
- The 1980 study by Kenneth Dodge (Child Development, 51, 162-170) is the foundational research on the hostile attribution bias in children.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.