Hostile Attribution Bias
Yesenia receives an article about educational activities from her daughter’s teacher. Yesenia’s gut reaction is to feel insulted: she assumes the teacher believes she is not doing enough for her daughter.
Yesenia doesn’t read the article. She writes an angry response, assuming that the teacher sent the article to improve her “bad parenting.”
Yesenia’s reaction can be called hostile attribution bias—the tendency to assume that others' actions have a hostile intent, even when those actions are more likely to be neutral or benign.
Why it’s relevant to parent engagement:
Parents, particularly those in low-income families, often have histories of negative experiences with neighbors and institutions intending to help them. As a result, they may be reluctant to trust teachers, social workers, and other authorities. This hesitant response can lead to skepticism, judgment, and a lower likelihood of participating in early learning programs and engaging with materials.
Addressing distrust and judgment can have powerful influences on parents’ receptivity and participation. The most successful parenting programs prioritize efforts to build strong, trusting relationships with participants.
Evidence:
Hostile attribution bias has been linked to aggressive behavior in children, adolescents, and adults.
Among adults, hostile attribution bias has been linked to workplace aggression: employees who perceive more malice in their employers’ or colleagues’ actions are more likely to condone
Attribution biases are also a well-documented factor in marital quality: individuals who are more likely to perceive hostile intent in their spouses’ actions experience more damage from negative relationship events and less satisfaction from positive events.
Hostile attribution bias impacts parenting choices and behaviors. For example, when parents attribute hostile intent to ambiguous situations, they model this reaction for their children, increasing the likelihood that children will emulate it.
Furthermore, hostile attribution bias can lead parents to adopt harsh discipline methods when they attribute hostile intent to normal, age-appropriate behavior. For instance, a mother who is prone to hostile attribution bias may assume that her baby is throwing food to upset her and may respond by shouting at or even hitting the child. In this way, parents’ hostile attribution bias ultimately leads to behavior problems in their children.
At
:
One of’s studies with ParentCorps, a family-centered, school-based intervention, seeks to avoid the potentially negative effects of hostile attribution bias. ParentCorps is an evidence-based program designed to promote school readiness and healthy development in preschoolers, with weekly sessions for parents in which a mental health professional teaches strategies for promoting social, emotional, and behavioral regulation skills.
To counter the possible negative influence of hostile attribution bias, we redesigned parent materials to de-emphasize the aim of improving parenting skills. Instead, parenting materials frame the program’s purpose as helping students succeed, casting parents as essential actors in supporting their children’s development of school readiness skills, with no implied judgment of their parenting skills.
Yesenia receives an article about educational activities from her daughter’s teacher. Yesenia’s gut reaction is to feel insulted: she assumes the teacher believes she is not doing enough for her daughter.
Yesenia doesn’t read the article. She writes an angry response, assuming that the teacher sent the article to improve her “bad parenting.”
Yesenia’s reaction can be called hostile attribution bias—the tendency to assume that others' actions have a hostile intent, even when those actions are more likely to be neutral or benign.
Why it’s relevant to parent engagement:
Parents, particularly those in low-income families, often have histories of negative experiences with neighbors and institutions intending to help them. As a result, they may be reluctant to trust teachers, social workers, and other authorities. This hesitant response can lead to skepticism, judgment, and a lower likelihood of participating in early learning programs and engaging with materials.
1,
Keller, J., & McDade, K. (2000). Attitudes of low-income parents toward seeking help with parenting: Implications for practice. Child Welfare, 79(3), 285-312.
2
Axford, N., Lehtonen, M., Kaoukji, D., Tobin, K., & Berry, V. (2012). Engaging parents in parenting programs: Lessons from research and practice. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(10), 2061-2071.
Addressing distrust and judgment can have powerful influences on parents’ receptivity and participation. The most successful parenting programs prioritize efforts to build strong, trusting relationships with participants.
3
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Parenting matters: Supporting parents of children ages 0-8. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Evidence:
Hostile attribution bias has been linked to aggressive behavior in children, adolescents, and adults.
4,
De Castro, B. O., Veerman, J. W., Koops, W., Bosch, J. D., & Monshouwer, H. J. (2002). Hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior: A meta‐analysis. Child Development, 73(3), 916-934.
5,
Bailey, C. A., & Ostrov, J. M. (2008). Differentiating forms and functions of aggression in emerging adults: Associations with hostile attribution biases and normative beliefs. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37(6), 713-722.
6
Epps, J., & Kendall, P. C. (1995). Hostile attributional bias in adults. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 19(2), 159-178.
Individuals with higher hostile attribution bias, typically measured as the tendency to negatively interpret ambiguous social situations, exhibit higher rates of undesirable behaviors ranging from physical violence to relational aggression.
Among adults, hostile attribution bias has been linked to workplace aggression: employees who perceive more malice in their employers’ or colleagues’ actions are more likely to condone
7
Kennedy, D. B., Homant, R. J., & Homant, M. R. (2004). Perception of injustice as a predictor of support for workplace aggression. Journal of Business and Psychology, 18(3), 323-336.
and engage in
8
Baron, R. A., Neuman, J. H., & Geddes, D. (1999). Social and personal determinants of workplace aggression: Evidence for the impact of perceived injustice and the Type A behavior pattern. Aggressive Behavior, 25(4), 281-296.
aggressive behaviors at work. Moreover, workers with higher hostile attribution bias are less engaged in their daily tasks and more likely to exhibit deviant behavior in response to negative incidents at work.
9,
Lyu, Y., Zhu, H., Zhong, H. J., & Hu, L. (2016). Abusive supervision and customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: The roles of hostile attribution bias and work engagement. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 53, 69-80.
10
Wu, L. Z., Zhang, H., Chiu, R. K., Kwan, H. K., & He, X. (2014). Hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs exacerbate incivility’s effects on interpersonal deviance. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(2), 189-199.
Attribution biases are also a well-documented factor in marital quality: individuals who are more likely to perceive hostile intent in their spouses’ actions experience more damage from negative relationship events and less satisfaction from positive events.
11
Bradbury, T. N., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Attributions in marriage: Review and critique. Psychological Bulletin, 107(1), 3.
Hostile attribution bias impacts parenting choices and behaviors. For example, when parents attribute hostile intent to ambiguous situations, they model this reaction for their children, increasing the likelihood that children will emulate it.
12
MacBrayer, E. K., Milich, R., & Hundley, M. (2003). Attributional biases in aggressive children and their mothers. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112(4), 698.
Furthermore, hostile attribution bias can lead parents to adopt harsh discipline methods when they attribute hostile intent to normal, age-appropriate behavior. For instance, a mother who is prone to hostile attribution bias may assume that her baby is throwing food to upset her and may respond by shouting at or even hitting the child. In this way, parents’ hostile attribution bias ultimately leads to behavior problems in their children.
13
Nix, R. L., Pinderhughes, E. E., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., & McFadyen‐Ketchum, S. A. (1999). The relation between mothers’ hostile attribution tendencies and children’s externalizing behavior problems: The mediating role of mothers’ harsh discipline practices. Child Development, 70(4), 896-909.
At
:
One of
’s studies with ParentCorps, a family-centered, school-based intervention, seeks to avoid the potentially negative effects of hostile attribution bias. ParentCorps is an evidence-based program designed to promote school readiness and healthy development in preschoolers, with weekly sessions for parents in which a mental health professional teaches strategies for promoting social, emotional, and behavioral regulation skills.
To counter the possible negative influence of hostile attribution bias, we redesigned parent materials to de-emphasize the aim of improving parenting skills. Instead, parenting materials frame the program’s purpose as helping students succeed, casting parents as essential actors in supporting their children’s development of school readiness skills, with no implied judgment of their parenting skills.