The voodoo doll task: Introducing and validating a novel method for studying aggressive inclinations. Issue 6 (22nd July 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: DeWall, C. Nathan; Finkel, Eli J.; Lambert, Nathaniel M.; Slotter, Erica B.; Bodenhausen, Galen V.; Pond, Richard S.; Renzetti, Claire M.; Fincham, Frank D.
• Is Part Of: Aggressive behavior. Volume 39:Issue 6(2013)
• Page Start: 419
• Page End: 439
• Publication Date: 2013-07-22
• Subjects: Aggressiveness -- Periodicals; Violence -- Periodicals; Psychology, Experimental -- Periodicals; Agressivité -- Périodiques; Agressivité chez les animaux -- Periodiques; 152.232
• DOI: 10.1002/ab.21496
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0096-140X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="ab21496-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <p>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 <italic>voodoo doll task</italic> (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, &amp; Nemeroff [1986], <italic>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</italic>, 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 <italic>N</italic> = 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.</p> </sec> </abstract>