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Aggression and violence research

In our research we dealt with different aspects of the field "aggression and violence".
First, we are interested in the measurement of aggressiveness. The Aggressiveness IAT (implicit association test), for example, is a tool that can be used to indirectly measure how strongly individuals associate the concept of "aggressiveness" with their self-concept. Variants for indirectly measuring aggressiveness are important because they are less susceptible to positive self-representations. We used a latent state-trait approach to examine whether the aggressiveness IAT captures more of a stable personality trait or situational states. Second, we are interested in the emergence of extremist violence. In a comprehensive framework model, we summarized different influencing factors on different levels (Wagner & Lemmer, 2019).

Relevant publications:

  • Lemmer, G., Gollwitzer, M., Schiller, E.-M., Strohmeier, D., Banse, R., & Spiel, C. (2015). On the psychometric properties of the Aggressiveness-IAT for children and adolescents. Aggressive Behavior, 41, 84-95.
  • Wagner, U., & Lemmer, G. (2019). Extremistische Gewalt – ein Sozio-Psycho Modell zur Erklärung, Intervention und Prävention. Praxis der Rechtspsychologie, 29, 5-22.