Patterns of readiness for interpersonal aggression: cross-national study on sex difference

摘要: This study was to examine the sex differences in three patterns of readiness for interpersonal aggression in the four following countries: Italy, Poland, Spain, and the USA. Readiness for aggression is a set of psychological processes that regulate aggressive manifestation. Three patterns of readiness are distinguished: emotional-impulsive readiness associated with anger proneness and lack of ability to emotional control (EIR); habitualcognitive readiness based on specific habits, scripts and beliefs about usefulness of aggression (HCR); personality-immanent readiness related to stable need to hurt others as a source of satisfaction (PIR). The data were collected from 1277 high school graduates and students aged 18 to 26 including 574 males and 704 females. The results showed that females regardless of cultural settings exhibited higher levels of emotional-impulsive readiness for aggression than males, whereas males across four countries scored higher than females on habitual-cognitive and personality-immanent readiness. The sex differences in readiness for aggression were explained with regard to gender stereotype, particularly with respect to the communal orientation predominantly internalized by females and agentic orientation represented by males.