Threat-sensitive Individual Differences Moderate Compensatory ABC through Extreme Behavior
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Date
2022-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Although many social psychologists and scholars have investigated the causes of extreme behavior (e.g., any unusual action that poses real or potential harm to someone), there is a lack of empirical research on the distinct connection between attitudes and extreme behavior. Accordingly, the present research hypothesizes that extreme behavior is a compensatory result of bolstering ambivalent attitudes under high levels of situational or dispositional threat. In Study 1 (N = 209), I found that participants with highly ambivalent attitudes towards COVID-19 mask mandates engaged in more attitude-consistent extreme behavior than participants who held low ambivalent attitudes. For moderate behavior (e.g., any action that is unlikely to pose harm to someone), attitudinal ambivalence did not affect attitude-behavior consistency. In Study 2 (N = 385), I found that participants high in certain threat-related individual differences (neuroticism, avoidance temperament, and need for order) were more likely to predict compensatory attitude-behavior consistency through extreme behavior than participants who were low in these individual differences. These findings suggest that individuals who are sensitive to threats may be especially likely to compensate for their discomfort by bolstering their ambivalent attitudes through extreme behavior.
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Keywords
extreme behavior, compensation, attitudes, ambivalence, individual differences