A Comparison of the Motive to Aggress Across Military and Nonmilitary Samples
Open Access
- Author:
- Solomon, Dana
- Area of Honors:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- James Marshall Lebreton, Thesis Supervisor
Kenneth Levy, Thesis Honors Advisor
Greg Edward Loviscky, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- Aggression
Military
Personality - Abstract:
- The present study examines whether a relationship exists between trait level aggression and one’s propensity to join the military. Archival data from the Conditional Reasoning Test for Aggression (CRT-A) from a prestigious military academy (United States West Point Military Academy), an elite military training program (United States Army Ranger School), nonmilitary universities, and nonmilitary samples of job incumbents were compiled. These data were analyzed to determine group mean differences with respect to scores on the CRT-A. It was hypothesized that participants from the military populations would have higher levels of aggression than would participants from nonmilitary populations, as measured through their predicted endorsement of a greater number of aggressive responses on the CRT-A. It was also hypothesized that among the military sample, military incumbents would possess the highest level of aggression and therefore would endorse a greater number of aggressive responses. It was ultimately found that military incumbents did indeed possess the highest level of aggression when compared against all other groups. However, it was also found that when both military samples were compared against both nonmilitary samples, the nonmilitary samples possessed higher levels of aggression. This unexpected finding could hold important implications for the future of military psychology research.