When you say aggressiveness, what do you mean by that? Similarities and differences between aggressiveness/agreeableness scales from personality inventories

Abstract

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The aim of this research was to examine which components (affective, behavioral, or cognitive) of trait aggressiveness were included in aggressiveness/agreeableness scales from both psychobiological and psycholexical models. In Study 1, aggressiveness components were measured by the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), and in Study 2 they were measured by expert estimations of the contribution of each component in aggressiveness/agreeableness items. The results showed that the scales from psychobiological models were mutually similar and captured a broader range of aggressiveness indicators, favoring the behavioral component. Scales from psycholexical models also captured, to a lesser extent, behavioral component in relation to the AQ. However, according to expert estimations, they captured aggressiveness components in a more balanced way, but favor the cognitive component compared to psychobiological models. We could conclude that different approaches in defining basic personality traits influenced which components and indicators would be covered by certain self-report measures.