Abstract
Cynical hostility, as measured by the Cook and Medley Hostility (Ho) scale, has been found to predict illness and premature death. A variety of models of the potential links between hostility and health have suggested that cynically hostile people have a unique cognitive style in social contexts. To avoid the methodological limitations of previous self-report methods for assessing the cognitive correlates of cynical hostility, the present study employed an information-processing procedure. High- and low-Ho males engaged in either a neutral or hostile social interaction with a confederate, and then rated him on a series of trait adjectives. In a subsequent incidental recall task, cynically hostile individuals showed enhanced recall of hostile trait adjectives following the hostile social interaction. Consistent with theory, these results suggest a “hostile other” schema, which can be activated by antagonistic interactions.
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This paper is based on the dissertation of the first author, conducted under the supervision of the second.
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Allred, K.D., Smith, T.W. Social cognition in cynical hostility. Cogn Ther Res 15, 399–412 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173034
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173034