Piecing Offender Cognition: The Link between Abstract Reasoning, Aggression, and Violence

Abstract

A sudden decline in violence across the United States since the early 1990s has led researchers from several fields to speculation over the cause. One of the more prominent explanations for this phenomenon involves population-wide growth regarding aspects of IQ, specifically abstract reasoning. Based on this view one would hypothesize that individuals demonstrating a higher ability in abstract thinking would show a decreased propensity for aggression and related violence. This study provides a potential verification of this hypothesis. The sample consisted of community participants (n = 306) as well as participants with a history of violent (n = 70) and non-violent offending (n = 228). Using the Brief Aggression Questionnaire and Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, an assessment of aggression and abstract reasoning, respectively, within this sample was conducted. A linear regression demonstrated a significant association between aggression and abstract reasoning, while controlling for covariates across the entire sample (N = 604). A multinomial regression comparing associations for abstract reasoning across the three groups showed no significant differences, indicating that abstract reasoning was not uniquely related to a history of violence. Thus, the current findings provide mixed support for a link between abstract thinking and aggression or violence.