Is hostile attributional bias associated with negative urgency and impulsive behaviors? A social-cognitive conceptualization of impulsivity

The aim of this study was to verify the relevance of social information-processing (SIP) models in the study of impulsivity. 170 undergraduates completed the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale relevant to negative urgency, the SIP–AEQ and control measures. The SIP–AEQ consists of eight vignettes featuring a social situation measuring hostile attributional bias (HAB), emotional responses and impulsive behaviors in response to an ambiguous social provocation. Regression analyses showed negative urgency’s unique contribution to indirect HAB after controlling for the effects of aggressiveness, negative emotions and lack of perseverance, another UPPS dimension of impulsivity. Analyses also revealed that indirect HAB mediates the relationship between negative urgency and impulsive behaviors, after controlling for the effects of aggressiveness and negative emotions. Results suggest that SIP models are relevant to study the active social cognitive processes in impulsive behaviors of high-urgency individuals.