The Conditional Reasoning Measurement System for aggression: An overview

The Conditional Reasoning Measurement System is described. This procedure focuses on how people solve what on the surface appear to be inductive reasoning problems. The true intent of the problems is to determine if solutions based on implicit biases are logically attractive to a respondent. In this article, we focus on the types of implicit biases that underlie aggressive individuals' attempts to justify aggressive behavior. People who consistently select solutions based on these types of biases are scored as being potentially aggressive because they are cognitively prepared to rationalize aggression. Scores on the Conditional Reasoning Test for Aggression (CRT-A) have been shown to have acceptable psychometric properties and an average, uncorrected validity of .44 against behavorial criteria (in 10 studies).