Situational predictors of violent intentions: Results from a factorial survey

• The factorial survey is shown to be useful for studying violent situations.
• More serious forms of provocation increase the likelihood of violent intentions.
• Aggressive cues increase the likelihood of violent behavioral intentions.
• Audience attention increases the likelihood of violent behavioral intentions.
• Situational factors are important even controlling for individual-level factors.

Though many sociological and criminological theories of violence provide a role for both situational and individual-level factors, research largely focuses on individual-level characteristics. The current research, drawing on the psychological and sociological aggression literatures, utilizes a factorial survey approach to identify important situational risk factors. Multi-level regression results indicate that provocation, aggressive cues, and the presence of an audience are all statistically significant risk factors. Moreover, these factors maintain their importance even after statistically controlling for well-known individual-level characteristics. These results highlight the importance of situational factors and serve as a call for more situationally oriented research and theory on violence.