Response speed as an individual difference: Its role in moderating the agreeableness–anger relationship

Anger is an emotion that is precipitated by hostile attitudes and high arousal. The trait of agreeableness is a moderately inverse predictor of hostile attitudes and anger. Relations between agreeableness and anger are likely to be stronger to the extent that the person can be characterized as high in dispositional arousal. Arousal-related manipulations speed responses in cognitive tasks. Thus, individual differences in response speed may be informative concerning general tendencies toward aroused states. In three studies (N = 319) individual differences in response speed in basic choice tasks interacted with agreeableness to predict state-related experiences of anger. Specifically, the highest levels of anger were observed among fast/disagreeable individuals. The utility of this probe in future studies is discussed.

► Anger is an emotion that is precipitated by hostile attitudes and high arousal.
► We used fast response speed as an indicator of general arousal.
► Results showed that fast/disagreeable people reported the highest levels of anger.
► This suggests response speed is an interesting measure for personality research.