The Relationship Between Behavioral Indices of Aggression and Hostile Content on the TAT

Abstract

The role played by fantasy in mitigating the overt expression of aggression was investigated by examining the relationship between aggressive behavior and aggressive story content on the Thematic Apperception Test. A rating scale, checklist, and offense scale were used to measure the aggressive behavior of 76 juvenile offenders. While only one measure correlated significantly with hostile content on the TAT, all three correlations were negative, suggesting an inverse relationship between measure of aggression and aggressive content on the TAT.