Hot Temperatures, Hostile Affect, Hostile Cognition, and Arousal: Tests of a General Model of Affective Aggression Craig A. Anderson William E. Deuser Kristina M. DeN eve University of Missouri-Columbia A general model of affective aggression was used to generate predictions concerning hot temperatures. Experiment 1 examined hot temperature effects on hostile affect, hostile cognition, perceived arousal, and physiological arousal in the context of a study of video games. Experiment 2 examined hot temperature effects on hostile affect, perceived and physiological arousal, and general positive and negative affect in the context of brief aerobic exercise. Consistent results were obtained. Hot temperatures produced increases in hostile affect, hostile cognition, and physiological arousal. Hot temperatures also produced decreases in perceived arousal and general positive affect. These results suggest that hot temperatures may increase aggressive tendencies via any of three separate routes. Hostile affect, hostile cognitions, and excitation transfer processes may all increase the likelihood of biased ap- praisals of ambiguous social events, biased in a hostile direction. Social theories relating heat stress to aggressive behav- ior and aggression-related affects can be found in writ- ings as ancient as those of the Rome of Cicero (106-43 B.C.) and as recent as last summer's newspapers. Refer- ences to hot temperatures producing aggression can be found in works as hallowed as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and as obscure as a 1985 Ohio State student news- paper cartoon. If consensus were truth, then scientific investigation of the hypothesis that temperature influ- ences aggression would be unnecessary. But consensus is not truth; it provides no evidence relevant to the validity of the social theory. Demonology as a social theory of aberrant behavior was a widely held belief, but the belief failed to prove either the existence of demons or their role in mental illness. Thus the temperature-aggression hypothesis has appropriately re- ceived considerable empirical attention in the last 100 years, as various social philosophers, social geographers, and others have wrestled with the problems of violence in society (e.g., Aschaffenburg, 1903/1913; Dexter, 1899; Lombroso,1899/1911). A recent review revealed that the relation between temperature and aggression-related variables is neither as clear nor as simple as the consensus social theory would have it (Anderson, 1989). Itis true that archival data and field studies demonstrate that hotter temperatures are associated with increases in aggressive behavior of many types, including murder, rape, assault, family disturbances, and spouse abuse. Furthermore, the wide range of meth- odologies used in those studies and the consistency of their findings make the obvious alternative explanations implausible. The theoretical gains from this nonlabora- tory literature, however, have been meager. At present there is no well-supported theory of the temperature- aggression relation, because of a host of problems. PROBLEMS WITH THE CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE First, the archival and field studies do not test theories designed to explain why hot temperatures are associated Authors' Note: This research was supported in part by a Weldon Spring Grant (90-WS-022) from the University of Missouri. We thank the following individuals for their help in various phases of this research: Kathryn Anderson, Paul Bell, Len Berkowitz, Richard Michael, and Dolf ZiIlmann. Address correspondence to Craig A. Anderson, Depart- ment of Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211. Electronic mail may be sent to psycaa@mizzou1.missouri.edu. PSPB, Vol. 21 No.5, May 1995 434-448 © 1995 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. 434