Northern Illinois University
Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Research Interests

There is a large body of literature examining when and for whom aggression is likely to occur. My research examines the cognitive processes and cognitive structures that contribute to individuals’ aggressive behaviors and to how people communicate about their aggressive behaviors.

Recently, my lab has been studying people’s “folk explanations” for their aggressive interactions. Sure, there are several factors that can actually cause aggressive behaviors (e.g., an aggressive personality, hot temperatures, consuming alcohol, being insulted, etc.), but explanations are not about what actually caused aggressive behavior. Explanations are about which factors people refer to when communicating about why somebody behaved aggressively. These explanations can reflect access to information about the causes of aggressive behavior. Explanations also can be used strategically to, for example, portray a behavior as sensible, express regret, dodge responsibility, etc. Because there are so many nuances to how people choose to explain aggressive behaviors, we find these explanations to be fascinating.

Representative Publications

• McCarthy, R. J., Jensen, A. P., Wilson, J. P., and Rivers, A. K. (2022). Perpetrators’, Victims’, and Witnesses’ Folk Explanations of Aggressive Behaviors. Psychological reports, 00332941221123781.
• Milner, J. S., Crouch, J. L., McCarthy, R. J., Ammar, J., Dominguez-Martinez, R., Thomas, C. L., and Jensen, A. P. (2022). Child physical abuse risk factors: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 101778.
• McCarthy, R. J., Rivers, A. K., Jensen, A. P., Pawirosetiko, J. S., and Erickson, J. M. (2022). Is the victim-perpetrator asymmetry stronger in situations where blame is being assigned? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 101, 104333.
• McCarthy, R. J., Erickson, J. M., Hu, X., Pawirosetiko, J. S., Tarleton, H. L., Thomas, C. L., Tillery, M. G., and Sagarin, B. J. (2021). Broad agreement, but notes of caution with the implications of Sakaluk's (2020) critique of Wisman and Shrira (2020). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50, 773-777. OSF project link: Commentary on Wisman and Shrira (2020)
• McCarthy, R. J., and Rivers, A. K. (2021). Does trait hostility moderate the asymmetry in victim-perpetrator perceptions of aggressive behaviors? Psychological Reports. OSF project link
• McCarthy, R. J., Gervais, W., Aczel, B., Al-Kire, R. L., Baraldo S. M., Baruh L., Basch, C., Baumert, A., Behler, A., Bettencourt, A., Bitar, A., Bouxom, H., Buck, A., Cemalcilar, Z., Chekroun, P., Chen, J. M., del Fresno- Díaz, A., Ducham, A, Edlund, J. E.,…Zogmaister, C. (2021). A multi-site collaborative study of the hostile priming effect. Collabra: Psychology, 7, 18738. OSF project pink: Hostile Priming-Multi-Site Collaboration
• McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J., Verschuere, B., Meijer, E. H., Jim, A., Hoogesteyn, K., Orthey, R., …. Yildiz, E. (2018). Registered Replication Report: Srull and Wyer (1979). Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1(3), 321-336. OSF project link: Srull and Wyer (1979)
• McCarthy, R., et al. (2018). An Investigation of Abstract Construal on Impression Formation: A Multi-Lab Replication of Mccarthy and Skowronski (2011). International Review of Social Psychology, 15, 1-6. doi:10.5334/irsp.133
• McCarthy, R. J. (2017). Due diligence: Revisiting the heat-aggression association hypothesis. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 2, 216-227, doi:10.1080/23743603.2017.1378071
• McCarthy, R. J., and Elson, M. (2017). A Conceptual Review of Lab-Based Aggression Paradigms. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 1–12, doi:10.1525/collabra.104
• McCarthy, R. J., and Chartier, C. R (2017). Collections²: Using “Crowdsourcing” within Psychological Research. Collabra: Psychology, 3(1), 1-6, doi:10.1525/collabra.107
• McCarthy, R. J. (2017). Experiencing Instigations and Trait Aggression Contribute to Harsh Parenting Behaviors. Psychological Reports, 120, 1078-1095. doi:10.1177/0033294117711934
• McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J., Crouch, J. L., and Milner, J. S. (2017). Parents’ spontaneous evaluations of children and symbolic harmful behaviors toward their child. Child Abuse and Neglect, 67, 419-428. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.005
• McCarthy, R. J., Miron, L. R., Milner, J. S., Coley, S. L., Ormsby, L., and Oliver., M. (2016). When does child maltreatment occur? Daily variations in child maltreatment among families served by the United States Air Force Family Advocacy Program. Military Behavioral Health, 364-372. doi:10.1080/21635781.1181586
• McCarthy, R. J., Wagner, M. F., Basham, A, and Jones, C. (2016). Individual Differences in Parents’ Impressions of Children and Child Physical Abuse: A Meta-Analysis. Psychology of Violence, 6, 485-496. doi:10.1037/vio0000028
• Coley, S. L., McCarthy, R. J., Milner, J. S., Ormsby, L., and Travis, W. J. (2016). Intimate partner maltreatment recidivism in United States Air Force Families. Military Medicine, 181, 926-930. doi:10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00333
• Zengel, B., McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J., and Ambler, J. (2016). Spontaneous trait inference and spontaneous trait transference are both unaffected by prior evaluations of informants. The Journal of Social Psychology, 157, 382-387. doi:10.1080/00224545.2016.1192099
• McCarthy, R. J., Coley, S. C., Wagner, M. F., Zengel, B., and Basham, A. (2016). Does playing video games with violent content temporarily increase aggressive inclinations? A pre-registered experimental study. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 67, 13-19. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.10.009
• McCarthy, R. J., Crouch, J. L., Basham, A., Milner, J. S., and Skowronski, J. J. (2016). Validating the Voodoo doll task as a proxy for aggressive parenting behaviors. Psychology of Violence, 6, 135-144. doi:10.1037/a0038456 OSF project link: Voodoo doll task as a proxy for aggressive parenting behaviors
• McCarthy, R. J. (2014). Close replication attempts of the heat priming-hostile perception effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54, 165-169. OSF project link: Heat priming-hostile perception effect
• McCarthy, R. J., Crouch, J. L., Skowronski, J. J., Milner, J. S., Hiraoka, R., Rutledge, E., and Jenkins, J. (2013). Child physical abuse risk moderates spontaneously inferred traits from ambiguous child behaviors. Child Abuse and Neglect, 37, 1142-1151. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.05.003
• Crawford, M. T., McCarthy, R. J., Kjaerstad, H. L., and Skowronski, J. J. (2013). Inferences are for doing: The impact of approach and avoidance states on the generation of spontaneous trait inferences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 267-278. doi:10.1177/0146167212473158
• McCarthy, R. J., and Skowronski, J. J. (2011). Level of construal affects the impact of central traits on impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1304-1307. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.017
• McCarthy, R. J., and Skowronski, J. J. (2011). The interplay of controlled and automatic processes in the expression of spontaneously inferred traits: A PDP analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 229-240. doi:10.1037/a0021991
• McCarthy, R. J., and Skowronski, J. J. (2011).What will Phil do next? The influence of spontaneous trait inferences on behavior predictions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 321-332. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.015