This is a kind of toxic anger that results from disordered or warped thinking patterns, processes, or misunderstanding either of the self or of the world and others.
This is why hostile attribution bias is the number one predictor for abuse:
An unsafe person’s thoughts and thought patterns are often a result of cognitive misalignment with reality.
Their pathological aggression stems from thoughts that are:
- cognitive distortion-driven
- perception-distorted
- schema-driven hostility
- thought-disordered
- perception-warped
There is a difference between anger (the emotion) and reactive aggression (the action taken as a result of the emotion)
…and the emotion itself is a result of perception distortion in the first place. So an unsafe person (1) mis-thinks, then (2) feels an extreme feeling as a result of their distorted belief, and (3) acts on that rage with aggression.
They typically feel their hostile aggression response is justified.
>[This] doesn’t require a pathology or diagnosis. Highly insecure people, for example, can easily feel belittled and attacked from even the most benign comments. They attribute negative thoughts and feelings to neutral words due to their beliefs about themselves, the world, and the people around them, thus feeling attacked and justified in “defending” themselves.
-*u/ love_more88, excerpted and adapted from [comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/AbuseInterrupted/comments/1itfgh3/the_pathological_persecution_complex_or_why/mdvy00w/)*
[Hostile attribution bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_bias#Hostile_attribution_bias) affects both abusers and the victims of their abuse:
* Assessment of Maternal Attributions of Infant’s Hostile Intent and Its Use in Child Maltreatment Prevention/Intervention Efforts [- study abstract](http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1676706)
* Examining pregnant women’s hostile attributions about infants as a predictor of offspring maltreatment. [- study abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23588683)
* “…mothers-to-be who believe that infants sometimes misbehave – by, say, dirtying their diapers – just to spite their parents were more likely to go on to mistreat, harshly parent, or abuse their own infants and toddlers.” – There’s a name for why we assume malevolence in the intentions of others. And it’s called hostile attribution bias. [article](http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/theres-name-assume-malevolence-intentions-others-95529)
* “Children who had been abused were more likely than non-abused peers to interpret an ambiguous face as angry.” – The Long Reach of Childhood Trauma [article](http://ctmirror.org/2015/01/20/the-long-reach-of-childhood-trauma/) ([excerpt](https://www.reddit.com/r/AbuseInterrupted/comments/2tei7r/children_who_had_been_abused_were_more_likely/))
* “Results suggest that the misattribution of anger to others may be an important component of some children’s early emotional and social difficulties.” – Children’s Anger Attribution Bias: Relations to Family Environment and Social Adjustment [study abstract](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9507.00126/abstract)
* Traumatized mothers can change their minds about their toddlers: Understanding how a novel use of video feedback supports positive change of maternal attributions [study](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2078524/)
* “He says that the psychological root of this behavior is often something called Hostile Attribution Bias—the belief that every accidental injury or threat is purposeful, and personal. People with IED over-personalize every interaction, and then over-react with immediate aggression.” [The Psychology and Biology of Road Rage](http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/psychology-biology-road-rage-73416)