The Role of Verbal Ability and Performance Intelligence in the Etiology of Criminal Aggression: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: Revisiting the Critical Role of Childhood Factors in Predicting Later Life Outcomes I

Abstract

Low verbal intelligence has been linked with aggressive and violent behavior for many decades in the empirical literature. Numerous authors have also proposed that those with higher performance IQ scores than verbal IQ scores are at a greater risk of violent behavior. This paper provides a systematic review of the reasoning and evidence on this matter. We provide effect size estimates for verbal ability, performance intelligence, and deviation scores. The paper also provides a nuanced discussion of methodological quality to gain an understanding of what the literature says, and does not say, about the effects of verbal and performance intelligence on violence.

Authors

• Joanne Savage, Illinois State University

• Kristen Cesario, American University