Hostile attribution bias refers to the extent to which an individual interprets the actions of others as hostile. An individual with a high level of hostile attribution bias is more likely to see the benign and innocuous actions of another as hostility directed towards them. For example, such a person might see two people laughing together and make the assumption that they are laughing about them. This can obviously become problematic if other factors are involved, as an individual who has high hostile attribution bias could be inclined to become angry about what they have seen, making them more likely to be aggressive and therefore more likely to engage in criminal behaviour.