Dynamics of hostile aggression: Influence of anger,hurt instructions,and victim pain feedback

The research basically examined some of the dynamics of hostile aggression by looking at the effects of different Buss procedure instructions and levels of victim pain feedback on the aggressive behavior of angered and nonangered men. In a 2 × 2 × 2 completely crossed factorial experiment, male undergraduates were initially either angered or not by an experimental accomplice. When later given the ostensible opportunity to administer shocks to the same accomplice in a typical Buss procedure, the subjects were either told that longer and more intense shocks would probably interfere with the person's learning as well as causing him more pain (hurt instructions) or given no information about the effects of shocks on learning (standard instructions). Finally, after each shock they administered, the subjects were provided with either high or low victim pain feedback. The angered men were significantly more aggressive than their nonangered counterparts, and a significant interaction between anger and instructions indicated this was especially true for the men given hurt instructions. Significant interactions between the other independent variables and trial blocks revealed that the angered men, particularly those receiving hurt instructions and high victim pain feedback, displayed the greates increases in aggression. The results provide qualified support for the derived proposition about hostile aggression that signs and/or knowledge of victim injury and pain can stimulate more intense aggression from angry individuals.     

Children's reasoning about responses to peer aggression: Victim's and witness's expected and prescribed behaviors

This research examined children's reasoning about expected (i.e., what a peer would do) and prescribed (i.e., what a peer should do) responses to unprovoked, intentional aggressive actions in two contexts: as a victim of such a transgression and as a witness to the incident. Physical harm and property damage items were used in a structured interview format. There were 90 subjects drawn from three elementary school grades (2nd, 4th, and 6th). Children differentiated between the expected and prescribed responses of peers and significant developmental differences in children's evaluations were found. Although the majority of the subjects in all grades denounced retaliation on the basis of concerns about others' welfare, older children stated that peers were likely to retaliate against the perpetrator nonetheless. Across different contexts, older children's responses appeared to reveal a greater independence from authority in negotiating peer interactions. In evaluating the witness's responses to aggressive acts, younger children's expected and prescribed responses were less disparate than that of the older children. The utility of including different vantage points of the child in examining children's social reasoning about aggression and the application of the present findings to social information-processing models are discussed. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Aggression inhibition in high‐ and low‐risk subjects for child physical abuse: effects of a child's hostile intent and the presence of mitigating information

Exposure of an aggressor to the suffering of his/her victim generally inhibits subsequent attacks [e.g. Baron, 1971a] presumably because of an empathic process. Physically abusive parents and individuals at high risk for child physical abuse are thought to present a deficit in empathy [e.g. Milner, Halsey and Fultz, 1995]. The present research was designed to investigate whether high‐risk, compared to low‐risk, subjects for child physical abuse select more aggressive responses and aggress with more intensity toward a supposed child whose behavior is adequate, inadequate or ambiguous in the presence of the child's pain cues. A second objective was to explore whether high‐risk, compared to low‐risk, subjects for child physical abuse fail to adequately integrate mitigating information and, therefore, do not inhibit their aggressive behavior following the receipt of mitigating information before or during an inadequate child behavior. Participants were engaged in an experimental task that involved attempting to teach a child how to proceed accurately through a computer‐displayed maze and were given the opportunity to send positive (pleasant sounds and happy faces) and negative feedback (mad faces and unpleasant sounds) to the child. Two hundred and fifty undergraduate students participated in the experiment. A 2 × 5 factorial design based on two levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and five conditions based on the child's behavior and the introduction of mitigating information was employed. As expected, low‐risk, compared to high‐risk, subjects showed less aggression when mitigating information was provided. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–15, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

What stops revenge taking? Effects of observed emotional reactions on revenge seeking

What reaction stops revenge taking? Four experiments (total N = 191) examined this question where the victim of an interpersonal transgression could observe the offender's reaction (anger, sadness, pain, or calm) to a retributive noise punishment. We compared the punishment intensity selected by the participant before and after seeing the offender's reaction. Seeing the opponent in pain reduced subsequent punishment most strongly, while displays of sadness and verbal indications of suffering had no appeasing effect. Expression of anger about a retributive punishment did not increase revenge seeking relative to a calm reaction, even when the anger response was disambiguated as being angry with the punisher. It is concluded that the expression of pain is the most effective emotional display for the reduction of retaliatory aggression. The findings are discussed in light of recent research on reactive aggression and retributive justice.     

Empathy and risk status for child physical abuse: the effects of an adult victim's pain cues and an adult victim's intent on aggression

It has been proposed that abusive parents and parents at high risk for child physical abuse could be more likely to view children's behavior as being motivated by hostile intent [e.g., Milner, 1993], as compared to nonabusive and low‐risk parents. This kind of misattribution of other's behavior may inhibit empathic emotion, and therefore, could block the inhibiting effect of a victim's pain cues on aggression [Baron, 1979]. An experiment was designed to analyze the moderating effect of an adult victim's intent on aggression in high‐ and low‐risk participants for child physical abuse. A 2 × 2 factorial design based upon two levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and two levels of victim's intent (positive, ambiguous) was employed. All participants observed an adult victim's pain cues. Ninety‐five (48 high and 47 low risk for child physical abuse) undergraduate females enrolled in courses at the University of the Basque Country participated in the experiment. The main effects of victims' intent and of participants' risk status were statistically significant. Participants in the ambiguous victim's intent condition aggressed significantly more than participants in the positive victim's intent condition. Moreover, high‐risk participants aggressed more than low‐risk participants regardless of the victim's intent. A significant interaction between risk status and victim's intent was expected. High‐risk subjects for child physical abuse were expected to aggress more than low‐risk subjects only in the ambiguous victim's intent condition. However, results did not support this hypothesis. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–12, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Threatened retaliation from the victim as an inhibitor of physical aggression

Sixty male undergraduates participated in an experiment designed to investigate the effects of apparent probability of retaliation from the victim and level of prior anger arousal upon adult aggressive behavior. It was hypothesized that threatened retaliation would be highly effective in inhibiting subsequent aggression under conditions where subjects had not previously been angered by the victim, but would generally fail to inhibit such behavior under conditions where they had previously suffered strong provocation at the hands of this person. Support was obtained for both of these predictions. Findings were discussed in terms of their implications for the prevention and control of human violence in naturalistic social situations.     

Delayed,But Not Immediate,Feedback After Multiple-Choice Questions Increases Performance on a Subsequent Short-Answer,But Not Multiple-Choice,Exam: Evidence for the Dual-Process Theory of Memory

Three experiments, two performed in the laboratory and one embedded in a college psychology lecture course, investigated the effects of immediate versus delayed feedback following a multiple-choice exam on subsequent short answer and multiple-choice exams. Performance on the subsequent multiple-choice exam was not affected by the timing of the feedback on the prior exam; however, performance on the subsequent short answer exam was better following delayed than following immediate feedback. This was true regardless of the order in which immediate versus delayed feedback was given. Furthermore, delayed feedback only had a greater effect than immediate feedback on subsequent short answer performance following correct, confident responses on the prior exam. These results indicate that delayed feedback cues a student's prior response and increases subsequent recollection of that response. The practical implication is that delayed feedback is better than immediate feedback during academic testing.     

Olfaction and Human Social Behavior: Effects of Pleasant Scents on Physical Aggression

Forty-eight male undergraduates participated in an experiment designed to investigate the effects of pleasant scents on physical aggression. Subjects were first angered or not angered by a male or female confederate, and then provided with an opportunity to aggress against this person. One third aggressed in the presence of a very pleasant scent (perfume), a second third aggressed in the presence of a mildly pleasant scent (pine-scented aerosol). The remaining subjects aggressed in the absence of any pleasant aroma. Results indicated that when the victim was male, aggression was enhanced by the presence of perfume if subjects had been angered, but reduced by this scent d they had not been provoked, in contrast, when the victim was female, aggression was enhanced by the presence of perfume regardless of whether subjects had previously been angered. The pine-scented aerosol failed to exert any significant effects upon subjects' behavior. These findings were interpreted as consistent with the suggestion that the impact of pleasant scents on social behavior may stem from several different mediating mechanisms, including heightened arousal and shifts in social perception.     

The victim's reaction to an attack as a function of his perception of the attacker following a verbal insult

This study investigated the role of perception in the victim's behaviour following a verbal attack. It was expected that the victim's counterattack and evaluation of attacker would be influenced by: (a) the victim's level of aggressiveness; (b) the attacker's perceived level of aggressiveness; (c) the attacker's status (prestige in the classroom); and (d) retaliation threat for counterattack. High and low aggressive subjects (victim's) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions differing in the attacker's attributed level of aggression and status. Half of the subjects in each condition received a retaliation threat treatment. The victims were interacting with an assumed partner (attacker) in a guessing game during which they were insulted. After each insult the victim could counterattack by withholding a monetary reward from the attacker. At the end, the victim rated his attacker on aggressiveness, potency and social desirability. The results indicated that there were significant main effects of the victims level of aggressiveness, the attacker's status and retaliation threat. There was also a significant interaction between victim's and attacker's aggressiveness, for the two dependent variables. In addition, victim's behaviour was influenced by the interaction between attacker's status and his aggressiveness.     

Helping is not enough: Recipient's reactions to aid as a function of positive and negative information about the self

The present research investigated the effects of experimentally induced positive and negative feedback about the self on the recipient's subsequent reactions to aid. In line with a consistency prediction, subjects given positive feedback who later received aid had lower mood ratings and less favorable self-evaluations than those who were given positive feedback but no subsequent help. Conversely, subjects given negative feedback who later received aid had higher mood ratings and more positive self-evaluations than those who were given negative feedback but no subsequent help. Subjects' evaluations of another individual were characterized by aid main effects, which indicate that an other who helped was evaluated more favorably than an other who did not help. The conceptual and applied implications of these results are discussed.     

Differential Male and Female Responses to Inadmissible Sexual History Information Regarding a Rape Victim

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of exposure to sexual activity information regarding a rape victim. The results of the first experiment indicated that men had a greater tendency to attribute a female target person's sexual activity to dispositional causes than did women. In the second experiment, subjects read an acquaintance rape scenario suggesting that the victim had a promiscuous sexual past. They were instructed either to ignore this sexual history information when making judgments (inadmissible condition) or to use whatever information that they felt was appropriate (admissible condition). Control subjects were given no information regarding the victim's sexual past. Thus, the design was a 2 (Sex of Subject) x 3 (Information Admissibility: Admissible, Inadmissible, or Control) factorial. The results indicated: (a) When compared to those in the inadmissible condition, victim perceptions from subjects in the admissible condition were less favorable, (b) victim perceptions from male subjects were less favorable than those from female subjects, and (c) male subjects in the inadmissible condition attributed more responsibility to the victim than did the controls whereas female subjects in the inadmissible condition attributed less responsibility to the victim than did controls. Possible bases of these findings are discussed.     

The Acquaintance Predicament of a Rape Victim1

The acquaintance predicament of a rape victim was examined in six experiments with between-subjects designs with samples drawn from the undergraduate student population of the University of Bombay. The experiments used rape vignettes for the manipulation of all independent variables except subject's sex and were done in three pairs such that each pair had the same independent variables and first dependent measure, namely, recommended years of imprisonment for the rapist. The second dependent measure was attributed victim's fault in the first experiment and perceived likelihood of rape in the second experiment of each pair. The first pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (acquainted vs. unacquainted rapist) × 3 (rapist's status: manager, stenotypist, or watchman) × 2 (complaint vs. no complaint by victim) design, with the rape victim being described as a stenotypist. The second pair of experiments differed from the first pair in only one respect, with victim's marital status (married vs. divorced victim) replacing the independent variable of complaint of the first pair. The third pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (physically hurt vs. not hurt victim) × 5 (rapist's relationship with victim: husband, fiance, friend, acquaintance, or stranger) design. Female subjects, as compared to male subjects, recommended longer imprisonment for the rapist, attributed less fault to the victim, and perceived greater likelihood of rape. The victim was attributed less fault in case of stranger rape versus acquaintance rape and also less fault in the complaint versus the no complaint condition. Longer imprisonment was recommended for the rapist when the victim was physically hurt rather than not hurt.     

Hot Sauce,toy guns,and graffiti: A critical account of current laboratory aggression paradigms

In 1996, Tedeschi and Quigley published a review of laboratory aggression research that included many damning criticisms of the genre. This paper revisits Tedeschi and Quigley's critique, and examines the ways that subsequent researchers have addressed the weaknesses they identified. In particular, it examines three new laboratory aggression paradigms (Hot Sauce, Bungled Procedure, and Experimental Graffiti Paradigms) that have attempted to improve upon the “classic” paradigms (Teacher/Learner & Essay Evaluation Paradigms, Competitive Reaction Time Game, Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm, and Bobo Modelling Paradigm). In each case, this review will show, that although some aspects of the new designs are indeed improvements, many of Tedeschi and Quigley's arguments still apply. In conclusion, this investigation will identify a number of factors that future laboratory aggression researchers should consider. These include: The perceptions and motivations of the aggressor; the apparent distance between the aggressor and the target; the availability of non‐aggressive response options; the problems of demand characteristics, permissive cues and agentic shift; the differences between proactive and reactive aggression, and the distinction between overt and covert forms of aggression. Aggr. Behav. 00:000–000, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Perceptions of an aggressive encounter as a function of the victim's salience and the perceiver's arousal.

Two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of a victim's physical salience and perceivers' arousal on perceptions of a verbally aggressive interaction. Based upon evidence that there is a tendency to attribute causality to salient stimulus persons and to form more evaluatively extreme impressions of such persons, it was predicted that an aggressor's behavior would be attributed more to causes in a physically salient than a nonsalient victim and that the behavior of a salient victim would be evaluated more extremely than that of a nonsalient victim. Based upon Easterbrook's hypothesis that arousal narrows the focus of attention to the most salient cues in the situation, it was further predicted that aroused perceivers would manifest both a stronger tendency to attribute causality to a physically salient victim of aggression and more extreme ratings of the stimulus persons than would nonaroused perceivers. The results supported all of the experimental hypotheses except one: The tendency to attribute the aggressor's behavior more to a physically salient than a nonsalient victim was not greater for aroused than for nonaroused perceivers.     

Territorial prior residence,size asymmetry,and escalation of aggression in convict cichlids (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum Günther)

The present study was designed to assess the effects of resident versus intruder size differences upon the territorial prior-residence effect and level of territorial aggression in convict cichlids. Prior to a direct territorial dominance encounter, pairs of fish were randomly composed for one of three experimental treatment conditions: 1) the resident having a body-length 20–30% larger than that of the intruder, 2) the intruder having a body-length 20–30% larger than the resident, or 3) the combatants' body-lengths differing by no more than 5%. After a 3-day territorial acclimation period in their individual territories, the subject designated as the intruder was introduced to the resident's territory. For each encounter the pairmember that attacked first and the one that ultimately established dominance were recorded. Also measured during the encounter were the total number of bites, resident bites, intruder bites, and jaw-locking frequency and duration. The results revealed that there was a significant resident advantage in the resident-larger group. The intruder-larger group resulted in a significant intruder dominance advantage. However, no significant dominance advantage occurred in the same-size group. As predicted by game theory, there was significantly less escalation of aggression in contests in which one combatant held both designated asymmetric cues (prior residence, size) than in contests in which one combatant had prior residence, or when these two asymmetric cues were divided between the pairmembers. The size asymmetry is more important in determining dominance than the prior-residence asymmetry, for the particular size-difference range selected in the present study.     

Attitudes Toward Sexual Harassment of Women in India1

A hypothetical incident of sexual harassment at the workplace was presented to 720 undergraduate students of the University of Bombay who attributed blame to the female victim of a superordinate male harasser and rated the appropriateness of her response to the harassment. The experiment had a 2 (Subject's Sex) × 3 (Victim's Marital Status: unmarried, married, or divorced) × 2 (Type of Harassment: verbal vs. physical) × 4 (Victim's Response: ignoring, complaining, scolding, or slapping) between-subjects factorial design with 15 subjects per cell. Male subjects blamed the victim of harassment more than female subjects, the unmarried and married victims were blamed more than the divorced victim, and the ignoring victim was blamed more than the complaining, scolding, and slapping victims. Perceived appropriateness of victim's response was higher with the divorced victim as compared to the unmarried and married victims, with physical harassment as compared to verbal harassment, and with the complaining, scolding, and slapping victims as compared to the ignoring victim. A three-way interaction on perceived appropriateness suggested that female subjects, as compared to male subjects, were more in favor of strong self-assertive action against harassment, but relatively less so in the case of the unmarried victim.     

Acquaintance versus stranger rape: Testing the ambiguity reduction hypothesis

After reading a vignette about a hypothetical rape incident, 240 undergraduate students of the University of Bombay recommended imprisonment for the rapist and attributed fault to the rape victim. The experiment had a 2 (subject's sex) 2 (schoolteacher versus callgirl victim) × 2 (acquainted versus stranger rapist) × 2 (victim's physical resistance versus no physical resistance) factorial design with 15 subjects per cell. As predicted, attributed victim's fault was greater and recommended rapist's imprisonment was shorter with male rather than female subjects, with the callgirl rather than schoolteacher victim, and with no physical resistance rather than with physical resistance. Greater fault was also attributed to the acquainted rather than unacquainted victim. These main effects and the interaction effects were discussed primarily in light of the proposition that acquaintance rape is viewed less seriously than stranger rape because of ambiguity regarding the acquainted victim's consent.     

Immediate and delayed effects of victim suffering on the attacker's aggression

On the first day of a two-day experiment, male undergraduates were either angered or not, and they were given either high, low, or no metered pain feedback after each shock they supposedly delivered to their previous evaluator for his errors on a learning task. After the learning task the subjects made a number of ratings, including how much they had enjoyed this first session. On the second day, all subjects were simply required to administer shocks to a different person for his mistakes on the same learning task. The angered subjects were more punitive on both days toward both learners than the nonangered men. On the first day the angered men also increased the intensity of the shocks they delivered over trial blocks. Most interestingly, the angered men showed more enjoyment of the first session of the experiment as their victim's pain increased, and this enjoyment rating was related to the angered subjects' level of aggression on the second day of the experiment when they punished an “innocent” victim. The results were interpreted as consistent with the hypothesized reinforcement process which essentially states that signs and/or knowledge of the victim's suffering can reinforce impulsive or angry aggressive behavior.     

Men's likelihood of sexual aggression: the influence of alcohol,sexual arousal,and violent pornography

Previous research findings have indicated that both alcohol intoxication and violent pornography exposure may contribute to increased sexual aggression by men. This study used an experimental paradigm to examine the effects of a moderate alcohol dose, alcohol‐related beliefs, and victim response on men's self‐reported likelihood of committing sexual aggression. A community sample of male social drinkers (N=84) participated in an experiment in which they read an eroticized rape depiction after completing an alcohol administration protocol. The stimulus story varied whether the victim, who initially expressed unwillingness to engage in sexual activity, expressed pleasure or distress in response to the man physically forcing her to perform several explicit sex acts. A path analytic model illustrated that participants' self‐reported likelihood of behaving like the sexual aggressor in the story was directly related to their own sexual arousal. Heightened sexual arousal was reported by participants who had consumed alcohol, those who read the victim‐pleasure story, and those who believed that drinking women are sexually vulnerable. Results suggest that sexual arousal to violent pornography, as influenced by acute alcohol intoxication and other factors, may be an important component of men's perceptions of their own sexual aggression likelihood. Aggr. Behav. 32:581–589, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts

Using a longitudinal design, prior experience with violence as a victim and opportunity to aggress were examined as predictors of college women's verbal and physical aggression toward romantic partners. Five additional categories of predictors identified in previous research (experienced and witnessed parental aggression during childhood, attitudes accepting of aggression, aggressive/impulsive personality attributes, psychopathology, and prior use of aggression) were also examined. Blockwise hierarchical regression analyses were performed to reveal the best predictors of verbal and physical aggression during the first year of college. Significant predictors of verbal aggression were prior use of verbal aggression in heterosexual conflicts during adolescence, witnessed parental aggression, level of adolescent sexual victimization, being a target of rational conflict strategies during adolescence, and use of physical aggression in romantic adolescent relationships, as well as self-reported verbal aggression as an index of personality, weak emotional ties, number of sexual partners, and approval of sexual intimacy in many types of relationships. Significant predictors of physical aggression were prior use of physical aggression during adolescence, witnessing and experiencing parental aggression, being a victim of physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships, weak emotional ties, low levels of alcohol/drug use, and opportunity to aggress. A developmental model of aggression in which childhood experiences with family violence contribute to the likelihood of subsequent involvement in relationship violence seems appropriate. Past experience with aggression may be particularly important for women. Cultural expectations about women's roles do not provide the social support for female aggression that is provided for male aggression. Adolescent sexual victimizations and general involvement in conflictual relationships (as target and perpetrator) predicted subsequent verbal aggression, whereas experiencing family violence and sustaining physical aggression in romantic relationships predicted subsequent physical aggression. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.