Payoff expectancies between contingent serial moves of victim and aggressor in three hypothetical conflict situations

The expectancies of payoffs in the contingent serial interactive moves between victim and instigator, from the point of view of the victim, were measured for three hypothetical confrontations: someone pushes ahead of you in a movie line; a driver of a car takes a parking space you felt was yours; or you are the object of a rape attempt. These situations differ in urgency, and in the likelihood of success if there is resistance to the instigator. Expectations of persons were elicited as to their response to the particular aggressive act, the counter-response then expected of the instigator of the attack, and the subsequent contingent responses of each of the two persons, victim and instigator, until one or the other withdrew. The results show, in general, different payoffs at each interactive point over the ongoing serial stages in a situation, rather than an overall generalized contingency expectation, with these being different for self and the symbolized other, and also different for the three situations. Personality and sex-role measures showed minimal relation to the expectancies, and then not at the opening of the conflict, and for the instigator's rather than for the victim's expected responses.