Reverse Discrimination and Aggressive Behavior

Aggression of each of 32 white male and female university students toward an opponent who had just defeated him in a competition was assessed in a 2 x 2 experimental design in which the winning opponent was either a black or a white and the loss was for one of two reasons: because the opponent 1) was economically deprived or 2) had superior ability. It was assumed that those S s who had lost to a black opponent because this person was economically deprived experienced reverse discrimination based on race. Results indicated that white S s were more aggressive toward a black when the loss was based on economic deprivation (reverse discrimination) than towards a white when the loss was due to economic deprivation (an arbitrary loss but not based on race), whereas white S s were less aggressive towards a black opponent than towards a white opponent when the S s lost because of the other's superior ability. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.