| Abstract: | Two experiments were conducted, employing a 2 × 2 factorial design, to assess both 1)a relatively controlled procedure for instigating aggressive inclinations and 2) a way of measuring interpersonal aggression that is much more subtle than most of the laboratory procedures now being used. In both of these experiments half of the subjects were provoked by exposing them to a self-esteem-threatening evaluation ostensibly from a peer. After this “treatment,” in experiment 1 all of the subjects had an opportunity to deliver electric shocks to the supposed other student, much as in many of the laboratory experiments in this area, and then rate that student. Shock intensity was not significantly correlated with the unfavorableness of these latter ratings, as if the subjects had reacted in different ways to the shocks they had delivered. In experiment 2, after the instigating treatment the subjects were allowed to withhold rewards from the other person whenever he made correct guesses on a supposed “ESP task.” In this procedure the behavioral hostility (withholding rewards) was positively correlated with the unfavorableness of the subsequent questionnaire ratings, apparently because the subjects were not fully aware of having expressed hostility. |
