Perspectives on Aggression

279 Pages·1976·4.31 MB·English

by  Russell G. Geen and Edgar C. O'Neal (Eds.)

CONTRIBUTORS
ROBERT BOICE
H. A. DENGERINK
EDWARD DONNERSTEIN
MARCIA DONNERSTEIN
RUSSELL G. GEEN
PETER J. MCDONALD
ANDREW R. NESDALE
EDGAR C. O'NEAL
MICHAEL B. QUANTY
BRENDAN GAIL RULE
DAVID M. STONNER
Perspectives on
Aggression
EDITED BY
RUSSELL G. GEEN
Department of Psychology
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
EDGAR C. O'NEAL
Department of Psychology
Newcomb College of
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana
ACADEMIC PRESS New York San Francisco London 1976
A Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers
Dedicated to Leonard Berkowitz
COPYRIGHT © 1976, BY ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR
TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC
OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR ANY
INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, WITHOUT
PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER.
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
Ill Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10003
United Kingdom Edition published by
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. (LONDON) LTD.
24/28 Oval Road. London NW1
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Perspectives on aggression.
Bibliography: p.
1. Aggressiveness (Psychology) I. Geen, Rüssel G.,
Date II. O'Neal, Edgar C. [DNLM: 1. Aggression.
BF575.A3P467]
BF575.A3P47 152.4'2 75-19643
ISBN 0-12-278850-8
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dedicated to Leonard Berkowitz
COPYRIGHT © 1976, BY ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR
TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC
OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR ANY
INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, WITHOUT
PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER.
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
Ill Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10003
United Kingdom Edition published by
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. (LONDON) LTD.
24/28 Oval Road. London NW1
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Perspectives on aggression.
Bibliography: p.
1. Aggressiveness (Psychology) I. Geen, Rüssel G.,
Date II. O'Neal, Edgar C. [DNLM: 1. Aggression.
BF575.A3P467]
BF575.A3P47 152.4'2 75-19643
ISBN 0-12-278850-8
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
List of Contributors
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin.
Robert Boice (11), Department of Psychology, University of Missouri,
Columbia, Missouri
H. A. Dengerink (61), Department of Psychology, Washington State University,
Pullman, Washington
Edward Donnerstein (133), Department of Psychology, Iowa State University,
Ames, Iowa
Marcia Donnerstein (133), Department of Psychology, Iowa State University,
Ames, Iowa
Russell G. Geen (1, 193), Department of Psychology, University of Missouri,
Columbia, Missouri
Peter J. McDonald (169), Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New
Orleans, Louisiana
Andrew R. Nesdale (37), Department of Psychology, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Edgar C. O'Neal (169), Department of Psychology, Newcomb College of Tulane
University, New Orleans, Louisiana
Michael B. Quanty (99), Department of Psychology, Johnson County Com-
munity College, Overland Park, Kansas
Brendan Gail Rule (37), Department of Psychology, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
David M. Stonner (235), Department of Psychology, Oakland University,
Rochester, Michigan
ix
Preface
Books on human aggression are generally of two types. They are
either monographs in which the writer adopts a fairly precise theory of
aggression or collections emanating from symposia and conferences.
The latter are usually specific in content and limited to a number of
topics defined by the purpose of the meetings. This book fits neither
category. It is not the product of a symposium nor is it an attempt by
either editor to subsume the varieties of human aggression under a uni-
tary theoretical heading. The points of view expressed in it are many,
and the emphasis throughout is on the relationship of theory to the data
of empirical investigations. The contributors have all conducted exten-
sive research on aggression or related topics, and all work within the
framework of experimental psychology. The book, accordingly, is pri-
marily a review of current experimental research on human aggression,
organized along lines that reflect the areas of current research.
Although the material reviewed in the book is heavily weighted in the
direction of "pure" research conducted for the purpose of understand-
ing the psychology of aggression, the chapters may also be conceptually
grouped into two sets: One has obvious and particular relevance for
contemporary social issues, and the applied value of the other is
somewhat less obvious. In particular, Chapters 6, 7, and 8, which refer,
respectively, to interracial aggression, environmental factors in ag-
gression, and the role of the mass media in violence, touch upon three
matters of clear social implication. Although the remaining chapters
certainly have strong implications for applied psychology, they deal
with subjects in which application is, for the moment, less clear-cut.
XI
Credits
Figures
Figure 1, p. 67. From Borden, R. J. Witnessed aggression: Influence of
an observer's sex and values on aggressive responding. Journal of Per-
sonality and Social Psychology, 1975, 31. 567-573, Figure 1. Copyright
1975 by the American Psychological Assocition. Reprinted by per-
mission.
Figure 3, p. 86. From Hartemink, J. H. Physical aggression in
schizophrenia. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Kent State
University, 1971. Courtesy of the author.
Figure 4, p. 88. From Baron, R. A. Threatened retaliation from the
victim as an inhibitor of physical aggression. Journal of Research in
Personality, 1973, 7, 103-115.
Figure 5, p. 91. From Dengerink, H. A., O'Leary, M. R., & Kasner, K.
H. Individual differences in aggressive responses to attack: Internal-
external locus of control and field dependence-independence. Journal of
Research in Personality, 1975, 9, 191-199.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, pp. 138, 139, 141-142. From Donnerstein, M., Simon,
S., & Ditrichs, R. Variables in interracial aggression: Anonymity, ex-
pected retaliation, and a riot. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 1972, 22, 236-245. Copyright 1972 by the American
Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.
Figures 5, 6, pp. 144, 145. From Donnerstein, E., & Donnerstein, M.
White rewarding behavior as a function of the potential for black
retaliation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 24,
327-333. Copyright 1972 by the American Psychological Association.
Reprinted by permission.
Figure 7, 8, 9, pp. 146, 147, 148. From Donnerstein, E., & Donnerstein,
M. Variables in interracial aggression: Potential ingroup censure.
xin
XIV CREDITS
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973, 27, 143-150. Copy-
right 1973 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted by
permission.
Figures 11, 12, 13, pp. 157, 158, 159. From Donnerstein, E., & Donner-
stein, M. Variables The effect of attitudinal similarity on interracial ag-
gression. Journal of Personality, 1975, 43, 485-502. (c) Duke University
Press.
Figure 14, p. 162. From Donnerstein, M., Donnerstein, E., & Lipton, S.
Modeling generality in the control of interracial aggression. Paper
presented at Southeastern Psychological Association, Miami, 1975.
Figure 1, p. 201. From Powers, P. C. & Geen, R. G. Effects of the be-
havior and the perceived arousal of a model on instrumental aggression.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 23, 175-183. Copy-
right 1972 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted by
permission.
Tables
Table 1, p. 205. From Turner, C. W. & Simons, L. S. Effects of subject
sophistication and evaluation apprehension on aggressive responses to
weapons. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1974, 30, 341-
348. Copyright 1974 by the American Psychological Association. Re-
printed by permission.
Table 2, p. 208. From Berkowitz, L. Some determinants of impulsive
aggression: Role of mediated associations with reinforcements for ag-
gression. Psychological Review, 1974, 81, 165-176. Copyright 1974 by
the American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.
Table 3, p. 211. From Zillmann, D. & Johnson, R. C. Motivated ag-
gressiveness perpetuated by exposure to aggressive films and reduced
by exposure to nonaggressive films. Journal of Research in Personality,
1973, 7, 261-276.
Table 4, 5, pp. 214, 215. From Geen, R. G. & Stonner, D. Context ef-
fects in observed violence. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 1973, 25, 145-150. Copyright 1973 by the American
Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.
Table 6, p. 216. From Geen, R. G. & Stonner, D. The context of ob-
served violence: Inhibition of aggression through displays of unsuccess-
ful retaliation. Psychonomic Science, 1972, 27, 342-344.
Tables 7, 8, p. 217. From Geen, R. G. & Stonner, D. The meaning of ob-
served violence: Effects on arousal and aggressive behavior. Journal of
Research in Personality, 1974, 8, 55-63.
The Study of Aggression
RUSSELL G. GEEN
Introduction
The 1960s was a watershed decade for theory and research on human
aggression. Over that 10-year span, most of the theoretical positions that
continue to enlighten and guide aggression research to the present time
were formulated. The important work of Bandura, Berkowitz, Buss,
Feshbach, and others of the period is reflected in the many citations
with which the chapters of this volume are dotted. Most of the work by
these investigators consisted of carefully controlled experiments, based
on hypotheses derived from some theory of aggression and designed to
study some limited aspect of that theory. The reviews in this volume,
most of which are devoted to critical summaries of relatively recent re-
search, almost uniformly reveal the theoretical and experimental heri-
tage of the 1960s. The major purpose of the chapters that follow is to
provide an updated summary of research findings on topics of current
importance, to relate these findings to the theoretical bases on which
they were built, and to make some guesses as to the future of theory and
research in human aggression.
Ideally, a book on aggression would begin with a general definition of
the term that would be more or less satisfactory to all students of the
1
2 RUSSELL G. GEEN
problem and would then attempt to subsume the available empirical
evidence under that definition. As will be readily evident from even a
casual perusal, the present volume is not being offered as an example of
such an ideal. None of the writers proposes to offer a general definition
of aggression, and the term is accordingly used to refer to a variety of
discriminably different behaviors. In this respect, it is typical of most
contemporary writing on the subject. The word "aggression" is most
often used in a broadly descriptive sense and in reference to many func-
tionally different behaviors; attempts to formulate a precise overall
definition generally founder on a host of conceptual problems (cf. Kauf-
mann, 1970). To a great extent, our confusion over the meaning of ag-
gression arises from the fact that psychologists have taken the word
from everyday language and tried to invest it with scientific precision.
However, there is undoubtedly no such thing as "aggression," as a uni-
tary phenomenon, either in the laboratory or in the world at large. Even
laymen vary in what they mean by the term, as Rule and Nesdale indi-
cate in their chapter "Moral Judgment of Aggressive Behavior"; it is
small wonder, therefore, that psychologists have been driven to recog-
nize such subclasses of aggression as "angry," "instrumental," "impul-
sive," and so forth, in order to continue applying the word to such
widely diverse phenomena. Nor is it obvious what would be gained were
we to follow the advice of some investigators (e.g., Tedeschi, Smith, &
Brown, 1974) and reverse the definitional process, in effect adopting the
definition of aggression used in the common tongue. Aggression is not a
simple matter, no matter whose definition is followed.
Confusion and disagreement over definition is paralleled, or perhaps
reflected, in a multiplicity of measures. Little of the massive amount of
research that has been done on aggression has been addressed to a
search for valid dependent measures, although the problem has not
been entirely ignored (e.g., Hartmann, 1970; Knott, 1970). The more
common practice is to adopt an operational definition of aggression
(number or intensity of electric shocks delivered, hostility of verbal rat-
ings, and so on) and to attempt to show that such measures are
systematically related to antecedent variables in a way stated in some
hypothesis. The dependent measures themselves most often have face
validity and little else.
Variables in Aggression Research
Antecedent Variables
Most research on human aggression has been addressed to three sets
of variables, which may be labeled as "antecedent," "intervening," and