Aggression as a function of the attack and the attacker.

Both the frequency and the degree of aggressiveness of the aggressive responses were a direct function of the degreeof aggressiveness with which the attack had been made and of the individual who made the attack.

Abstract

106 adolescents were asked to complete 50 statements which indicated the nature of an aggressive act and the individual who had committed it. Five kinds of aggressive acts varying in degree of aggressiveness as measured by judges' ratings were paired twice with each of five types of individuals--parents, authority, siblings, friends, and inferiors--committing the aggressions. The S's completed the statements according to what they thought an individual who had been attacked in this way would do. Some conclusions: both the frequency and the degree of aggressiveness of the aggressive responses were a direct function of the degree of aggressiveness with which the attack had been made and of the individual who made the attack. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)