Citation

Berman ME, Celeste Walley J. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 2003; 33(5): 1036-1057.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Box 5025, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5025. E-mail: mitehell.berman@usm.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01937.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to experimentally examine the influence of a self-aggressive model on self-aggressive behavior under controlled laboratory conditions. Participants (N = 94) were given the opportunity to self-administer electric shock while competing with a fictitious opponent in a reaction-time task. Participants observed the opponent self-administer either increasingly intense shock (a self-aggressive model) or constant low shocks (a non-self-aggressive model). Self-aggression was defined as the intensity of shock that was self-administered by participants. Results provide support for the notion that social information can influence the expression of self-aggressive behavior. Specifically, participants attended to the opponent's shock choices in both model conditions, and chose shocks consistent with those of the observed model.