@article{ref1,
title="Imitation of Self-Aggressive Behavior: An Experimental Test of the Contagion Hypothesis",
journal="Journal of applied social psychology",
year="2003",
author="Berman, Mitchell E. and Celeste Walley, Jeanette",
volume="33",
number="5",
pages="1036-1057",
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.<p />",
language="",
issn="0021-9029",
doi="10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01937.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01937.x"
}