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Some Factors Influencing Aggression in Two Field Experiments a
Mary B. Harris & George C. Samerotte
a
a
University of New Mexico , USA Published online: 30 Jun 2010.
To cite this article: Mary B. Harris & George C. Samerotte (1976) Some Factors Influencing Aggression in Two Field Experiments, The Journal of Social Psychology, 98:2, 291-292, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1976.9923402 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1976.9923402
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The Journal of Social Psychology, 1976, 98, 291-292
SOME FACTORS INFLUENCING AGGRESSION I N TWO FIELD EXPERIMENTS* University of N e w Mexico
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MARYB. HARRISAND GEORGEc. SAMEROTTE' In a five variable factorial experiment conducted in the summer, 320 men who were standing alone in supermarket checkout lines were exposed to an E who cut in line in front of them and unobtrusively coded their verbal and nonverbal aggressive responses. E wore either a plain shirt or a shirt with PEACE stenciled on it, carried a transistor radio either turned to a popular music station or turned off, carried powdered milk, beans, and tuna fish (high need items) or potato chips, cookies, and candy (low need items), wore an eyepatch or not, and carried food stamps or not. He also recorded the outdoor temperature every half hour. A reliability check with a second independent scorer for 2 5 Ss led to correlations of .901, .861, and .905 for verbal, nonverbal, and total aggression. However, three five-way analyses of variance for verbal, nonverbal, and total aggression revealed no significant main effects and only three statistically significant but trivial interactions. Chi square analyses also revealed no group differences either in percentages of Ss who were aggressive or in the percentages of nonaggressive Ss giving polite responses. Outdoor temperature and amount of total aggression showed a low but statistically significant negative correlation (r = -.1123, df = 318,
p < .OS). In order to be positive that these negative results were not due to some artifact of the experimental procedure, a second experiment was conducted, replicating the PEACE and eyepatch variables of the first experiment and the conventional-unconventional dress manipulation found significant in a previous study.2 Forty male Ss in lines at booths at a state fair were assigned to the conditions of PEACE or plain shirt, eyepatch or not, and conventional high-status dress or unconventional low status, hippie
* Received in the Editorial Office, Provincetown, Massachusetts, on November 2 1 , 1974. Copyright, 1976, by The Journal Press. I This research was supported by the University of New Mexico Research Allocations Committee. * Harris, M. B. Mediators between frustration and aggression in a field experiment. J . Exper. Soc. Psychol., 1974, 10, 561-571. 291
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dress, in a 2 X 2 x 2 factorial design. Procedures and measures were identical to those in the first experiment. Three three-way analyses of variance revealed that those in unconventional attire received more verbal (F = 4.44), nonverbal (F = 5.90), and total aggression (F = 5.81, all df = 1/32, all p s < .05), as in the previous study.2 No other effects approached statistical significance. These results suggest that the paradigm is valid and that, although people indoors are slightly less aggressive when the outdoor temperature is hot and to a person in conventional attire, the word PEACE and the sight of food stamps are cues to neither aggression nor pacifism. Nor was it the case that music increased arousal and thus aggression, that an eyepatch decreased social interactions, or that a person carrying less nutritious items received more aggression.
Department of Educational Foundations University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131