Gender differences in laboratory aggression under response choice conditions

Abstract

Eighty-four undergraduate student volunteers were tested on the Response Choice Aggression Paradigm [Zeichner et al., 1999]. Men (n ¼ 43) and women (n ¼ 41) participants were provoked in a reaction time competition by receiving electric shocks and were allowed to respond to a confederate with similar shocks or to refrain from any retaliation. Results indicated that men administered more shocks, chose more intense shocks, and administered the highest available shock at a greater proportion relative to all their shock selections than did women. In contrast, women evinced a longer latency before becoming aggressive and initiated aggression at lower intensities than did men. Moreover, across shock trials, gender-specific aggression patterns indicated that while men alternated response frequency, women gradually increased their response frequency to a peak close to the end of the task. The results confirm earlier findings of gender differences in aggression and offer new indices of aggression ''flashpoint'' as a step closer to understanding aggressive behavior in naturalistic circumstances. Aggr. Behav. 29:95-106, We are reminded by violent acts perpetrated by youngsters in schools and on the street, that despite the apparent decrease in violent crime documented by surveys and reported in the media, aggressive behavior is a malady affecting increasingly younger segments of society. Domestic violence [Wilson et al., 1995], assault [Muehlenhard andLinton, 1987], aggressive vehicular driving [Novaco, 1991], murder [Malmquist andNedelson, 1996], suicide [Diekstra, 1996], aggression directed toward minorities in crimes of hate [Garofalo and Lurigio, 1997], and violence perpetrated when aggressor or victim is inebriated [Lindqvist, 1986], strongly suggest that continued research on aggression in varied contexts is sorely needed. Available literature on aggression perpetrated by humans is limited. The bulk of pertinent research has focused on men and has shown, in general, that men are more aggressive than women. However, despite the statistics indicating that fewer women are arrested for aggravated assault relative to men [Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2000], one cannot escape the fact that aggressive behavior and violent crime are perpetrated by both genders. Clearly, it is n Correspondence to:

Determinants of Anger and Physical Aggression Based on Sexual Orientation: An Experimental Examination of Hypermasculinity and Exposure to Male Gender Role Violations

“…The RCAP differed from the original Taylor Aggression Paradigm (Taylor, 1967) and its modifications in that it allowed the participant to administer a shock following a ''win'' or a ''loss'' or to refrain entirely from administering a shock to his opponent. The addition of a no-response option to laboratory paradigms that measure physical (Zeichner et al, 1999(Zeichner et al, , 2003 and non-physical aggression (Cherek, 1981) has enhanced the realistic aspects of the paradigm and, concurrently, has not diminished the internal validity of the procedure. The validity of laboratory-based measures of aggression has received extensive support in the literature (e.g., see Giancola & Chermack, 1998;Pedersen, Aviles, Ito, Miller, & Pollock, 2002).…”

“…The Response Choice Aggression Paradigm (RCAP; Zeichner, Frey, Parrott, & Butryn, 1999;Zeichner, Parrott, & Frey, 2003) was used to measure physical aggression. In this task, the participant was placed in a reaction time competition where electrical shocks were received from and ostensibly administered to a fictitious ''opponent.''…”

Further evidence for the validity of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm

“…Physical aggression is operationalized as the average shock intensity the participant administers to the ''opponent'' on winning trials. More recent modifications of the TAP have added a number of other dependent variables such as shock duration, frequency of shocks as well as the option to not retaliate at all [Berkowitz and LePage, 1967;Bushman, 2002;Zeichner and Pihl, 1979;Zeichner et al, 2003]. There also exist a number of modified versions of the TAP in which tone blasts are used instead of electric shocks [Bushman, 2002;Zeichner and Pihl, 1979].…”

The relationship between pain tolerance and trait aggression: effects of sex and gender role

“…For example, crime statistics show that men commit more than half of all homicides, are the predominant perpetrators of rape and domestic violence against women, and are the typical perpetrators of antigay aggression [FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2006Harry, 1990;NCAVP, 2007]. Congruently, naturalistic and laboratory studies indicate that men, in general, display more physical aggression than women [Archer, 2004;Zeichner et al, 2003]. Additionally, men tolerate more experimentally induced pain than do women [Bernardes et al, 2008;Myers et al, 2001;Riley et al, 1998;Unruh, 1996].…”