Associates for 12 words with at least one aggressive meaning were obtained from 80 middle-aged and 92 college individuals using the word-association method. A second sample of 120 individuals (30 in each of 4 age-sex groups) used the same words in a sentence. A general correspondence of the primary associates across age, sex, and method was observed. The sentence method appeared to be a more sensitive indicator of age-sex differences than the word association method. While being female or being over 35 was associated with fewer aggressive responses, age was seen as a more powerful moderator of aggressive responses than sex.
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