Perception of an Aggressor and His Victim as a Function of Their Relationship and Retaliation

Abstract

Two experiments, using a simple incident of aggression described in a passage, were conducted to study the evaluation of an aggressor (Study II) and his victim (Study I) as a function of their relationship. Both studies used a 2 (subjects' sex) × 2 (aggressor superior to victim vs aggressor subordinate to victim) × 2 (retaliating vs nonretaliating victim) factorial design, with 20 college students per cell as subjects (N = 320). The nonretaliating victim was rated more positively than the retaliating victim on all dimensions. The aggressor tended to be more favorably judged when the victim was a superior rather than a subordinate, although this was not true of all conditions or of all dimensions.