DESCRIPTORS

Two studies were done to examine aggressive behavior in humans. In Experiment One, adults working on a plunger pulling task could receive a 3.5 ma shock at 75 % probability every two minutes. The shock was unrelated to their plunger pulling behavior. Subjects could press a toggle switch to deliver electric shock to the experimenter, who was in the room with the subjects as an alleged observer. Three sessions in which no shock was delivered alternated with two sessions in which shock was delivered. In shock sessions subjects pressed the toggle switch and shocked the observer at an average rate more than nine times higher than in the non-shcck sessions. In Experiment Two, baselines of aggressive behavior were collected for three consecutive 120- or 90-minute segments daily. The subjects were two children,'and a single-subject repeated measures multiple baseline design was used. After approximately two weeks of baseline, a brief time-out was made contingent upon aggressive behavior which occurred in the first segment each day, and non-contingent time-outs roughly yoked to the time-outs in the first segment were delivered in the third segment each day. Other conditions were also included. Non-contingent time-out seemed to control an above baseline rate of aggressive behavior in the segments in which it was programmed, and in adjacent segments. Results were interpreted as replicating the animal laboratory findings relating non-contingent aversive stimulation to aggressive behavior. (Author/KM) cr.