Variables in interracial aggression : exposure to aggressive interracial interactions

Includes bibliographical references.An experiment employing white subjects examined the influence of observed aggressive black-white interactions on subsequent interracial aggression. Before aggressing against a black target themselves, subjects were exposed to a white person aggressing against a black person using high, low, or unspecified electric shocks, and to the black person subsequently aggressing using one of the same three response patterns. Prior to statistical analysis, three orthogonal variates were identified: general direct aggression, extremes in direct aggression, and indirect aggression. It was found that, regardless of the behavior of the black person, subjects viewing a white person using low aggressive responses showed a lower level of general direct aggression than did subjects exposed to unspecified modeled behavior. A comparable decrease also resulted when subjects viewed only a low aggressive black. In no case was reduced general direct aggression found to be accompanied by increased indirect aggression. Results are discussed in terms of the usefulness of observational experience in modifying interracial aggression.M.A. (Master of Arts