Journal of Abnormal Psychology

1971, Vol. 78, No. 3, 2<H T 244 .

SELF-DIRECTED AGGRESSION AND SIMILARITY BETWEEN

- FRUSTRATOR AND AGGRESSOR >•
- ROGER PIGG"- AND RUSSELL G. GEEN
University of Missouri

Under the guise of a learning experiment, 33 male college students were arbitrarily
given a number of electric shocks by an experimental confederate for incorrect
answers. Similarity between S and the confederate was then manipulated.
The 5s then punished themselves for wrong answers with electric shock. The 5
- who was moderately similar to his attacker tended to display greater intensities
- of self-punitive behavior. Greater conflict prior to self-punitive behavior was
evident when S and his attacker were highly similar. The instigation to self-agression
is apparently greatest when high similarity is perceived between the self and
attacker, but overt aggression is inhibited by as yet unconfirmed factors.

Aggression against the self is a complex topic,
yet its relevance to current social problems
justifies its consideration. The expression of
self-aggression may vary from a vety common
and normal self-evaluation, debasement, and
guilt (Epstein & Taylor, 1967) to maladaptive
self-destructive behaviors (Stengel, 1964).
Henry and Short (1954) suggested that suicide,
the ultimate act of self-aggression, originates
from frustration, a feeling similar to that of
Bollard, Boob, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears
(1939), who noted that frustration is always
an antecedent of aggression.3
'. In man}- situations, aggression aimed
directly at the frustrating object is not socially
condoned; in these instances, acceptable alter-
native targets are often dealt with aggressively
(Gold, 1958). Consider, for example, the case
of an aspiring junior executive whose superiors
are arbitrarily demanding and frustrating to
him. He may well wish to retaliate against his
superiors in some manner, yet insurmountable
social constraints prevent a direct attack.
The .consequences of a direct attack could be
devastating (Weatherly, 1961). In this ex-
ample, social sanctions may well favor the
1
This manuscript is based on an MA thesis submitted
to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University
of Missouri. Funds for support were provided by
National Science Foundation Grant NSFGS2748. The
design and execution of the study were the responsi-
bility of Roger Pigg, under the direction of Russell
G. Geen.
2
Requests for reprints should be sent to Roger Pigg,
who is now at Trenton Junior College, 1301 Main
Street, Trenton, Missouri 64683.
3
This belief has since been amended as aggression
may follow from conditions other than frustration.
241
displacement of aggression to other persons.
Our executive may, with relative impunity,
kick his dog, lash his children, or criticize his
wife. He may even, as a last resort, direct his
aggressions toward himself, a target which is
always available (Bollard et al,, 1939). The
maladaptive aspects of an attack upon the
self are a function of the degree to which the
aggression is self-destructive.
Miller (1948) has formulated a model by
which an aggressor's selection of targets other
than the perceived frustrator may be predicted,
Miller generated two functions: a response
strength gradient of approach and a steeper
one of avoidance plotted over the abscissa of
"distance from point of reinforcement." Miller
extended these notions by changing the ab-
scissa to "stimulus dissimilarity," theorizing
that as the similarity of a stimulus to the test
stimulus decreased, the strength of a response
to it would decrease; that is, even when the
abscissa is changed from distance to similarity,
similar functions or gradients would be evident.
One expects that the area on the abscissa be-
neath the point where the gradients cross
would be characterized by vacillation or con-
flict: any response tendency would have an
equally strong contradictory tendency.
The task of experimentally testing Miller's
notions with human 5s has been taken up by
Berkowitz (1962), who suggested that dis-
placed aggression is most likely to be directed
toward persons of intermediate similarity to the
original frustrator.
Situations do exist in which the self is a
socially approved and available target for the
displaced aggression. For example, Burnstein
242 ROGER PIGG AND RUSSELL G. GKEN
LOW
HIGH MODERATE LOW
SIMILARITY OF SELF TO FRUSTRATOR
FIG. 1. The probability of aggression toward the self as
a function of similarity between self and frustrator.
and Worchel (1962) found that if a group goal
were frustrated unavoidably by a handicapped
fellow S, the aggressive response to this
frustrator would be inhibited and at least in
part displaced by 5 to himself. The self-
punitive tendency may rarely be expressed
overtly by S and is not detected by E in con-
ventional experiments, but is probably one
consequence of an attack.
If we accept the notion that the self is
among the alternative targets toward which
displaced aggression may be directed, then in
a situation structured so that the self is the
only acceptable target, the crucial variable is
the similarity between the self and the frus-
trating agent.4
By combining the Miller extension noted
above and in Miller (1959) with the ideas
suggested above by Berkowitz and others, we
may place the self on the abscissa with varied
degrees of similarity to the frustrating stimulus
person. 5 At the point labeled "moderate" on
the abscissa, the total difference between the
height of the approach and avoidance gradients
will be greater than it would be at the other
two points.6 This affords the prediction that
4
Potential targets other than the self exist; however,
the self would be the only acceptable one. Conflict is
produced by the contradictory approach and avoidance
tendencies generated in the situation.
6
The three points "high," "moderate," and "low"
are representative of an infinite number of possible
degrees of self-frustrator similarity.
6
At the point labeled "high," aggression against the
self will be totally inhibited since the avoidance
gradient is higher than the approach, while at the
"low" point, aggression will be unlikely as the approach
gradient is very low.
displaced aggression will be more likely to be
directed toward a self of moderate similarity
to the frustrating stimulus person and less
Likel)' to be directed toward a self that is very
similar or very dissimilar to the frustrator.
Research such as that of Newcomb (1961)
and Byrne and Clore (1966) indicates a close
relationship between perceived agreement and
expressed liking for another. In a situation in
which the self experiences a contradictor)'
tendency to aggress against a highly similar
frustrator and must displace that tendency to
himself, conflict should be high. Where simi-
larity is moderate or low, conflict should be
lower.
The hypotheses tested are that following
an attack: (a) aggression displaced to the self
will be greater when the frustrator and self
are moderately similar to one another, and
(&) conflict will be greater when the frustrator
and self are highly similar.
METHOD
The 5s were 33 male undergraduates at the Uni-
versity of Missouri who volunteered from sections of
introductory psychology courses in order to earn extra
credit points counting toward their final grade.
The 5s were assigned at random to one of three treat-
ment groups, The independent variable was 5's per-
ception of the similarity between himself and a frustrat-
ing fellow 5 who was actually an experimental
confederate. All 5s, as one part in a bogus learning task,
were attacked by the confederate with electric shock.
Each 5 was then given the opportunity, as a second
part of the learning task, to deliver shock to himself.
The dependent variables are measures of these self-
directed aggressive responses defined as the intensity,
latency, and duration of the shocks 5s gave themselves.
Procedure
The 5 and confederate were met in a hallway by E.
After being introduced by E, they were taken into the
lab and told that the experiment involved human learn-
ing. Both were then asked to answer on paper either
"agree" or "disagree" to 30 attitude statements. The}'
were told that the answers they gave would later be
compared to sec how much the two of them answered
the same, as some people felt that the attitudinal agree-
ment between a teacher and learner was important in a
learning situation. The E also told them that he would
tell them the results of the comparison, for their own
information, before they left the experiment, thus
allowing introduction of the similarity manipulation.
After explaining that one of the two would act as
as teacher and the other as learner, E instructed the two
to draw lots to determine each man's role. The lottery
was arranged in such a way that 5 emerged as the
learner and the confederate as the teacher.
 SELF-DlRECTKD AGGRESSION
The S and the confederate were then asked to have
seats in separate experimental cubicles. The E explained
that electric shock was being used and after giving a
sample shock to S, elicited his agreement to remain in
the experiment. 7 All 5s agreed to remain in the experi-
ment after feeling the sample. A sample shock to the
confederate was faked and he also agreed to remain.
The S was then given a bogus concept-learning task
to perform while the confederate punished him with
shock8 .for incorrect answers. The procedure allowed
each S to make 12 errors over 20 trials. 9 After the last
trial, E introduced a low, high, or moderate level of
similarity. Eleven 5"s were placed in each level of simi-
larity by E's saying, "I've scored your answers to the
30 questions and you both answered the same on
(high) 26/(moderate) lS/(low) 4 of them. That's just
for your own information."
The E then explained that both S and the confederate
would work on the learning task, and that on eacli trial
each would know whether he was right or wrong and
each would punish himself with electric shock for
wrong answers. Intensity of shock was taken from a
readout on the confederate's console that lit up when
5 pushed a numbered switch on his console to deliver
a. shock to himself. The confederate recorded this
intensity. The E shocked S to correspond with this
number. Shock latency was taken from a timer on
the confederate's console that began when the con-
federate gave S the feedback that he was wrong and
stopped when 5 pushed a button to deliver a shock to
himself. Duration of the shock was recorded on a timer
on the confederate's console and measured the length
of time that 5 kept the shock button depressed. Follow-
ing the last of 20 trials, S was given a questionnaire to
assess his perceived similarity between himself and the
confederate and to determine whether he was aware
of the true purpose of the experiment.
The E concluded the procedure by explaining in
detail the true nature of the experiment and emphasiz-
ing that S did quite well. He then secured 5's promise
to not discuss it with anyone until the end of the
semester.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A nonparametric statistic, the Kruskal-
Wallis analysis of variance by ranks, was
employed to analyze the results. Table 1
presents the mean scores.
7
The shock was generated from a 3-v. dry-cell
battery in a Harvard inductor. The sample was the
maximum that an S would receive in the experiment.
8
The shock delivered was regulated by a dial that
was calibrated so as to make 10 discriminable shocks
possible. A high shock was a number 10, the maximum
possible. The E shocked himself with the number 10
intensity daily to check the apparatus. Each 5 received
10 number 10 shocks and two number one shocks.
9
Each 'S was given feedback by lights on a panel in
his cubicle that lit up when the confederate pushed a
switch in his cubicle. By this means, each S was told
he was wrong on 12 out of 20 trials,
243
TABLE 1
MEAN SCORES
Similarity
Sroi'p
High Moderate Low
Total intensity mean 70.4a 81.5b 72.6a .05
Total latency mean 34.1,. 25.4d 24.4,i .025
Mean similarity 11. Oe 7.2, 4.0g .01
Note.—Means with a common subscript are not significantly
different by Mann-Whitney U test at the level indicated.
The analysis of variance performed on the
intensity scores for ^s in each group indicated
a highly significant difference among means
(// = 10.3, df = 2, p < .01). Intergroup com-
parisons by the Mann-Whitney U test are
also indicated. These results provide con-
firmatory evidence for the hypothesis that the
displacement of aggression to the self will be
greater when the self and the frustrator are
moderately similar. The significantly lower
shock intensities given by the high and low
similarity ^"s did not differ from one another,
also as hypothesized.
The mean latency to response over 12 trials
for the 11 5s in each group is also presented
in Table 1. The analysis of variance computed
on the scores for the three groups revealed a
significant difference among mean latency
scores (H = 7.3, df = 2, p < .05). Included
is an indication of the results of Mann-Whitney
U tests for intergroup differences. If we assume
that latency is in part a measure of conflict
or inhibition, a longer latency is indicative of
greater conflict. The reliably longer latency
score for the high similarity group, bearing this
assumption in mind, provides confirmatory
evidence for the hypothesis that conflict will
be greater when the frustrator and self are
highly similar,
Kaufmann and Marcus (1965) found that
aggression was greater toward a dissimilar
than a similar stimulus. The consideration in
this research of response latency as well as
intensity, however, allows the differentiation
between instigation to aggression and overt
aggression which Kaufmann and Marcus'
stud)- was unable to do. The latency data seem
to imply that the instigation to aggress may
have been greatest in the high similarity group,
yet the action of inhibiting factors served to
lower the overt expression of aggression. The
244 ROGER PIGG AND RUSSELL G. GEEN
decrease in latency across groups from high
to low similarity groups, although not signifi-
cant between the moderate and low, seems to
suggest that the self was identifying with the
aggressor. As the self was perceived by S as
less like the frustrating aggressor, it could be
attacked with lesser conflict. It would also
follow from this position that were the in-
hibitions presented by the high similarity
situation to be removed, the intensities would
increase linearl}' from the low to the high
similarity condition, and latency differences
between groups would disappear.
To check the similarity manipulation, Ss
were given a 12-item postexperimental ques-
tionnaire. Six naive judges agreed that four
of the items dealt with this similarit)'. Each
S's similarit)' score was computed as a nu-
merical composite of the four individual item
scores. Table 1 includes a presentation of the
mean score for each of the three levels of the
independent variable. A Kruskal-Wallis anal-
ysis of variance by ranks was performed on the
similarity scores for 5s in each condition. The
analysis yielded a highly significant effect
(H = 21.9, df = 2, p < .01). Comparisons be-
tween particular groups were made by Mann-
Whitney U tests and are also given in Table 1.
It would appear from these data that the
similarity manipulation, as measured by the
four questionnaire items, was highly effective.
Each questionnaire item was analyzed in-
dividually, but reliable differences between
groups were not found,
To the extent that the hypotheses do reflect
the assumptions and theoretical assertions
from which they were derived, the present
results lend support to the theoretical model
presented in the introduction,
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(Received November 20, 1970)