A hot new way to measure aggression: Hot sauce allocation

✍ Scribed by Joel D. Lieberman; Sheldon Solomon; Jeff Greenberg; Holly A. McGregor

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 122 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0096-140X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2337(1999)25:5<331::aid-ab2>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

Laboratory experiments investigating aggressive behavior have operationalized and assessed aggression in a variety of ways; however, these measures are often problematic because they do not create a situation in which participants perceive potential for real harm to come to the target, there is a risk of actual harm to the target, or they are too familiar to participants. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new method for measuring aggression, specifically, the amount of hot sauce administered to a target known to dislike spicy foods. We summarize a series of experiments assessing theorybased hypotheses regarding aggression in which this measure is employed. We then briefly consider the strengths and limitations of this new measure.