How Individuals' Responses and Attractiveness Influence Aggression

Abstract

The influence of one's physical appearance is enormous, especially during social interactions with others. The effect of sex on aggressiveness during social encounters with confederates of different sexes and attractiveness was investigated. Undergraduate college participants, 40 men and 40 women, had water spilled on them as an aggression-provoking situation. All participants were rated for aggression by the two experimenters and by themselves. The main effect for attractiveness as observed by the experimenters was significant, with unattractive confederates having more aggression manifested toward them than toward their attractive peers. The main effect for response was significant, with confederates responding neutrally to having more aggression manifested toward them than confederates who apologized. No other main effects or interactions were significant.