Citation

Geen RG. J. Res. Pers. 1975; 9(4): 270-281.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1975, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0092-6566(75)90002-1

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Sixty male subjects were either attacked or treated neutrally by a confederate, after which each saw a videotape of two men fighting. Subjects were informed that fight was either real or fictitious or were given no explanation of it. Subjects who had previously been attacked and had observed the fight under a set to perceive it as real were subsequently more punitive in their treatment of the confederate than subjects in all other conditions. The combination of prior attack and observation of real violence also sustained blood pressure (BP) at near the level produced by the attack, whereas BP of attacked subjects in the other conditions declined during the time the fight was observed. Palmar sweat measures revealed that observation of real violence was more arousing than observation of fictitious fighting. The results are discussed in terms of the effects that the reality of observed violence has on emotional arousal.