Citation

Noble G. Br. J. Criminol. 1971; 11(3): 230-244.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1971, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The sequential form of the repertory grid test was used to measure the relative abilities of delinquents and controls to provide constructs (verbal categories/scales) by which they discriminated between different types of aggressive television programmes. Repertory grid methodology was employed so that a comparison could be made between delinquent and matched control boys as regards a measure of the intensity of conceptual relationships, namely the overall tendency that the elicited constructs or verbal categories were associated or disassociated. Delinquents provided fewer constructs than controls, but there were no significant differences between samples as regards intensity scores. No significant differences were found between delinquents, assessed as aggressive (whether rated by peers or by psychologists) and non-aggressive delinquents or controls. These data are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that delinquents imitate the aggressive behaviour of television models.