LABORATORY MEASURES OF AGGRESSIVE RESPONDING IN MALE PAROLEES WITH VIOLENT AND NONVIOLENT HISTORIES

Males on parole were recruited into a study to determine the external validity of the (C)Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm, a laboratory procedure for measuring human aggressive responding, Subjects were as signed to either a violent or nonviolent group based on their criminal record and the Brown History of Violence Questionnaire, Subjects part icipated in six 25-min sessions and completed a series of questionnair es, During the laboratory sessions subjects were given two response op tions: 1) Pressing button A to accumulate points exchangeable for mone y, and 2) pressing button B which ostensibly subtracted points from an other fictitious person. Responding on button B was defined as aggress ive since it resulted in the ostensible delivery of an aversive stimul us to another person, Results indicated that the subjects in the viole nt group emitted significantly more aggressive responses than subjects in the nonviolent group. The two groups also differed on psychometric measures of aggression. This study provides external validity for thi s laboratory measurement of human aggressive responding, even among ma les with very similar backgrounds. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.