EMPATHY AND AGGRESSION - EFFECTS OF SELF-DISCLOSURE AND FEARFUL APPEAL

On the basis of the familiarity-empathy assumption that self-disclosur e evokes empathy for the speaker, it was predicted that a victim's sel f-disclosure would inhibit aggression against the victim. Female Japan ese subjects were asked to give electric shocks to a female victim who disclosed information about herself, was not given an opportunity to do so, or rejected disclosure. Independently of self-disclosure, anoth er empathy arousal was introduced, that is, whether or not the victim expressed her fear of shocks before they were delivered. Consistent wi th our hypothesis, subjects selected less severe shocks when the victi m disclosed information about herself than when she was not given an o pportunity to do so or when she rejected self-disclosure. The victim's expression of fear was also very effective in reducing subjects' aggr ession, suggesting that drawing subjects' attention to the victim's ne gative emotional state evoked empathy for her and reduced their aggres sion.