HOW INDIVIDUALS RESPONSES AND ATTRACTIVENESS INFLUENCE AGGRESSION

The influence of one's physical appearance is enormous, especially dur ing social interactions with others. The effect of sex on aggressivene ss during social encounters with confederates of different sexes and a ttractiveness was investigated. Undergraduate college participants, 40 men and 40 women, had mater spilled on them as an aggression-provokin g situation. AU participants were rated for aggression by the two expe rimenters and by themselves. The main effect for attractiveness as obs erved by the experimenters was significant, with unattractive confeder ates having more aggression manifested toward them than reward their a ttractive peers. The main effect for response was significant, with co nfederates responding neutrally to having more aggression manifested t oward them than confederates who apologized. No other main effects or interactions were significant.