Justification of interpersonal aggression in Japanese, American, and Spanish students

Six hundred and thirty-two university students of both sexes-242 Japanese ( 137 males and 105 females), 190 Spanish (71 males and 119 females), and 200 American (100 males and 100 females)-completed a questionnaire that examin ed their attitudes toward various kinds of aggression directed at other peo ple in different situations that ranged from self-defense to a method of ov ercoming communication problems. Factor analysis revealed three factors: ph ysical aggression (killing, torture, and hitting), direct verbal aggression (shouting and rage), and indirect verbal aggression (being ironic and hind ering). The basic factor structure of the Japanese, the Spanish, and the US A samples was similar. In all samples, men showed a higher justification of physical aggressive acts in any situation and of indirect verbal aggressio n in nondefensive circumstances. Cultural differences were found in the deg ree of justification of the three factors: in all kinds of situations, Japa nese students showed a lower justification of indirect verbal aggression bu t a higher justification of direct verbal aggression than USA and Spain sam ples. Physical aggression in defensive situations is justified more by Amer icans than by Japanese and Spanish students. These findings suggest the exi stence of a common basic moral code about physical aggressive acts, but the re seems to be a cultural influence on moral codes concerning verbal aggres sive acts. Oriental cultures, with an interdependent construal of self, see m to be more permissive of direct verbal aggression compared with Western c ultures, but they have less tolerance for indirect verbal aggression. There were practically no significant differences between American and Spanish s cores. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.