An empirical test of the concept of hostile aggression

Berkowitz's (1990, 1993) definition of hostile aggression is distinguished by assumptions that can be empirically tested. So far, very few studies hav e attempted to provide evidence for hostile aggression while at the same ti me neglecting the key issue of hostile goals. An experiment examined goal e licitation when the individual is confronted with a scenario of a frustrati ng event. Either anger or fear related cognitions were activated in the ind ividual by means of an initial priming task. In accordance with the neoasso ciationistic approach (Berkowitz, 1993) and in underlying concept of hostil e aggression, it was predicted that only in the anger-priming condition hos tile goals (desire to hurt the other) would predominate other hedonistic go als of the individual. Results support this hypothesis and provide empirica l evidence for the usefulness of the concept of hostile aggression.