A hot new way to measure aggression: Hot sauce allocation

Laboratory experiments investigating aggressive behavior have operationaliz ed and assessed aggression in a variety of ways; however, these measures ar e often problematic because they do not create a situation in which partici pants perceive potential for real harm to come to the target, there is a ri sk of actual harm to the target, or they are too familiar to participants. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new method for measuring aggr ession, specifically, the amount of hot sauce administered to a target know n to dislike spicy foods. We summarize a series of experiments assessing th eory-based hypotheses regarding aggression in which this measure is employe d, We then briefly consider the strengths and limitations of this new measu re. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.