Environmental influences on aggression: The facilitation of modeling effects by high ambient temperatures

Abstract

Forty undergraduate males participated in an experiment designed to investigate the hypothesis that the influence of an aggressive model on the subsequent behavior of adult Os would be enhanced by uncomfortably high ambient temperatures. In order to examine this suggestion, a 2 by 2 factorial design based upon two levels of ambient temperature (cool, hot) and two levels of exposure to the model (no model, model) was employed. Results indicated that, consistent with the findings of previous research, aggression was facilitated by exposure to the model. In addition, support was obtained for the prediction that the influence of the model would be enhanced by high ambient temperatures. © 1972, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.