Behavioral Effects of Unique Perspective Taking Methods
in Mildly Aggressive Situations
between Strangers
Aviva BannermanMiddlebury College
4 Response Categories
• Positive– Voice– Loyalty
• Negative– Exit– Neglect
Aggression
• Zillmann’s (1988) cognitive-excitation hypothesis
• How can we inhibit aggressive responses?
Perspective Taking
Imagine-Self Imagine-Other
Taking another person’s point of view
Method
• Behavioral differences
• Hypothesis
• Participants: 87 Middlebury students
• 3 conditions
Method
• Imagine-Self– Imagine how you would think, feel, and behave if you were
the other person in each story
• Imagine-Other– Imagine what the other person is thinking and feeling in each
story
• Control– Imagine how you would think, feel, and behave if something
like this really happened to you
Questionnaire
Bumped by a Stranger
While walking down the street, a pedestrian, X,
is texting on a cell phone and bumps right into
you. Instead of apologizing, X acts like it’s your
fault. How likely are you to engage in each of the
following responses?
Responses
• Voice: I’d gently indicate that it was X who hadn’t paid attention but show it was all right
• Loyalty: I’d let the comment pass and hope X’s anger
would soon subside
• Exit: I’d comment on X’s rudeness and keep on walking
• Neglect: I’d ignore X and keep walking
Behavioral Measure
• “Research assistant”
• 8-minute wait
• Out of time
• Survey
Results - Questionnaire
Exit Neglect Voice Loyalty0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Imagine-Self
Imagine-Other
Control
Response Type
Mea
n R
espo
nse
F(2, 83) = 2.40, p < .10
Results - Behavioral
Series10
5
10
15
20
25
30 Imagine-Self
Imagine-Other
Control
Sur
veys
Ret
urne
d
ConditionX2 (2, N=81) = .22, P > .05
Discussion Points
• No differences between groups
• Neglect Finding
• Why?– Manipulation Check
• Future directions
Acknowledgments
• Professor Gurland• Committee Members– Prof. Kimble– Prof. Campbell
• Yuki Shinoda• Joanna Wood• Psychology Department• Senior Work Fund• Tara Panthi - Illustrations
