Predicting our own aggression: person, subculture or situation?

Using a self-report technique, teenaged subjects (stratified by sex and social class) were asked to report their predicted behaviour over 24 conflict scenarios involving 12 male and 12 female targets. In terms of degree of aggression predicted, there was a strong effect of situation. Towards male targets, lower middle-class subjects were more aggressive than upper middle-class subjects and males were more aggressive than females. With respect to female targets, the social class difference again appeared but there was no simple sex difference. The interaction of sex and social class indicated that lower middle-class females were most aggressive toward female targets. Cross-situational consistency was low even controlling for class and sex, indicating little support for a generalized 'aggressive personality'. The most powerful single effect was the situation being judged. Feature analysis of situations tending to produce fight vs. flight responses suggested that flight is associated with perceived high risk encounters whereas fighting is the modal response in 'fair fight' situations where the risk of injury is lower. It is suggested that impression management concerns operate only in these low risk situations.