The Frequency of Third-Party Involvement in Incidents of Barroom Aggression

This paper examines the frequency and nature of third-party involvement in aggressive incidents occurring in young people's bars and the effects of third parties on incident outcomes. Observational data were collected in 12 bars frequented by young people, and telephone interviews were conducted with 31 young people who responded to advertisements posted at the university campus. In total, 154 incidents of barroom aggression were analyzed. Overall, 49% (76) of incidents included third-party involvement by other patrons. About 40% (n=31) of third-party incidents involved nonaggressive third parties, 22% (n=17) involved aggressive third parties, and 38% (n=29) involved both aggressive and nonaggressive third-party participants. Nonaggressive interventions were more likely to decrease aggression, while aggressive interventions were more likely to increase aggression (χ2=65.5, p<.0001). Females appeared to be somewhat more likely than males to intervene nonaggressively (χ2=11.3, p<.1). The intoxication levels of participants were highest in incidents involving both nonaggressive and aggressive third parties (F-ratio=4.6, p<.01). These findings suggest that third parties play a significant role in the outcome of barroom aggression among young people, and that further research is needed on the role and impact of third parties.

Third party involvement in barroom conflicts

This study examines the effect of situational variables on whether third parties intervene in conflicts in barroom settings, and whether they are aggressive or not when they intervene. Based on research on bystander intervention in emergencies, we hypothesized that third parties would be most likely to become involved in incidents with features that convey greater danger of serious harm. The situational variables indicative of danger were severity of aggression, whether the aggression was one-sided or mutual, gender, and level of intoxication of the initial participants in the conflict. Analyses consist of cross-tabulations and three-level Hierarchical Logistic Models (with bar, evening, and incidents as levels) for 860 incidents of verbal and physical aggression from 503 nights of observation in 87 large bars and clubs in Toronto, Canada. Third party involvement was more likely during incidents in which: (1) the aggression was more severe; (2) the aggression was mutual (vs. one-sided) aggression; (3) only males (vs. mixed gender) were involved; and (4) participants were more intoxicated. These incident characteristics were stronger predictors of non-aggressive third party involvement than aggressive third party involvement. The findings suggest that third parties are indeed responding to the perceived danger of serious harm. Improving our knowledge about this aspect of aggressive incidents is valuable for developing prevention and intervention approaches designed to reduce aggression in bars and other locations.

Lashing out after stewing over public insults: the effects of public provocation, provocation intensity, and rumination on triggered displaced aggression

Four studies present the first evidence showing that public (vs. private) provocation augments triggered displaced aggression by increasing the perceived intensity of the provocation. This effect is shown to be independent of face-saving motivation. Following a public or private provocation, Study 1 participants were induced to ruminate or were distracted for 20 min. They then had an opportunity to aggress against another person who either acted in a neutral or mildly annoying fashion (viz. triggering event). As expected, the magnitude of the greater displaced aggression of those who ruminated before the triggering event compared with those distracted was greater under public than private provocation. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 and confirmed that public provocations are experienced as more intense. Studies 3 and 4 both manipulated provocation intensity directly to show that it mediated the moderating effect of public/private provocation found in Study 1. The greater intensity of a public provocation increases reactivity to a subsequent trigger, which in turn, augments triggered displaced aggression.

The effect of jury deliberations on jurors' propensity to disregard inadmissible evidence

The goal of this research was to examine the effect of jury deliberations on juror's propensity to disregard inadmissible evidence. Extant research is inconclusive; some research indicates that jurors do follow judicial instructions to ignore inadmissible evidence, but other research suggests that jurors do not. Two experiments examined whether jurors were affected by inadmissible evidence. The results revealed that although mock jurors were biased by inadmissible evidence prior to deliberations, the bias was tempered following deliberations. In Experiment 1, post deliberation jurors disregarded incriminating evidence that was ruled inadmissible because of due-process concerns. Experiment 2 replicated these results with less incriminating inadmissible evidence and also revealed that jurors did not accurately gauge the impact that the inadmissible evidence had on their verdicts. Theoretical and judicial policy implications are discussed.

Alcohol and aggression: a validation study of the Taylor aggression paradigm

An experimental study was performed testing the validity of the Taylor aggression paradigm when used to study the effects of alcohol on aggression. The main hypothesis stated that the Taylor paradigm does not adequately control for differences in pain/discomfort thresholds when subjects are repeatedly shocked. 36 male subjects were randomly assigned to an alcohol or a placebo condition. They were first required to adjust an electric shock to a subjective criterion (“definitely unpleasant”). This shock setting was then used to calibrate a shock-intensity scale. Subjects were given 12 shocks of varying intensities from this scale. No shock was above the subjective criterion. After the 12 shocks subjects again adjusted an electric shock to the same subjective criterion. Each shock and subjective criterion were rated by subjects for experienced pain and experienced total discomfort. Validity of the Taylor paradigm requires that pain/discomfort thresholds remain stable throughout a period of experimental observation. The results indicate that intoxicated subjects chose a higher initial subjective criterion and experienced the subsequent shocks more intensely. Intoxicated subjects in the Taylor paradigm are more provoked than sober subjects and reported increases in aggression scores for intoxicated subjects can not conclusively be attributed to alcohol alone.

CROWD SIZE AND DENSITY IN RELATION TO ATHLETIC AGGRESSION AND PERFORMANCE

The records of 426 games played in the twelve team Western Hockey League provided the data for an investigation of the relationships between crowd size and density, and both player aggression (aggressive penalties) and performance (goals). Crowd size was negatively related to the aggression and performance of visiting teams while crowd density was negatively related to the overall performance of both teams. The present and earlier studies suggest an inverted-U function best describes the relationship between the full range of crowd size and player aggression. The importance of a game was negatively related to home team performance and positively related to that of the visitors. Player aggression increased with the number of times any two teams had previously met during the season while intradivisional rivalries were associated with more aggression than interdivisional games.