Status of provocateur and target, and triggered displaced aggression

Study 1 (participants : 128 university students : 68 men, 60 women, average age = 20.25) applied the triggered displaced aggression paradigm (TDA; Pedersen, Gonzales, & Miller, 2000) in a hypothetical situation, and confirmed its validity. Study 2 (participants : 243 university students : 75 men, 168 women; average age = 20.58) examined effects of the status of provocateur and target on triggered displaced aggression, utilizing a hypothetical situation in which the statuses of provocateur and target were senior, peer, or junior. The significant main effect of the status of the target indicated that the junior-target group exhibited stronger triggered displaced aggression than did the senior-target group. The significant interaction of the status of the provocateur and the target indicated the following : (a) in the peer-provocateur condition, the peer-target and junior-target groups exhibited stronger triggered displaced aggression than did the senior-target group, (b) in the junior-provocateur condition, the junior-target group exhibited stronger triggered displaced aggression than did the senior-target and peer-target groups, and (c) when a senior was the provocateur, the senior-target group exhibited stronger triggered displaced aggression than the senior-target group did when a peer or junior was the provocateur.