Instrumental and Social Outcome Expectations of High-Aggressive and Low-Aggressive Boys

Antonius H.N. Cillessen and Julie A. Hubbard

Duke University

When 22 high-aggressive and 22 low-aggressive boys rated the instrumental effectiveness of aggression for solving social problems with hypothetical peers, their outcome expectations did not differ. However, when these same boys rated the instrumental effectiveness of aggression for solving social problems with actual peers, high-aggressive boys more frequently believed that aggression would help them to achieve their own goals than low-aggressive boys did. One explanation for this finding is that high-aggressive boys display a bias in their evaluation of the effectiveness of aggressive behavior. A second hypothesis is that high-aggressive boys actually experience greater instrumental efficacy of aggressive behavior in interactions with other children. The second hypothesis was supported by the finding that 22 average-aggressive boys rated the instrumental effectiveness of their own behavior as significantly lower with high-aggressive boys than with low-aggressive boys.