Approval Seeking, Social Cost, and Aggression: A Scale and Some Dynamics

Summary The two studies reported in this article concern the development of a scale measuring attitudes toward approval seeking and examine the relationship between approval seeking, social cost, and aggression. Validity problems of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale indicate the need to employ new methodological approaches. By means of responses by 408 male and female university students, 21 statements were selected for the final scale. The scale shows a satisfactory split-half correlation coefficient and significant relationships to self-esteem, competition, and aggression. The experimental study (N # 43 male and female undergraduates) yielded a significant interaction effect between approval seeking and social cost on aggression. High approval seekers showed low level of aggression toward high social cost frustrators and high levels toward low social cost frustrators. On the other hand, low approval seekers displayed approximately equal amounts of aggression in the two conditions. These results relate to a theory of displacement and scapegoating.