Variables in interracial aggression: Anonymity, expected retaliation, and a riot.

Two experiments employing white subjects examined the effects of anonymity, expected retaliation, race of target, and a campus racial disturbance on delivered and anticipated aggression (electric shock). Prior to statistical treatment, the data were subjected to principal components analyses, with three aggression components being identified: general direct aggression, extremes in direct aggression, and indirect aggression. In Experiment I, it was found that less direct and more indirect forms of aggression were delivered to black than to white targets when there was opportunity for the target to retaliate. When retaliation was unlikely, the subjects delivered more direct forms of aggression to black than to white targets. Following a campus racial disturbance, there were increases in direct forms of aggression toward black targets, with such aggression now being less dependent on the opportunity for retaliation (Experiment II). In both experiments more direct aggression was anticipated from black than from white targets. The results support the conclusion that white persons have learned to fear black retaliation, but that this fear acts only to inhibit direct forms of aggression in certain denned situations.