Verbal aggressive behavior in delinquent boys.

2 studies used a laboratory measure of verbal aggressive behavior in which boys competed in pairs against one another in assembling a formboard. In Study I, 80 delinquent boys were subjected either to intense or mild verbal attack by a delinquent accomplice. Intense verbal aggression led to more retaliatory verbal aggression than did mild distraction. In Study II, 128 delinquent boys competed against one another in pairs which pitted boys who were nominated as either powerful or weak. The weak boys were less aggressive against powerful bullies than against powerful nonaggressive boys, presumably because of a differential fear of retaliation. There were significant differences in verbal aggression as a function of attacker, target, and order of attack. The lack of reliable measures of aggressive behavior in unplanned observational situations and the difficulties inherent in ferreting out causal connections from mere correlations are good reasons to pursue the experimental