Sex differences in bystander reactions to physical assault

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Abstract

In a “psychodrama” situation, a “spontaneous” fight occurred between two male and/or female accomplices. As predicted, significantly more male Ss attempted to interfere with the fight than did female Ss. Contrary to prediction, however, none of six male Ss interferred when a male was “injuring” a female. A number of possible explanations for this latter finding were presented, among them the speculation that males obtained vicarious sexual and/or hostile gratification from seeing a male “hurt” a female.

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This article is an elaboration of a paper presented at the 1969 Midwestern Psychological Association Convention, Chicago, Illinois. The authors wish to thank Andrew Barclay and Arthur A. Seagull, for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. This research was supported, in part, by USAF Office of Scientific Research Grant (F44620-69-C-0114).

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