Emotional and behavioral responses to aversive interpersonal behaviors

In a conceptual replication of A. Biglan, J. Rothlind, H. Hops, and L. Sherman (1989), 288 subjects rated their emotional and behavioral responses to aggressive, distressed, and neutral behaviors. The stimulus behaviors occurred in the context of casual relationships and were portrayed by male and female actors. Consistent with Biglan et al., we found that aggressive behaviors evoked angry emotions and negative behavioral responses; distressed behaviors evoked both angry and concerned emotions and supportive behavioral responses. However, in contrast to the original results, we also found evidence of negative (primarily avoidant) behavioral responses to distressed behavior.