Introduction: Aggressive behavior following positive, negative and neutral social judgments has been examined in an exploratory research, namely in an experimental setting. Furthermore the link...Show moreIntroduction: Aggressive behavior following positive, negative and neutral social judgments has been examined in an exploratory research, namely in an experimental setting. Furthermore the link between fear of rejection and aggressive reactions has been investigated. Methods: Eleven participants (age 22-26) gave consent for joining the study. Aggressive reactions, i.e., positive, negative and neutral social judgments about their toy, were measured using a modified version of the social judgment paradigm. Fear of social rejection has been measured with a standardized survey (FNE-R). Results: Rejection seems to result in heightened aggressive reactions, compared to positive and neutral judgments. However, aggression following neutral and negative judgments correlated around .9. Fear of rejection did not influence aggression scores. Discussion: The results show a trend towards a consistency between rejection and increased aggression. Further research is needed to examine the role of gender in the interplay between rejection and aggression, and to examine the ambiguous character of the neutral social judgment found in this research.Show less
