Abstract
It was hypothesized that information about others’ expectancies of success (a) is used for predicting their anger or aggression if thwarted and (b) affects the likelihood of thwarting another when retaliation is possible. The Ss controlled a good for which two others had competed and had to choose a single recipient under threat of being shocked by the one not chosen. Differential information about the competitors concerned their need for and/or expectancy of receiving the award. The prediction of shock was a positive function of expectancy level and was far more affected by expectancy than need. The relationship between expectancy level and yielding was obscured by the finding that others’ expectancy levels also affected sentiment toward them.
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Schulman, M. Expectancies as Cues for Predicting the Reaction to Failure. Psychol Rec 22, 267–276 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394091
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394091