External validity of "trivial" experiments: The case of laboratory aggression.

Abstract

The external validity of artificial “trivial” laboratory settings is examined. Past views emphasizing generalizability of relations among conceptual variables are reviewed and affirmed. One major implication of typical challenges to the external validity of laboratory research is tested with aggression research: If laboratory research is low in external validity, then laboratory studies should fail to detect relations among variables that are correlated with aggression in “real-world” studies. Meta-analysis was used to examine 5 situational variables (provocation, violent media, alcohol, anonymity, hot temperature) and 3 individual difference variables (sex, Type A personality, trait aggressiveness) in real-world and laboratory aggression studies. Results strongly supported the external validity of trivial laboratory studies. Advice is given on how scholars might handle occasional descrepancies between laboratory and real-world findings.

Cites (123)

1. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences
   Muller, Keith · 1989 · Technometrics
2. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations
   Baron, Reuben M., Kenny, David A. · 1986 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
3. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences
   1990 · Computers, Environment and Urban Systems
4. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.).
   Lachenbruch, Peter A., Cohen, Jacob · 1989 · Journal of the American Statistical Association
5. Untitled work
   1963 · Medical Entomology and Zoology
6. Untitled work
   1979 · Medical Entomology and Zoology
7. Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis
   Wasserman, Stanley, Hedges, Larry V., Olkin, Ingram · 1988 · Journal of Educational Statistics
8. Journal of social behavior and personality
   1986 · Personality and Individual Differences
9. The Aggression Questionnaire.
   Buss, Arnold H., Perry, Mark · 1992 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
10. An inventory for assessing different kinds of hostility.
    Buss, Arnold H., Durkee, Ann · 1957 · Journal of Consulting Psychology

Show all 123 references

Cited by (508)

1. Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: Does self-love or self-hate lead to violence?
   Bushman, Brad J., Baumeister, Roy F. · 1998 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
2. Sex Differences in Aggression in Real-World Settings: A Meta-Analytic Review
   Archer, John · 2004 · Review of General Psychology
3. Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life.
   Anderson, Craig A., Dill, Karen E. · 2000 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
4. One Hundred Years of Social Psychology Quantitatively Described
   Richard, F. D., Bond, Charles F., Stokes-Zoota, Juli J. · 2003 · Review of General Psychology
5. Psychological Entitlement: Interpersonal Consequences and Validation of a Self-Report Measure
   Campbell, W. Keith, Bonacci, Angelica M., Shelton, Jeremy, Exline, Julie J., Bushman, Brad J. · 2004 · Journal of Personality Assessment

See all 508

Related (9)

1. External Validity of "Trivial " Experiments: The Case
   Brad J. Bushman, Ann Bettencourt
2. Research in the Psychological Laboratory: Truth or Triviality?
   Anderson, Craig A., Lindsay, James J., Bushman, Brad J. · 1999 · Current Directions in Psychological Science
3. External validity is more than skin deep: Some answers to criticisms of laboratory experiments.
   Berkowitz, Leonard, Donnerstein, Edward · 1982 · American Psychologist
4. In defense of external invalidity.
   Mook, Douglas G. · 1983 · American Psychologist
5. A further comment on the construct validity of laboratory aggression paradigms
   James T. Tedeschi, Brian M. Quigley · 2000 · Aggression and Violent Behavior

See all