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Inadequate Environment and Situation Control

Is a Malfunctioning Phone Always an Occasion for Aggression?

Universite Rene Descartes; Laboratory of Applied Social Psychology

Claude Levy-Leboyer

Universite Rene Descartes in Paris; International Association of Applied Psychology.

An inadequate environment represents a stressful situation and is likely to produce aggressive behavior. Malfunctioning phones are stressful in more than one way: The users cannot place a call, do not know where other phone boxes are, and cannot get reimbursement of the money lost. The observed aggressive behavior of users could be explained by the lack of alternatives in this situation. To test this hypothesis, users were provided in a sample of phone boxes with additional information on possible next steps. The additional information reduces the amount of aggressiveness but does not change the nature of behavior. Results show that some aggressive acts against the environment develop when subjects feel they have no control in an inadequate environmental situation.

Environment and Behavior, Vol. 17, No. 4, 520-533 (1985)
DOI: 10.1177/0013916585174006


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