Aggression 1

Question 1

What is aggression?

Answer 1

Any form of behaviour intended to harm or injure another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment (Baron & Richardson, 1994)

Question 2

What are the three defining features of aggression?

Answer 2

1) The aggressor must INTEND to harm or injure another person
2) The aggressor must have AWARENESS of adverse effects of the behaviour
3) Target of the aggression must want to AVOID harm: not performed at target’s request

Question 3

What is the difference between violence and aggression?

Answer 3

Violence is carried out with the intention or threat of cause serious PHYSICAL harm. Involves the threat or use of PHYSICAL force.

Aggression doesn’t necessarily involve physical force.

Question 4

What are some examples of aggression?

Answer 4

Shouting
Gossiping 
Terrorism 
Child abuse
Domestic Violence
Football hooliganism

Question 5

What are the two types of aggression?

Answer 5

Hostile Aggression and Instrumental Aggression

Question 6

What is Hostile Aggression?

Answer 6

Aggressive behaviour motivated by the desire to express anger and hostile feelings.

Motive: harm the target

Question 7

What is Instrumental Aggression?

Answer 7

Aggressive behaviour performed to reach a particular goal, as a means to an end.

Motive: reach a goal, harm as side effect (e.g. smack a child so they won’t do something dangerous again)

Question 8

Why is aggression hard to measure experimentally?

Answer 8

Because it would be unethical to set up an experiment where

1) participants are put into a very high state of aggression and
2) are allowed to inflict genuine harm on another person

Question 9

What are two methods that social psychologists use to try to study aggression in the lab?

Answer 9

1) Experiments that use ‘trivial’, non-serious acts of harm

2) Archival data

Question 10

What are the two main theories of aggression?

Answer 10

1) Biological approaches

2) Psychological approaches