Aggression Flashcards
What is aggression?
Any action, carried out with the intention to cause harm, outside the laws of the sport e.g. kicking an opponent
What is assertive behaviour
- legal/often encouraged
- physically dominant - confident
What is instinct theory?
- aggression is a natural human response/innate
- aggression builds up in all individuals , and must be released
- aggression is triggered by increased arousal
- some personalities can control arousal better than others
Advantages and disadvantages of instinct theory
+ aggression is an accepted human trait
+ some people are always aggressive
- too simplistic
- doesn’t account for the environment
What is social learning theory?
- aggression is a learned response
- learned by observing and copying
- positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of copying
- negative reinforcement/punishment reduces the likelihood of copying
-aggression is more likely to be copied if observed in a role model
Advantages and disadvantages of social learning theory
+ Bandura’s theories are well established and recognised e.g. bobo does experiment
- doesn’t consider personality (traits)
-individuals do not always copy the behaviour that they observe e.g. seeing the club captain being aggressive and getting sent off every week
What is frustration-aggression theory
- frustration occurs when goal-directed behaviour is blocked e.g team is losing or individual is performing badly
- frustration leads to aggression
- if aggression is successful, catharsis occurs e.g. a performer hits an opponent ad isn’t caught, aggression is released
- if aggression is unsuccessful, and the performer gets sent off, frustration increases, arousal increases and then aggression increases
Advantages and disadvantages of frustration-aggression theory
+ explains how aggression builds up
+ plenty of evidence of links between frustration and aggression
- frustration doesn’t always lead to aggression
- when a goal is blocked it can lead to increased motivation
