aggression 1.3 Flashcards
Social psychological explanations of human aggression, including the frustration-aggression hypothesis, social learning theory as applied to human aggression, and de-individuation.
how is behaviour learnt according to SLT of aggression?
through observation
watching behaviour of a model
imitating behaviour of a model
who does the mode have to be?
can be anyone
doesn’t need to be a parent
influencing factors of aggression according to SLT
identification
vicarious reinforcement
how is identification an influencing factor?
if they observer identifies with the model they are more likely to imitate
how is vicarious reinforcement an influencing factor?
if observed model is rewarded for their behaviour this leads to vicarious reinforcement which means they’re more likely to imitate
4 mediational processes
attention
retention/memory
reproduction
motivation
attention
more likely to imitate if paying attention
memory/retention
more likely to imitate if they have better memory of the event
reproduction
need to be able to physically reproduce behaviour
motivation
less likely to imitate if lacks motivation
how does bandura’s bobo doll study support the social explanation of aggression?
bobo doll studies show that children are more likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour of a model if the model is rewarded
how does bandura’s 1977 quasi experiment support the social explanation of aggression?
showed that people living in high crime rate areas display more aggression than those in high crime rate areas
however couldn’t randomly allocate particiants into groups or directly manipulate IV
can’t establish cause and effect - correlational
may have been confounding variables such as stress causing higher aggression
how can social explanation of aggression explain cultural differences?
!Kung Society
little opportunity for children to observe aggression, not vicariously reinforced
less aggressive
can’t be explained by explanations that say aggression is genetic
how does the social explanation of aggression ignore genetic factors?
christiansen did a twin study on criminal activity
55% concordance rate for MZ twins
22% concordance rate for DZ twins
reductionist
ignores known genetic factors
aggression is potentially more interactionist
de-individuation theory
when someone loses awareness of individual identity and responsibility when in a large group
more likely to behave aggressively if in a large group
causes individual to feel less inhibited and behave aggressively
what do social norms inhibit?
the desire to be aggressive
2 factors affecting de-individuation
size of group
anonymous clothing
how the size of the group affects de-individuation
more likely to feel less anonymous in a smaller group
will behave more aggressively in larger group as there is shared responsiblity
how anonymous clothing affects de-individuation
anonymous clothing increases likelihood of de-individuation as they are more anonymous
e.g. hoodies
how zimbardo’s 1969 study supports de-individuation theory
control group:
name tags
no hoodie
identifiable
experimental group:
hoods covered faces
no name tags
were told they were administering shocks to a participant after pressing a button
those in experimental group gave higher shocks, more aggression
how mullen’s study supports de-individuation theory
lynching - when members of a large social group target and kill members of a small social group
found that larger lynchings were more aggressive
analysed newspaper reports of lynchings in US
explain how evidence supporting de-individuation theory is inconclusive
prosocial behaviour - when people behave in a helpful way
meta analysis showed that sometimes being in a larger group meant more people were kind
found that de-individuation had only a weak effect on aggression
people in larger groups sometimes acted more aggressively as long as the aggression was justified
prosocial behaviour
when people behave in a helpful way
explain how there are gender differences in de-individuation theory
one researcher found that groups of male participants there was more de-individuation
can’t account for gender differences
group setting had no effect on female participants
de-individuation can’t explain why women don’t become aggressive
frustration
when a person gets upset because they have been prevented from achieving a goal
frustration-aggression hypothesis
states that people behave aggressively because they have been blocked from achieving their goals
states all aggression is caused by frustration
catharsis
when a person is released from feelings or frustration
stages of frustration-aggression hypothesis
frustration
aggression
catharsis
displacement
if we feel like we can’t direct our aggression at the person or thing that caused us to feel frustrated, we redirect our aggressive impulse towards someone or something else
3 factors that increase aggression according to frustration-aggression hypothesis
proximity to the goal
effectiveness of aggression
justifiability
how does ‘proximity to the goal’ increase aggression?
closer we are to the goal, more likely we are to behave aggressively if the goal is blocked
how does ‘effectiveness of aggression’ increase aggression?
more effective aggression is for helping us reach a goal, more likely we are to behave aggressively
how does ‘justifiability’ increase aggression?
more likely to be aggressive if the frustrating situation blocking their goal isn’t justified
how doob and sears’ study supports the frustration-aggression hypothesis
gave participants a frustrating and non-frustrating scenario
asked participants written questions regarding how they would behave in each scenario
self-report questionnaire
angrier in frustrating scenario
how pastore’s study supports the frustration-aggression hypothesis
manipulated the scenarios
sometimes they were justified and unjustified
more aggressive when situation was unjustified
e.g. bus drove past them when it was full or bus drove past when it was empty
tested justifiability
how the frustration-aggression hypothesis can be applied to real-world scenarios
Prik’s found that Swedish football fans display more aggression when their team is performing worse than expected
goal of team winning was blocked
made them feel aggressive
catharsis
how there may be a lack of research support for the frustration-aggression hypothesis
according to FAH, expressing aggression should make a person feel better
bushman (2002)
made all participants angry by getting confederate to criticise an essay they had written
group 1 - hit punching bag while thinking of confederate
group 2 - hit punching bag while thinking about keeping fit
group 3 - no punching bag
questionnaire about how angry they felt
group 1 - should’ve felt least angry
group 3 should’ve felt most angry
bushman found that aggression didn’t lead to catharsis
explain how the frustration-aggression hypothesis doesn’t account for gender differences
frustration-aggression hypothesis doesn’t predict that gender will have an effect on aggression
men are more likely to be aggressive than women
frustration-aggression hypothesis suffers from gender bias/beta bias
e.g. biological explanation states men are more aggressive because they have more testosterone
