aggression Flashcards
reconstructive memory
The idea that remembering the past helps reconstruct the events that you have experienced more recently.
Hostile aggressive
A type of aggression that motivated by anger and a desire to cause pain to someone, usually in reason to a perceived threat or insult
Violent aggression
any behaviour, including verbal events, which involves attacking another person, animal, or object with the intent of harming the target.
verbal aggression
communication with an intention to harm an individual thiurough words, tone or manner, regardless of whether harm occurs.
bullying
the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological
Vicious reinforcement
learning through the consequences of others
How can. operant conditioning explain aggression
the process of a behaviour change as a response to a consequence.
Behaviour is shaped by its consequences
Reinforced- likely to occur again
Punished- less likely to occur again
Aggression is mainly acquired and maintained via positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement
Aggressive behaviours are mostly acquired and maintained through positive reinforcement because aggression is an effective way of gaining rewards.
Skinner argued that behaviours that are positively reinforced only occasionally are especially strong. This is called variable interval reinforcement. This reprints how reinforcement is more hit and miss in everyday life.
This idea of variable interval reinforcement can be applied to social media notifications. - Because you are waiting for them to arrive, but don’t know when they will, it becomes more rewarding when they do eventually arrive.
What might affect positive reinforcement
They type of reward
Aggression brings two main types of rewards
Tangible rewards such as money, sex and food. For children, Patterson et al (1967) found that tangible rewards like getting a toy positively reinforced up to 80% of child aggressive behaviours.
Another type is intangible rewards. These include pleasurable feelings and social status.
social learning theory Albert bandora 1973
He realised that aggressive behaviour in humans cannot be fully explained by direct forms of learning such as operant conditioning.
Instead we need to consider that behaviour can be learned in a variety of ways
Sometimes this even includes the media, and the way in which role models respond to it.
Doll test- seeing the black doll as the bad doll and the whit doll as the pretty doll.
Factors of social learning theory-
Observing learning and modelling- Children learn specific aggressive behaviours through observation aggressive models eg, parents, siblings, peers. This does not guarantee that the individual will behave aggressively.
Vicious reinforcement- People observe not only the individual committing an act of violence, bur the consequence they experience too. The observer experiences the consequence ‘second hand’. This increases the likelihood that the observer will imitate behaviour.
bandura
evolution of aggression
The behaviour is naturally selected because provided advantages for males (Buss et al). Sexual jealousy helps defend against this possibility by promoting aggressive countermeasures. Wilson and dally called these mate retention strategies. Strategies involve instrumental aggression bcs they are to achieve a goal- men use them to prevent their partners from ‘straying’EG strategies - direct guarding -man monitoring his partners behaviour and stopping her from seeing other men eg using physical violence. Negative inducements- man issuingthretas of violence/ other consequences ill kill u if u leave me
1 brain structure influence of aggression- amygalda
The amygdala is a part of our limbic system which regulates our emotional behaviour.
Amygdala reactivity is a key predictor of human aggression
Higher sensitivity= more aggression
Aggressive people tend to have amygadala’s that react quickly and strongly to threatening stimuli (Gospic et al 2011)
brain structure influence of aggression- oribitofrontal cortex
The orbitofrontal cortex is a region of the brain which plays an important role in higher cognitive functions such as rational thinking
It regulates impulse control
Remember the frontal lobe is all to do with personality and behaviour.
Activity in this region is reduced in people with psychiatric disorders that feature aggression
An individual cannot inhibit their aggressive behaviours.
Dopamine causing aggression
Helps to regulate motivational behaviours and experience of reward. However, it interacts with serotonin to influence aggression. Seo et al (2008) argues serotonin under activity causes dopamine overactivity to cause impulsivity and aggression .
