Aggression

Question 1

Aggression

Answer 1

• All behaviour that is intended to inflict physical or psychological harm on another individual who does not want to be so treated

Question 2

Pro- Social aggression

Answer 2

• Aggressive behavior that is intended to benefit others or serve a socially acceptable purpose

e.g when the police shoot a terrorist who has murdered hostages and is threatening others

Question 3

Santioned aggression

Answer 3

• Aggressive behavior that is officially approved or socially accepted within certain contexts

e.g self- defence

Question 4

Social psychological explanations of human aggression- SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Answer 4

• According to Bandura aggressive behaviour is learned not just through direction experience but more importantly from observing others
• Learning aggression by indirect vicarious reinforcement- this form of observational learning occurs when a child sees a role model behaving in a particular aggressive way and reproduces that aggressive behaviour. The child is then said to be imitating the aggressive behaviour of the role model.
• This is likely to occur due to the child observing the consequences of the aggression- vicarious reinforcement

Question 5

Mediational cognitive processes of aggression

Answer 5

• Attention- someone can only learn through observaton if they attend to the model’s behaviour- e.g The individual focuses on observing aggressive behavior, such as a role model engaging in aggression.
• Retention- To model the behaviour, it needs to be remembered- e.g The observed aggressive actions are mentally stored in memory for future reference.
• Motor reproduction- the individual needs to be able to reproduce the aggressive behaviour- e.g The individual assesses their ability to physically replicate the aggressive behavior they observed.
• Motivation- an individual expects to receive positive reinforcement for the modelled behaviour- e.g The individual is driven to reproduce the aggressive behavior if they expect positive outcomes or reinforcement, such as social approval or achieving a goal.

Question 6

What is self- efficacy and how does it relate to social learning of aggression?

Answer 6

• The behaviour will be maintained through direct reinforcement
• If the child gets what he or she wants as a consequence of their aggression, they will be reinforced directly and will repeat the behaviour
• Once the behaviour has been repeated sufficiently, it becomes internalised.

Question 7

AO3 Supporting research- Social psychological explanations of human aggression- SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Answer 7

• Bandura divided nursery school children into 3 groups
• All 3 childre watched a film where an adult model kicked and punched the Bobo doll
• Condition 1- Children saw the adult being rewarded by a second adult
• Condition 2- Children saw a second adult telling off the adult model for the aggressive behaviour
• Condition 3- Adult model was neither rewarded or punished
  Findings:
• Condition 1- Children behaved most aggressively
• Condition 2- Children behaved least aggressively
  Evidence for mediational processes- all children learned aggression- but didn’t necessarily carry out the behaviour
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• Patterson- through the use of surveys/ questionnaires they found that very aggressive children are raised in homes of high aggression, little affection, and little positive feedback. This suggests that there is support for the important role played by parents in modelling acceptable behaviour
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  CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE:
• Environemental reductionist- whether a child is aggressive or not is due to role models- Bandura ignored biological factors
• Reciprocal determinism- you choose your role mode,s if role model is aggressive and is rewarded you will also be aggressive. However, have some free wil to choose role model- some element of choice

Question 8

Social psychological explanations of human aggression- FRUSTRATION- AGGRESSION HYPOTHESIS

Answer 8

• Frustration leads to an aggressive drive which will be released in the presence of aggressive cues and we will behave aggressively.
• The aggressive act has a cathartic effect, in that our aggressive srive is released until frustration builds up again
• Hypothesis recognises that aggression is not always expressed directly against the source of frustraton
• The cause may be too powerful and we risk punishment by aggressing against it- so aggression is displanced onto an alternative- one

Question 9

AO3- Social psychological explanations of human aggression- FRUSTRATION- AGGRESSION HYPOTHESIS

Answer 9

• Frustration does not always lead to aggression and aggression does not always come from frustration
• Unpleasant experiences > negative affect theory
• Unpleasant experiences can be frustration but also sadness, fear, loneliness, jealous etc. which will lead to negative aggect which might be aggression but also crying, running away
• Frustration leading to aggression is just one possible outcome
  Frustration more likely to lead to aggression when:
  - How much you really want to achieve the goal
  - Whether you understand that there is a good reason for the problem
  - How expected/ unexpected the frustration was
• Once you understand why you can’t reach your foal, makes us feel reassured- less likely to result in aggression

Question 10

AO3- Supporting evidence- Social psychological explanations of human aggression- FRUSTRATION- AGGRESSION HYPOTHESIS

Answer 10

• Young children were frustrated by showing them a roomful of very attractive toys which they were not allowed to play with
• The children stood behind a screen looking at the toys
• A control group of children were not frustrated and allowed to play with the toys immediately
• Results found that while the control group played nicely with the toys, the “frustrated” group of children were extremely destructive in their behaviour- i.e smashing the toys, throwing them against the walls and stamping on them
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• Researchers found that when a participant is frustrated (caused by a receiving a number of electric shocks) and is then in the presence of an environmental stimuli which has an aggressive cue- value e.g a weapon, they were more likely to exhibit aggression (give a high number of shocks) than if they were in the presence of something neutral (e.g a tennis racket)- more likely to relaease aggression with cues