aggression Flashcards
what did hobbes say about aggression
humans are naturally aggressive
what is aggression
intention to harm - carlson et al 1989
how do we measure aggression
- bobo doll
- observations from teacher and colleagues - eron 1982
- self reports of aggressive behaviour
- self report of willingness to use violence in lab
- selecting spiciness of hot sauce for someone who does not like spice
how did chermack, berman and taylor measure aggression
- pps compete against opponent in reaction time game
- loser receives a shock
- 2 conditions - low and high - high is stronger shocks
evidence for gaming and aggression
- link between gaming and aggression but the effect is small
evidence against gaming and aggression
- no standardised use of aggression methods - makes effects seem bigger
- e.g. asking pps to estimate aggression
- doesn’t correlate with crime rates
what did kennedy find about gaming and aggression
- people who frequently play video games were less distracted by violent images in other contexts
- emotion-induced blindness
what is the psychodynamic theory of aggression
- innate - death instinct
- anger is initially directed as self destruction and then becomes directed towards others
- builds up naturally and must be released
what is the ethological perspective of aggression
- lorenz
- dual factor theory
- aggression has a survival value
- innately aggressive
- behaviour elicited by environmental stimuli - provoked
evolutionary theory of aggression
- aggressive behaviour helps pass on genes to next generation
- social and economic advantages
- limited evidence and circular
social learning theory of aggression
- children watched adult play with bobo doll
- observed aggressive model
- observed non-aggressive model
- found children who observed aggression displayed more aggression
frustration-aggression hypothesis
- aggressive behaviour always presupposes the existence of frustration
- frustration always leads to some form of aggression
- displacement to alternate target - scapegoat
what evidence is there for the frustration-aggression hypothesis
- barker et al 1941
- children shown a room of toys
- not allowed to play with them or allowed to play without waiting
- found frustrated group acted more aggressively
what are criticisms of frustration aggression hypothesis
berkowitz
- frustration doesnt always lead to aggression
- frustration is a feeling
- situational cues
what is excitation transfer theory
expression of aggression is a function of 3 factors
- learnt aggressive behaviour
- arousal or excitation from another source
- the persons interpretation of the arousal state
what factors influence aggression
- type a personality - striving to achieve urgency, competitiveness and hostility , more conflict with peers
- psychoticism
- frustration and provocation sensitivity
- heat
- presence of a weapon
- alcohol
- narcissism
what evidence is there for heat and violence
- pps with heat related words and imagery led pps to perceive neutral expressions as aggressive and have more aggressive thoughts
- comparing crime rates in similar regions to examine between heat and violence
- hotter areas have higher violent crime rates
- mares and moffett - violence data from 60 countries and found a link between heat and violence
- global change could increase homicide rates by up to 6%
what evidence is there for presence of a weapon influencing aggression
- men took part and held a gun or a childs toy
- measured aggressive behaviour - how much hot sauce they gave the next person
- holding a gun increases aggression
what evidence is there for alcohol influencing aggression
miller and parrott 2010
- intoxicated pps behave more aggressively and respond to provocations more strongly
- low aggressors became more aggressive when intoxicated whereas high aggressors did not
what evidence is there for narcissism influencing aggression
bushman and baumeister
- pps wrote essay on abortion - some given negative feedback
- later asked to deliver blast noises to another pp, they could adjust the level
- high levels of narcissism gave higher level of noise to who they thought criticised the essay and lower noise to those who praised them
- direct aggression at those who threaten self image
what is the general aggression model
- a comprehensive integrative framework for understanding human aggression. it considers the role of social, cognitive, developmental and biological factors
