Aggression

Question 1

List the four theories of aggression.

Answer 1

Instinct theory
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
Aggressive Cue Hypothesis
Social Learning Theory of Aggression

Question 2

Outline the basic premises of ‘Instinct theory’ - can you summarise with an example?

Answer 2

Personality is innate/genetic/inherited
Personality is stable
Personality is enduring
Behaviours are a natural response and not influenced by the environment
eg. The football player who seems to love hard tackles and getting involved in aggressive comments and actions regardless of the situation.

Question 3

Outline the basic premises of ‘Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis’

Answer 3

The performer has a drive to achieve a goal
The goal is then blocked
This causes frustration
The frustration leads to aggressive actions
The may produce success and catharsis (a nice feeling)
However it may result in punishment and more frustration and consequently more aggression

eg. The Rugby player who keeps being tackled by his/her opposite number. They may become frustrated and resort to aggression. (punching, gouging etc) - this may result in success or in punishment (eg. being sent off) which could result in more frustration and aggression

Question 4

Outline the basic premises of the Social Learning Theory of Aggression

Answer 4

Aggression is a ‘learned’ behaviour
Aggression is copied from role models and significant others
When aggression is seen as acceptable in the social group it becomes more frequent.
The situation / environment is the key predictor of aggression, not the individual’s personality
When aggressive behaviour is reinforced and not punished it is more likely to occur.

Question 5

Outline the basic premises of the Aggressive-cue hypothesis

Answer 5

When aggressive ‘cues’ are prevalent in the environment it is more likely that aggression will occur
eg. In a ‘heated’ atmosphere where the crowd are very loud and abusive, the significance of the game is high and the shame of losing is high - there would be more occurrence of aggressive acts.

If the other team are being aggressive towards you it is again more likely that your players would be aggressive back, especially when the referee is not effective dealing with the aggression

Question 6

How many ways can you think of to eliminate aggression in your players? Can you link the methods to each theory?

Answer 6

Instinct theory:
Identify which players might become aggressive
Provide opportunity for non-aggressive ‘release’
Educate players to be aware of their own aggression and to build in anger management techniques
Frustration/Aggression:
Remove the block to the goal
Remove from the situation
Provide technique advice to overcome the block to the goal instead of resorting to aggression.
Educated player to identify their own frustration early and solve it through stress management approaches
Social Learning:
Reinforce non-aggressive behaviour
Provide non-aggressive role models
Punish aggressive behaviour
Demonstrate non-aggressive behaviour
Aggressive-Cue Hypothesis
Remove/control aggressive cues in the environment
Educate players to deal with stressful environments and to keep their ‘heads’