Aggression

Question 1

Aaronson 1976 definition on aggression

Answer 1

Behaviour aimed at causing harm or pain

Question 2

What two factors can aggression be split into?

Answer 2

1. hostile aggression

2. aggression to achieve a goal (eg getting food)

Question 3

What is interpersonal aggression?

Answer 3

Aggression directed at a person

Question 4

What is impersonal aggression?

Answer 4

Violence directed at objects

Question 5

What are the two ways of expressing aggression?

Answer 5

1. Physical 2. Verbal

Question 6

What does the Social explanation of aggression look at?

Answer 6

• Behaviourist explanations (SLT)
• Explanations for institutional aggression (situational/dispositional/importation model/deprivation model/popcorn model)

Question 7

Which four factors lead to social learning?

Answer 7

1. Paying attention
2. Ability to remember
3. Ability to replicate
4. Motivated to replicate

Question 8

Bandura et al 1961

Answer 8

children aged 3-6 were shown adults playing in a room
group 1: adult playing aggressively with a bobo doll - the children then acted aggressively toward the bobo doll when left in the room of toys
group 2: adult playing nicely with a bobo doll - the children then played nicely with the bobo doll when left in a room of toys

Question 9

Phillips 1986

Answer 9

statistically significant increase in homocides (murders/manslaughters) in the USA in the weeks after several high profile boxing matches

Question 10

Williams 1981

Answer 10

Natural study
verbal and physical aggression levels rose in children in a remote Canadian community after the introduction of TV
Short term so no long term effects report

Question 11

SLT IDA

Answer 11

• Ethical issues with Bandura
• NATURE/NURTURE
• Implications
• Socially Sensitive

Question 12

SLT Evaluation

Answer 12

• Lots of supporting evidence
• Can explain individual and cultural differences between levels of aggression
• Can’t explain why some people don’t end up aggressive
• It is overly simplistic

Question 13

Deindividuation

Answer 13

Aggression as a result of the situation, rather than the person

Question 14

Losing public self-awareness

Answer 14

cannot be seen by public

Question 15

Losing private self-awareness

Answer 15

taking on the morals of the crowd

Question 16

Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 16

.

Question 17

How were the guards deindividuated?

Answer 17

PUBLIC - aviators and outfits

PRIVATE - group of people being the guards

Question 18

How were the prisoners deindividuated?

Answer 18

PUBLIC - there was a group of them

PRIVATE - they had numbers not names

Question 19

What are the implications of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 19

Bad apples vs Bad barrels

Question 20

What issues with validity are associated with Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 20

High levels of experimenter bias

Question 21

Carahan and MacFarland 2007

Answer 21

advertised for volunteers for two 2 studies, ‘a psychological study’ and ‘a psychological study of prison life’
those who volunttered for the second one were found to be more aggressive, authoritarian and Machiavellian and scored lower on tests of altruism and empathy

Question 22

Zimbardo deindividuation

Answer 22

two groups of females, one weren’t deindividuated (introduced to learners, own clothes, name badges, in close proximity to learners), one were deindividuated (not introduced, wore cloaks and hoods, no name badges, away from learners), the deindividuated participants gave shocks for longer

Question 23

Diener

Answer 23

naturalistic observation of trick or treaters. the house owner would either ask them their names or not, then leave them unattended, asking them to take 1. Those who were more deindividuated were more likely to take more than one sweet (some even stole money), compared to the less deindiviuated.

Question 24

Gergen

Answer 24

Participants in either a well lit room or pitch black room. those in a pitch black room were significantlyIrnei= more likely to get ‘physical’ (50% cuddled, and 80% reporting feeling sexually aroused), can lead to pro-social behaviour

Question 25

Irwin and Cressey

Answer 25

The importation model

Question 26

Kane and Janus

Answer 26

found that: 
*greater periods of unemployment 
*lower levels of education
*being young
*being non-white 
positively correlated with prison violence

Question 27

Poole and Regoli

Answer 27

best predictor of whether someone would be violent in a juvenile prison was whether they have a history of violence before prison

Question 28

Sykes

Answer 28

The deprivation model
Deprivation of
*liberty
*autonomy
*goods and services
*heterosexual relationships
*security
leads to prison violence

Question 29

McCorkle et al

Answer 29

found that overcrowding, lack of privacy, and lack of meaningful activity all significantly influence peer violence

Question 30

Davies and Burgess

Answer 30

attacks on prison guards were reduced when guards were experienced, suggesting it is the environment in the prison which causes violence

Question 31

Haslam and Reicher

Answer 31

Aggressive behaviour in prison is best explained by the social role of the person

Question 32

Megargee

Answer 32

overcrowding had no effect on prison violence, even though it is suggested to be a key factor

Question 33

Lahm

Answer 33

looked at incidences of inmate on inmate violence experienced by 1,054 inmates across 30 prisons and found that the main predictor of violence was the age. She also found that level of overcrowding would play a part

Question 34

Lenard

Answer 34

49 monkeys living on an island were tested and those with lowest levels of serotonin were more likely to be injured or die young, in contrast, the monkeys with higher levels of serotonin were more affectionate and groomed other monkeys more, suggesting serotonin suppresses aggressive behaviour

Question 35

Mann

Answer 35

experimental study where serotonin levels were artificially depleted using dexfenfluramine in 35 healthy volunteers. Mann found increased self report feelings of aggression in the men, but NOT the women using a questionnaire

Question 36

Raine

Answer 36

scanned brains of 41 murderers, and found reduced activity in pre-frontal cortex of the murderers compared to control group

Question 37

Dabbs et al

Answer 37

692 male prisoners, measured testosterone levels from saliva, recorded type of crime and whether they have broken prison rules. Those with higher testosterone levels were more likely to have committed crimes involving sex and violence, and were more likely to have broken prison rules

Question 38

Van Goozen et al

Answer 38

followed transsexuals before and after 3 months of hormone therapy. Male to female - reduce testosterone
female to male - increase testosterone. Tendency to aggression decreased in male to female, and increased in female to male

Question 39

Brunner

Answer 39

A family in Holland who had high rates of extreme violence in many of the male. The violent males had a mutation on the MAO-A gene

Question 40

Moffitt

Answer 40

442 males from birth to 26 years indicates an interaction between genes and the environment (particularly early abusive environments) is required to make someone prone to aggression in adulthood, suggesting that nature and nurture play a role

Question 41

McGuffin & Gottesman

Answer 41

Looked at aggressive and antisocial behaviour and found the concordance rate for MZ was 85%, and DZ was 72%. (72% higher than the 50% that would show complete genetic control, suggesting environment plays a role, as the environment of DZ will be more similar than that of normal siblings)

Question 42

Coccaro et al

Answer 42

182 male MZ, 118 male DZ. Aggression measured using self report, asking about physical and verbal aggression. Analysis of data suggests that genes contributed up to 47% of the variance in scores on physical violence, but made a smaller contribution to verbal assault.

Question 43

Shackelford

Answer 43

461 males averaging 24 yo. self report questionnaires measuring mate retention strategies such as shouting at the female partner for looking at another male, and a previous violence towards partners questionnaire. Mate retention strategies were positively correlated with aggression.

Question 44

Wilson et al

Answer 44

investigated whether men who are showing signs of sexual jealousy and mate retention strategies are more likely to also show signs of aggression towards their female partner. A survey was conducted of 12, 300 women and their experience of sexual harassment threats, and sexual and physical violence by their male partners. The women were also given a questionnaire about their partners sexual jealousy.

Question 45

Wilson and Daly

Answer 45

studied homicide rates. Compared murder rates of female partners co-residing with male partner, and murder rates when female has separated from the male partner. Higher murder rates when they didn’t live together.

Question 46

Chagnon

Answer 46

Yamomamo warriors who had killed were more likely to be married than males who had not killed, suggesting that successful warriors had increased reproductive success.

Question 47

Palmer and Tilly

Answer 47

analysed the data from a study of sexually transmitted disease and found that the 57 gang members had a significantly higher number of sexual partners than the 63 non gang members

Question 48

Lei Chang

Answer 48

Male, but not female, participants exposed to attractive, as compared to unattractive, opposite-sex photographs were significantly more likely to endorse war supporting statements on a questionnaire.

Question 49

Grisevicius

Answer 49

Males were significantly more likely to say they would act aggressively after they have been put in a competitive mood than a courtship mood. Women were unaffected by type of mood

Question 50

Evans and Rowe

Answer 50

observed 40 football games in mainland Europe which involved either the England national team or an English club team against foreign opposition. They found there were more arrests during the England games than the English club games, suggesting that identifying with a set group could lead to an increase in aggression