Aggression Flashcards
What is a social-psychological explanation of aggression conducted by Bandura?
Social Learning theory
What are the 4 stages learnt during social learning theory?
- Observation- Aggressive behaviour is observed perhaps on TV and the person displaying the aggressive behaviour is the model.
- Retention- A mental representation of the behaviour is retained and remembered for future reference.
- Reproduction- Aggressive behaviour is imitated
- Motivation- If a person is positively reinforced then they will likely to repeat the behaviour.
If negatively reinforced then unlikely to repeat the behaviour.
What are the factors likely to affect imitation in the social learning theory?
- Self Efficacy- Refers to our perceived abilities i.e. whether we think we can carry something off
- Similarity- How similar we are to the model based on gender, age, ethnicity etc
- Vicarious reinforcement- The reaction the model receives by either positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement.
What study supports the role of social learning theory?
Bandura et al’s BOBO doll study
6 groups
1 and 2: put in a room with toys and the doll and an adult entered the room and starts attacking the doll and saying phrases like POW, then taken to another room where attractive toys and told these were reserved for better children in an attempt to frustrate them. Taken to a third room with the Bobo doll and behaviour is monitored.
3 and 4: same procedure but watched the adult attack the doll on a film
5: same procedure but watched Herman the cat behave aggressively to the doll
6: Control group- watched no aggression
What were the findings of the Bobo doll study?
Groups 1-5 imitated the aggressive behaviour, they violently attacked the bobo doll and used the same moves and phrases shown by the adults - shows children will imitate the aggression and how observation learning has an impact on the development of aggressive behaviour.
What study by Bandura et al supports the role of Vicarious reinforcement?
Rocky and Johnny
Used 4 groups of nursery children in which they watched a five minute film showing two adult models Rocky and Johnny playing together with toys.
Group 1: Saw Johnny playing with the toys, Rocky asks if he can play with them and Johnny says no. Rocky starts hitting Johnny several times with a ball and baton and Johnny is seen sitting in a corner while Rocky plays enthusiastically and has been positively reinforced for his aggression.
Group 2: Saw a different version where Rocky is punished and is thoroughly thrashed by Johnny who leaves with all the toys, Rocky is punished for his aggression.
Group 3: Saw Rocky and Johnny playing non aggressively
Group 4: Saw no film
Each group taken to a play room with the same toys and observed
Found that children in group 1 showed significantly higher aggression levels in play than other groups.
Shows that not all aggression observed causes aggression as group 2 would also show aggression. Shows the reinforcement received will decide whether the imitation will be carried out.
What validity is lowered in Bandura’s research?
- Low ecological validity - all participants attended nursery at same university and the building probably seems artificial so may behave unnaturally
- Low population validity- Can’t explain the development of aggression in adults
What is a study by Onyskiw (2000) to support Banduras research?
Sampled over 11000 children aged 4-11 and they had their mothers complete questionnaires about themselves and their partners as parents. Found children who witnessed aggression more often were themselves more aggressive
Shows children may learn to be aggressive through observational learning -actual real life situations
What is a study by Werner (2001) to support Banduras research?
Looked at different models, so childrens school peers.
Two samples of nine year olds - one sample had high levels of aggression and other sample had low levels of aggression. Children then asked who their 3 bffs were and they were assessed for aggression. Their behaviour was monitored over a year
They found that the children who had initially low levels of aggression but had aggressive friends gradually became more aggressive
Shows learnt to be aggressive through observing peers
What is a study by Phillips (1986) to support Banduras research?
Monitored all heavyweight boxing matches between 1973-1978 and found a rise in homicide rates following these matches. Found rates rose by 12.5% in the three days following the match and then decreased to 6.6% four days after the match. Also found that there was a large increase in homicide rates for those fights that had the largest viewing figures and when a white boxer was defeated homicide victims were likely to be white and vice versa. Supports SLT as an explanation for adult aggression
What are the issues and debates involved with SLT?
- Takes nurture side as doesn’t consider biology
- Deterministic - doesn’t allow people to have free will where they wouldn’t harm anybody even if observed aggressive behaviour.
What is a social-psychological explanation of aggression?
Deindividuation
What is deindividuation?
Loss of personal identity and a sense of anonymity, end up feeling less responsible for our actions
What are the three main causes of deindividuation?
- Crowds
2.Costume/Clothing
3.Darkness
The Klu Klux Klan are an example of this in action
How does deindividuation cause aggression?
- Weakens inhibitions - theory states we are all naturally aggressive but we are scared of being found out so deindividuation allows people a release of normal social acceptable ways
- Heightens people’s responsiveness to external cues- When we are in a crowd we are more suggestible to what is going on around us and the aggression will spread like a disease
- Increases conformity to norms - If in a large group we do what the others are doing in order to fit in so we behave aggressively if the group does.
What are the issues and debates involved with deindividuation?
Deterministic - doesn’t explain that people have free-will and may not want to join in with aggressive groups
What is a supporting study for deindividuation by Zimbardo (1969)?
Female undergraduates were required to deliver electric shocks to another student as an aid of learning. Half the participants wore bulky lab coats and hoods, these were spoken to in groups of 4 and never referred to by name
Other half wore their normal clothes with a name badge and were introduced by name, they could also see eachother dimly whilst giving the shocks
Both sets of of participants could see the person in extreme discomfort.
Found that the hooded participants gave twice as much shock as the others
Showed the ones that were dressed up felt anonymous and more individual.
What is a problem with Zimbardo’s study for deindividuation?
Argued that the outfits the hooded group wore were very similar to the KKK and the uniform acted as a demand characteristic and led USA participants to believe that more extreme behaviour was expected by them
What is a support of the Zimbardo study’s criticism by Johnson and Downing (1979)?
Found that when participants wore surgical masks and gowns they delivered significantly less electric shocks more than those who name was emphasised. Shows that the clothing led to a difference in behaviour- Johnson and Downings participants would’ve responded to their costumes in a positive way as surgeons are meant to be helpful and caring.
What is a supporting study of deindividuation by Mullen (1986)?
Analysed newspaper reports of lynch mob violence in the US from 1899-1946. Found that the more people in a mob the more violent the lynching
Shows large groups causes deindividuation
What is a supporting study of deindividuation by Rehm et al (1987)?
Carried out an experiment on German children, divided into five a side teams to play hand ball. One team played in normal clothes and others had orange shirts on, those in orange shirts played significantly more aggressively
Shows costumes can lead to deindividuation
What is a refuting study against deindividuation by Gergen et al? (1973)
Put 6 men and 6 women into either a normally lit room or a dark room. Left them for an hour and didn’t tell them they had to d anything. Observed them. The darkness group spent first 15 mins exploring the room and 30 mins were in deeper conversation and the final fifteen minutes were physical.
Half the participants hugged eachother, some became intimate and 80% reported feeling sexually aroused
People in the dark should’ve acted aggressively?
What are the biological explanations of aggression?
The role of neural mechanisms in aggression
The role of hormonal mechanisms in aggression
The role of genetic factors in aggression
What brain structure has been linked to the cause of aggression?
The amygdala and serotonin and dopamine
How does the amygdala play a role in the cause of aggression?
The amygdala forms part of the limbic system which controls emotions - linked to aggressive outbursts.
An early experiment by Kluver and Bucy (1939) removed the whole entire temporal lobe from monkeys, found that the monkeys became much more docile showing aggression could be caused by this part of the brain, further studies narrowed this down to the amygdala.
Who is Charles Whitman (1966)?
Stimulation of the amygdala case study
- Charles killed his mother and wife then climbed a tower at a university and shot at several students. He killed 14 students and injured 44. A post mortem showed he had a cancerous tumour on his amygdala which would apply pressure to it and therefore stimulate it and cause aggression.
What is a supporting study of the amygdala by Narabayashi (1961)?
Developed a procedure called ‘amygdalotomy’ which involves destroying the amygdala and was used on patients with extreme levels of aggression, went on to have great success for the procedure where 43/51 patients showed a decrease in aggression - could have just been due to brain damage and removal of part of the brain.
What is a supporting study of the amygdala by Raine et al? (1997)
Carried out PET scans on a group of murderers (a measure of aggression) and a group of controls. They found that the murderers did have abnormalities in the amygdala
What is the link between serotonin and aggression?
Serotonin is a chemical that keeps us calm. It’s suggested that low levels of serotonin make us more aggressive as it inhibits the calming effect. Low levels have been linked to violent impulsions, suicide and aggression.
What is the link between dopamine and aggression?
Dopamine is responsible for most things. Suggested that high levels of dopamine have been linked to aggression. Not as strong link between serotonin and aggression
What is a study supporting the link between serotonin and aggression by Raleigh et al (1991)?
Used an independent groups design on two groups of monkeys. One group was fed a diet high in tryptophan which is a building block for serotonin and the second group were fed a diet low in tryptophan. Found the first group showed a decrease in aggression whereas the second group showed an increase.
What is a supporting study of serotonin and aggression by Mann et al? (1990)
Gave 35 healthy participants a drug called dexfenfluramine and its known to decrease serotonin. A questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression found that this drug caused an increase in hostility and aggression in their male participants but not female.
Supports that serotonin being decreased causes aggression but cant explain female participants
What is a supporting study of serotonin and dopamine causing aggression by Ferrari et al?(2003)
Allowed a rat to fight every day for 10 days at the same time, on the 11th day the animal was not allowed to fight and they measured its serotonin and dopamine levels which were low and high respectively. Shows an animal that is going to be aggressive has the levels in the theory.
