Aggression Flashcards
Deindividuation
- losing individuality
- take on ideals of group they’re in
- can make people act in ways which is in direct conflict with their own morals
How deindividuation occurs
Anonymity
Suggestibility (ready to take on influence of others)
Contagion (behaviour/mindset spreads)
AO3 support for deindividuation
Zimbardo prison experiment Rehm (1987) Mann (1981) Spivey and Prentice-Dunn (1990) Cannavale (1970)
Rehm 1987
Deindividuation support
Two handball teams
1 wore same orange shirts. 1 wore own shirts.
Orange team more aggressive due to anonymity.
- same team always wear orange, may just be more aggressive generally
- German handball team: can’t generalise
Mann (1981)
Deindividuation support
Newspaper articles of people who committed suicide jumping off buildings.
10/21 events evidence of baiting crowd.
This was more likely if dark, person was v high up and large crowd - anonymity.
Spivey and Prentice Dunn (1990)
Deindividuation against
Deindividuation can be prosocial if prosocial model there.
Deindividuation increases responsiveness to situational norms.
Cannavale (1970)
Deindividuation against
Gender differences
Males responded to deindividuation with aggression more than females do.
Deprivational model
Situational. Sykes. Deprived of: Security Liberty Autonomy Goods and services Heterosexual relationships
Prison characteristics:
Overcrowded, heat and noise, job burnout
Importation model
Dispotionional traits. Irwin and Cressey.
- Gang membership
- Low self control
- Anger, anti-social personality style and impulsivity
Deprivational model
AO3
+ McCorkle 1995: 371 prisons
Relationship between overcrowding, lack of privacy and meaningful activity with amount of assaults between inmates and inmates and staff.
+ DeLisi 2004: Those in gangs prior to incarceration not more likely to commit assault.
But doesn’t account for fact many gangs separated from prison population and rival gangs.
Importation model
AO3
+ Mears 2013:
7 point scale of belief in street code.
Controlled family background, neighbourhood.
Belief in code = increase in violence (especially those with poor family links and in a gang prior).
+ Harer and Steffensmeier 1996:
24,000 inmates across 58 prisons in USA.
Race, age, criminal history most important predictors of prison violence - no situational significant.
Real world application of prison
Deprivational
Wilson 2010
Set up 2 units HMP Woodhill.
Took worst offenders.
Less claustrophobic, radio music, less crowded, air conditioned.
= almost no assaults on staff.
-USA hard to generalise.
SLT and aggression
AO1
Pick up behaviour through observation (vicarious)
Mental representations of outcome to decide whether or not we imitate aggressive act.
More likely to imitate behaviour if done in past and get rewarded.
Self efficacy
More likely to imitate a behaviour if you know you are good at doing it.
SLT with aggression
AO3
Bandura:
Matched pairs (reduced p variables as reduced rick p’s are agg in condition by chance -time consuming to match)
Lab study (+control ext variables -low ecological val)
Observational research (+observe true behaviour -unethical as no consent from child)
Live model rather than video (+more realistic, not restricting view -unethical psychological harm and not standardised for each p)
72 children aged 3-5 yrs from Stanford Uni Nursery School (+generalise to both genders -small sample, all American, all from same prestigious Ivy League school)
Explanations of Media Influence on Aggression
- Desensitisation
- Disinhibition
- Cognitive priming
Desensitisation characteristics
- Less physiological response
- Less notice violence in real life
- Less sympathy for victims
- Less negative attitudes towards violence
Disinhibition
Less inhibiting of acting aggressively when frustrated
Characteristic: Seeing violence as justifiable
Increased by: seeing violence justified and going unpunished
Cognitive priming
Prepared to think in a certain way
Berkowitz 1984: exposure to violent media increases likelihood of aggressive thoughts/ideas.
If you think aggressively you act aggressively.
Media influence on aggression evidence
AO3
Violent video games make gamers more agg
+ Greitemeyer and Mugge 2014: Test effects of violent video games in aggressive and prosocial behaviour and cognitions.
Meta-analysis: 98 studies since 2009. 37,000 participants.
Increase in aggression from violent video games.
+ large sample + reliable, longitudinal, correlational - second hand research so not certain its valid
- Adachi + Willoughby 2013: violent video games more competitive than non-violent so agg caused by competitiveness not violence
The limbic system
Amygdala - responsible for emotion and agg, key area for quick response
Hippocampus - responsible for memory, important to learn suitable responses based on past experiences
