Aggression Flashcards
What is aggression?
A verbal or physical act intended to cause harm to people who wish to avoid such harm or property
Evolutionary approach to aggression
- Humans are instinctively aggressive
- Spreading genes through sexual access
- Explains disproportionate degree of male aggression
Limitations of evolutionary approach
- Many species do not reward aggression
- Cannot explain aggression against genetic kin
- Hypotheses are not really falsifiable
Cathartic approach to aggression
- Conflicting human drives, eros (creation, love) and thanatos (destruction)
- Thanatos energy builds up and needs to be released (hydraulic model)
- Aggressive outputs directed outwards
Limitation of the cathartic approach to aggression
- Frustration does not always lead to aggression
Who did the frustration-aggression hypothesis?
Dollard et al. 1939
What is the cognitive neoassociationalist model of aggression?
- Frustration -> anger -> aggression
- Cues are associated with aggression through classical conditioning
Berkowitz & Lepage (1967)
- Ppts given shocks by fellow ppt
- Given opportunity to shock back
- Two independent manipulations, level of anger (how many times they shocked), and presence of aggressive cue (guns/no guns)
- More shocks in high anger and cues condition compared to high anger, no cue
- No difference in shocks in low anger and cue / low anger and control condition
What is the social learning theory of aggression?
- Aggression learned via operant conditioning
- Models teach that aggression provides rewards and is socially acceptable - instrumental aggression
Bandura, Ross & Ross (1963)
- Nursery school kids observe adult attack a ‘Bobo doll’ when upset, in person, in a video, in a cartoon and control
- Kids mildly frustrated, then left with toys
- More children were aggressive when seeing live model, video and cartoon, than in the control
Social roles explanation of aggression
- Stanford prison experiment
- Young upper/middle class, educated, European American men for a prison study
- Questioned to eliminate those with health problems, antisocial behaviour
- Study ended early after guards became aggressive towards prisoners
Socio-cultural norms in explanation of aggression
- Societal norms and authorities sanction and reward aggression
- State actions/sports/media portrayals
- Exposure to norms promotes aggression through various mechanisms
Exposure to norms promotes aggression via…
- Cultivation of world view (word as hostile)
- Attributions of hostility (individuals as hostile)
- Scripts of aggression (how to respond)
- Instrumentality (aggression is rewarded)
Archer & Gardner (1978)
When countries participate in war, the homicide rates among the civilian populations increase
Phillips (1983)
After highly publicised boxing matches, homicide rates increase among civilian populations
Leyens et al. (1982), Eron et al. (1972)
Exposure to violent media increases aggression among children
Personality and ideological explanation of aggression
Personalities and ideologies influence choice to be in a particular situation and the behaviour in that situation
Dispositional aggression
Propensity for hostility and anger
Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)
Belief in authorities and authoritarian aggression
Social dominance orientation (SDO)
Support for group-based hierarchy (and aggression to maintain it)
Dispositional empathy
Tendency to take others’ perspectives (less tolerance for aggression)
Carnahan & McFarland (2007)
- Placed 2 different advertisements for ppts
- One advert stated prison life other didn’t
- Measured on aggression, RWA, SDO, and empathy
Carnahan & McFarland (2007) results
- Empathy was highest, followed by SDO, RWA and aggression
- All measures were higher in the prison condition than control except for empathy
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
If aggression cannot be targeted at the cause of the frustration (as the person is too physically or socially powerful, or the cause is a situation) it may be redirected onto a more realistic target
