Aggression Flashcards
discuss observation as a method of study for aggression
Mainly done with children
Ecologically valid
Time consuming
Ethics of observing aggression?
discuss lab experiements as a method of study for
Electric shocks or ‘negative ratings’
Point subtraction paradigm
Ecological validity?
discuss self report questionnaires as a method of study
Relies on memory/honesty
Large samples possible
Validity?
aggression can be..
verbal vs..a…
direct vs….b…
instrumental vs…..c…..
a) physical
b) indirect
c) expressive
what is direct aggression?
The aggressor is identifiable and can be counterattacked
what is indirect aggression?
The aggressor remains hidden
what is instrumental aggression?
Aggression in order to achieve a goal
what is expressive aggression?
Aggression as anger
“When impelling forces cannot be contained by inhibitory forces”
what are theories of expressive aggression?
- psychoanalytic
- frustration-aggression
- environmental factors
what does freuds psychoanalytic theory state?
Id, ego and super ego
aggression= weak ego
what did thanatos argue (later than freud)
Drive requires discharge through catharsis (purging)
does catharsis work? and list why/ why not
NO
- Shock giving (after ‘attack’) leads to increases -not decreases - in subsequent punitiveness (Berkowitz 1965)
- Aggression increases in US football players over the course of the season (Patterson 1974)
- Spectator hostility increases during match (Russell 1983)
what may catharsis beliefs be?
harmful
what did dollard invent?
frustration aggression theory
what does frustration aggression theory state?
- Frustration is interference with a goal response that leads to reward
- Aggression always results from frustration
- (Frustration does not always lead to aggression)
what does frustration aggression theory state that the level of aggression depends on?
Whether aggression will end the frustration i.e. is instrumental (Buss 1966)
Whether some subsequent account of the frustration is offered, e.g. apology
(Obuchi et al. 1989)
what is the common sense argument regarding frustration aggression theory?
Frustrations produce aggression because they are unpleasant (Berkowitz, 1989)
what did anderson show about temp and violence?
Violence peaks when temp is highest
Misattribution of arousal?
what did Berkowitz find about unpleasant stiimuli and violence?
- All unpleasant stimuli increase –ve affect…
- Context and higher order cognition adjust chances of aggression
what are theories of instrumental aggression?
- SLT
- Cultural factors
what did patterson find regarding operant conditioning?
child watching tv–> mother says go to bed–> ignored–> repeat–> ignore–> nagging–> aggression from child–> mother allows tv and stops.
child’s aggression has been reinforced
what did Bandura and Macdonald show about Modeling
Group 1 - observe adult model making moral judgments
Group 2 - child’s own responses reinforced
Group 3 - no feedback (control)
Group 1 make more mature judgments at post-test than Groups 2 and 3
what are operant conditioning and modelling sub-groups of
social learning
what did Joy et al. find?
tv introduced increased violence in the 3 communities
What dd Johnston et al find in their long term longitudinal correlations
significant association between the amount of time spent watching television during adolescence and early adulthood and the likelihood of subsequent aggressive acts against others.
This association remained significant after previous aggressive behavior, childhood neglect, family income, neighborhood violence, parental education, and psychiatric disorders were controlled statistically.
what did Anderson and Bushman find with their meta-analysis of games?
… Increase aggressive behaviour
Decrease prosocial behaviour
Increases arousal
what is game exposure associated with according to funk?
lower empathy
according to funk et al. what did game/ movie exposure predict
attitudes
when aderson et al controlled for previous aggressiveness in video games what did they still find?
an effect
who argues video games have no effect and why?
- Ferguson
- Bushman and walker- angry people with catharsis belief are drawn to violent video games
what did Nisbett argue about a culture of honour and aggression -
- homicide 6x higher in southern US states
- Southerners endorse violence as legitimate response to insult and for protection
- culturally transmitted attitude
-State-wide homicide rate in US is positively correlated with proportion of white population from the south (Blau and Blau 1982)
what did cohen’s experment show about southerners when they were ‘accidentally’ bumped into?
Believe their masculine reputation was threatened
Show a rise in cortisol (stress response)
Show a rise in testosterone (dominance challenged)
Engage in dominating behaviour subsequently (chicken game)
what is the d score for verbal aggression sex differences?
0.19
what is the d score for physical aggression sex differences?
0.59
what is the d score for overall direct aggression (verbal and physical) sex differences?
0.30
what is the d score for non-indirect aggression sex differences?
-0.2 women use more
what is the major difference in sex diffrenences in aggression?
women use indirect aggression whereas males more often use direct
when are sex differences biggest?
for severe/ dangerous aggression?
what % of same-sex homicides are male-male (Daly & Wilson, 1988)?
> 90%
what % of violent crime is committed by men
89%
what did Campbell’s male and female focus groups on aggression show and suggest?
men view own aggression as instrumental
Women viewed their aggression as expressive – a loss of control
Men justify, women excuse?
when does male same-sex aggression become more physical and what happens to girls?
9-14
girls remain verbal
regarding types of aggression what are adults predominantly?
verbal/ indirect
but women more so
when did Potegal and Archer argue sex differences in violence appear?
before 2 years
why may men be aggressive?
- Cultural
- Evolutionary
- -Biological – T
- -Biological – Impulsivity
what does social/ culture assume regarding male aggression?
it is:
Accepted
Expected
Encouraged
what does SLT say about male aggression?
Parents suggested to be more likely to
Tolerate sons’ aggression
Punish daughters’ aggression
‘Boys will be boys’
what are arguments against SLT male aggression?
- humans taught not to be violent
- some argue that boy’s aggression isn’t punished less than girls (nagin)
- sex differences appear before children can apply gender labels (campbell et al.)
what is pathologised more male or female aggression?
womens
is women’s aggression considered more/ less seriously than men’s
the same
what is particularly condemmed regarding aggression
men’s aggression to females
what is Daly and Wilsons evolutionary theory on male aggression
- mate competition is key
- higher rank= access to more mates
- thus physical aggression is high risk but high gain so large willingness in men to be aggressive
according to daly and wilson what is adaptive securing
securing scarce resources
when there is female choice over a mate e.g. in humans what will occur
RHP occurs
what do Daly and Wilson argue has to occur for RHP to occur
female choice
where there is no female choice in sexual mate what occurs and give e.g. of this
No RHP
Gelada baboons
what is RHP
resource holding potential
if it came to a fight who would win?
how do humans typically assert RHP?
status
jobs, wealth
what happens were RHP is low
males use other means to establish status e.g. physical dominance
when is aggression cross culturally at its highest? and why is this?
late teens and twenties
Violence/ violent crime is more likely in:
- non married men
- the unemployed
- non fathers
what does Daly and Wilson’s theory to male violence offer which other theories do not?
- explaination of men’s sensitivity to status
- men focused on status/ face/ honour
what is Felsons theory of male aggression
face and aggresion
what approach to aggression takes a Symbolic interactionist /impression management approach
Face and aggression felson
what are the stages of face and aggression?
- Slight interpreted as intentional attack
- Negative alter-casting creates unfavourable social identity.
- Retaliation:
- deters further attack and saves face
- but threatens the face of the other party - Gives rise to escalating “conflict spiral”
what did wolfgang and ferracuti argue about inner-city philadelphia?
subculture of violence
why are violent crime rates sensitive to poverty?
aggression as a response to resource shortage
regarding male aggression who descries the phenomenon and who explains the why?
phenomenon= Felson
why= daly and wilson
what does Campbell’s evolutionary theory suggest
Infant survival most dependant on mothers
Physical aggression = very high risk / low gain
=> aversion to aggression in women
what suggests that women fear injury more than men as a critical factor as to non-physical aggression
- women have more blood/ animal phobias
- women rate situations are more dangerous than men
- women have greater fear of physical attack
what does campbell argue a women’s non aggression leads to?
ends with safer means
when does campbell argue female aggression can occur?
Violent only when anger spills over fear threshold?
Explains why so much female aggression is expressive?
Maternal aggression = special case?
what do evolutionary theories assume?
Genetic inheritance
Biological mechanism
Environmental triggers?
what do biological proximate mechanisms entail
- testosterone
- inhibitory control
what is the heritability of agression?
strongly heritable (40-50%)
what acts as evidence for a genetic component?
Very stable over time
Correlation over 1 year=0.9/0.8
Correlation over 20 years=0.4
when is male testosterone highest
When young
When single
When childless
what do T levels inversely relate to?
unconcious fear
what is evidence that testosterone leads to dominance behaviours?
- rat injection studies
- t rises in anticipation of male-male competiton
what is evidence suggesting that testosterone leads to aggression?
Rat pregnancy studies
Human 2D:4D (Bailey et al, 2005)
what does winning in male-male situations do to testosterone?
rises levels (even if randomly assigned winning)
what can protect against a drop in t when loosing in male-male
feeling like you’ve performed well may be more important – e.g. losing narrowly against a much better player can protect against a drop in T.
what may Maintaining high willingness to aggress and high dominance lead to?
need to actually be aggressive
what brain part controls aggression?
hypothalamus
what brain part controls inhibitory control?
frontal lobe
- ability to withhold a prepotent response
e. g. delay gratification, simon says, stroop
regarding inhibitory control what is aggression assoicated with?
poor self control and high impulsivity
what is aggression a feature of that in turn are associtated with frontal lobe deficits?
ADHD and CD
when rats were given testosterone what happened Svensson
reduced inhibitory control
what is higher in psychopaths?
testosterone
what is research like in sex differences regarding impulsivity?
Cross, Copping, & Campbell, 2010
mixed
what do Campbell; Struber Luck and Roth argue about Impulsivity as a mediator for sex differences in aggression
early sex
differences in levels of fear lead to later sex differences in impulsivity, which then mediates
the sex difference in aggression
