Aggression

Question 1

aggression

Answer 1

• behaviour that is intended to harm another individual who does not wish to be harmed
• Not assertiveness, not accidental

Question 2

types of aggression

Answer 2

• hostile, instrumental
• physical, relational
• impulsive, cognitive

Question 3

hostile vs. instrumental aggression

Answer 3

• hostile: goal is pain (ex. Fistfight)

- Instrumental: pain is means to an end (ex. Boxing)

Question 4

physical vs. relational aggression

Answer 4

• physical: a physical action (ex. punching, hitting, theft, etc.)
• relational: harming relationships or social status (ex. social exclusion, gossiping, humiliation, shaming, manipulation, coercion, smear campaigns, false accusations, cyberbullying)
• • Consequences can be deadly, or worse than death (ie. Exile)

Question 5

impulsive vs. cognitive aggression

Answer 5

• impulsive: emotional, in the moment

- cognitive: planned

Question 6

causes of aggression

Answer 6

• situational: aspects of environment (FAE rampant here)

- individual differences: something about the person

Question 7

situational causes of aggression

Answer 7

• modeling
• attention as reward
• media influence
• relative poverty
• social exclusion
• guns
• frustration-aggression theory
• heat

Question 8

modeling

Answer 8

• watching others to learn how to behave in society
• ex. violent movies, violent parents
• social learning theory (Bandura/Bobo Doll)
• vicarious operant conditioning (cognitive)
• • observational learning -> learn consequences of others’ behaviour

Question 9

attention as reward

Answer 9

• mass killings and school shootings follow a “contagion model”
• giving attention/press to shooters encourages copycats

Question 10

media influence

Answer 10

• anecdotal, correlational, and experimental evidence that movies, music, and video games could influence us
• ex. correlation between violent video games and aggressive behaviour

Question 11

violent video game experiments

Answer 11

• Participants played either violent or non-violent video games, then could choose to blast unpleasant noise in the headphones of other players (operational measure of aggression) -> aggressive games led to aggressive behaviour
• • Age and gender didn’t influence results
• In a different study where people could choose to blow up opponent (violent) or transport them to another place (non-violent), found no differential affect for autism spectrum disorder and no evidence for influence of violent video game

Question 12

poverty

Answer 12

• Key: Income inequality
• Greater income inequality -> more homicide
• within neighbourhoods, nations, etc.
• May explain homicide difference between Canada and US

Question 13

social exclusion (study)

Answer 13

• Study where people interact with 4-5 others for a few minutes, then anonymously pick someone they want to work with
• People are then told that either nobody wants to work with them, or everyone wants to work with them
• Then they are given a new partner, have to decide whether to give noise blasts -> excluded = more noise
• Mood was not a variable

Question 14

guns

Answer 14

Having people do studies with either a gun or a badminton racket in the room -> more shocks given when gun in room

Question 15

frustration-aggression theory

Answer 15

• Frustration leads to aggression (ie. Cat who can’t get outside to catch birds may get aggressive and become more likely to scratch you)
• May help explain aggression related to income/poverty
• Goal blockage -> frustration
• Influenced by closeness to goal and perceived injustice (ex. Researchers butt in a line -> more aggression when close to front and unjustified)

Question 16

heat

Answer 16

• Violent crimes increase when it’s hot; no effect on non-violent crimes
• The hotter it is, the more pitchers hit batters
• Depends on your subjective perception of the heat

Question 17

individual differences

Answer 17

• Being male is a predictor of physical violence
• Race, religion, mental illness are not predictive
• Previous history predictive
• Gender differences:
• • Men associated with hostile/direct aggression, women associated with relational/indirect aggression

Question 18

aggression and technology

Answer 18

• Can magnify impact of aggression
• • Physical (ex. Guns, bombs)
• • Relational (ex. Internet, media shaming)

Question 19

ways to reduce aggression

Answer 19

• catharsis (ex. violent sports) ineffective -> football/hockey/punching a punching bag increased aggression (increases ruminating); non-violent sports effective
• provide better role models
• empathy (imagining other perspective, empathy training)
• apologizing
• reappraisal (better outcomes than suppression)

Question 20

Gross et al. emotional regulation and conflict study: what did they find?

Answer 20

• participants trained in cognitive reappraisal (type of emotional regulation) expressed less negative emotions towards outgroups and more positive positions related to conflict-related policies
• these effects persisted across time

Question 21

Gross et al. emotional regulation and conflict study: what did they do?

Answer 21

Took Jewish-Israeli participants and measured levels of intolerance towards Palestinians (or their least favourite outgroup) after cognitive reappraisal instructions (experimental group) or no reappraisal (control group)