Aggression Flashcards
1
Q
Definition of aggression?
A
- behaviour that results in personal injury/ destruction of property
- behaviour intended to harm another of the same species
- behaviour directed towards goal of harming or injuring another living being who is being motivated to avoid such treatment
2
Q
Definition of instrumental aggression?
A
- rational and calculated
- used by individual in order to maximise personal gains, though not necessarily harm the person
3
Q
Definition of emotional aggression?
A
- is reactive and impulsive
- is driven by emotions often in the absence of rational cost-benefit analysis
4
Q
What are the issues with studying aggression?
A
- can observe aggression but not objectively measure it really
- may be unethical to provoke aggression
5
Q
Biological factors of aggression?
A
- freud (aggression stems from a death wish that we all possess) (instinct for self-destruction aimed outwards)
- lorenz (aggression springs from an inherited ‘fighting instinct’ where strongest males obtain mates and pass on their genes)
6
Q
Critical perspective on biological explanations?
A
- humans aggress in many different ways (e.g. socially exclude them rather than physical act)
- full range of aggressive acts can’t be explained by genetics alone
7
Q
Partial role for evolutionary perspective?
A
- if competition for mates drives aggression then we’d expect to see males aggressing against other males rather than females
- research takes a binary view of gender, isn’t useful to modern times
8
Q
Griskevicius et al (2009)?
whether men aggress to impress
A
- participants read short stories regarding competition (promotion), courtship (desirable potential partner), control (lost wallet)
- told a drink was spilled on them by same sex at a party and asked what they would do, sex of the audience differed
- found no gender differences across conditions
- no difference in regards to audience except for courtship condition where male participants were much more likely to direct aggression when the audience who witnessed the drink being spilt was male
- it was expected there’d be more aggression in the courtship measure, more closely related to ancestral desire, especially in male audience
9
Q
What’s the social learning perspective of aggression?
A
- Skinner argued that behaviour is displayed and maintained to the extent that it’s associated with rewards
- social behaviour can be learned through direct (themselves are rewarded) and indirect (watch others be rewarded) experience
10
Q
Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963)
A
- children watched adult attack a doll across number of conditions (live, videoed, cartoon, control)
- in all 3 experimental conditions children showed significantly more aggressive behaviour to doll
- learned that aggressive behaviour may generalize to different situations and across time
11
Q
Critical perspectives of SLT?
A
- subjective measurement of aggression, children may have been playing
- it was cross-sectional study (one point in time) so don’t know if behaviour was learnt and stable over time
12
Q
Fischer, Kastenmuller and Greitemeyer (2010)
the self
A
- had video game where could play as own personalized character or not
- played aggressive and non-aggressive games
- measured aggression through how much hot chili sauce they gave to their opponent
- in non-aggressive game the character didn’t have a difference on aggression
- in aggressive game, those who had personalized character gave more sauce
- suggests those who have first person perspective take more away from it and learn more, more directly rewarded for it
13
Q
How might social roles affect aggression?
A
- male and females are raised and socialised differently
- aggression may be seen as more or less acceptable depending on the person’s gender
14
Q
Lightdale and Prince (1994)
A
- told half participants their behaviours wouldn’t be monitored while the other half answered personal questions and told they’d be monitored (individuated)
- males expressed more aggression than females in the individuated
- no difference when participants didn’t believe they were being observed
- more aggression in the de-individuated condition
- suggests social norms and expectations where males think they’re being watched, they live up to them and behave more aggressively to fit them
15
Q
Social learning perspective on balance?
A
- aggressive learning and responding appear to be mediated through the self
- activation of self can facilitate aggression
- learning perspectives emphasise role of conscious awareness
- role of environmental cues provoking aggression isn’t considered
