Aggression Flashcards
Definition of aggression?
- 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
Definition of instrumental aggression?
- rational and calculated
- used by individual in order to maximise personal gains, though not necessarily harm the person
Definition of emotional aggression?
- is reactive and impulsive
- is driven by emotions often in the absence of rational cost-benefit analysis
What are the issues with studying aggression?
- can observe aggression but not objectively measure it really
- may be unethical to provoke aggression
Biological factors of aggression?
- 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)
Critical perspective on biological explanations?
- 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
Partial role for evolutionary perspective?
- 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
Griskevicius et al (2009)?
whether men aggress to impress
- 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
What’s the social learning perspective of aggression?
- 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
Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963)
- 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
Critical perspectives of SLT?
- 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
Fischer, Kastenmuller and Greitemeyer (2010)
the self
- 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
How might social roles affect aggression?
- male and females are raised and socialised differently
- aggression may be seen as more or less acceptable depending on the person’s gender
Lightdale and Prince (1994)
- 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
Social learning perspective on balance?
- 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
Carlsmith and Anderson (1979)
Long hot summer effect
-found that likelihood of riots increased the higher the temperature was in a particular city
Anderson, Bushman and Groom (1997)
temperature
- examined crime rates and temperature in 50 US cities
- positive relationship between temperature and serious/deadly assaults
- physical discomfort increases irritation and reactive anger
Giancola et al (2009)
alcohol
- either had one drink or was in a placebo group
- aggression was measured through the electrical shocks delivered to opponent
- alcohol increased aggression for both males and females
- effect was stronger for males
Bartholow et al (2003)
alcohol
- examined effects of alcohol on focus and attention and response inhibition
- alcohol influenced response competition in accuracy but not response time
- alcohol impairs cognitive functioning and the ability to evaluate other’s intentions and effects of one’s behaviour
What are cultures of honour?
- normative social influence on aggression
- those where aggression is seen as an appropriate response to insults against one’s honour
Cohen and Nisbett (1994)
cultures of honour
-argued that these particular cultures of honour emerge by being ones where early in their foundation there would’ve been more threats against the individuals wealth and less reliance on law enforcement
Timmerman (2007)
cultures of honour
- analysed 27,000 hit by pitch and demonstrated aggression was more likely after the previous batter had hit a homerun
- interpreted act as honour of the pitcher being insulted leading to situation of aggression to reconcile the situation
- dependent on birthplace of pitcher (those from US south more likely to aggress)
What are the drive theories of aggression?
- aggression stems from external events, they activate the internal drive to harm others, the injury of others satisfies the drive
- this theory is largely dismissed though now
What’s the general aggression model?
- 2 major input variables (situational and personal factors) interact to impact current internal states (affect/cognition/arousal) which determine our appraisal of current situations and the decisions that come through it which can lead to thoughtful or impulsive actions
- repeated exposure to aggression can strengthen knowledge structures and result in easier activation of the 2 input variables
What conditions allow for punishment to reduce aggression?
- prompt
- certain to occur
- strong
- justified
- these conditions aren’t typically met
What’s self-regulation?
-cognitive control is required, mechanisms can be depleted
DeWall et al (2007)
self-regulation
- ego depletion method where they had participants resist the urge to eat a doughnut (which used up ability to self-control)
- participants showed higher levels of aggression if provoked than those who weren’t in doughnut condition
What are pro-social thoughts?
-positive implicit attitudes towards regulating own emotions leads to almost effortless self-regulation
Meier, Robinson and Wilkowski (2006)
pro-social thoughts
-found that the more readily people can bring prosocial thoughts to mind when provoked the less likely they are to aggress
Definition of catharsis?
- blowing off steam
- hypothesise that if individuals vent their anger in a nonharmful context, their tendency to engage in more dangerous types of aggression will be reduced
Bushman (2002)
catharsis
-found that hitting a punching bag while thinking about someone who has angered you leads to higher aggression levels compared to fitness thoughts or control (no thoughts)
Anderson et al (2003)
- found that participants listened to songs with violent or non-violent lyrics
- hearing violent lyrics led to increase in hostile feelings and aggressive thoughts
Koniin, Niie, Biivank and Bushman (2007)
short term effects of media
- asked 112 teenage boys to play violent or non video games
- violent video game (especially when they identified with the character) increased aggression
Huesmann, Moise-Titus, Podolski and Eron (2003)
long term effects of media
- conducted longitudinal study examining exposure to tv violence
- showed link over time with aggression and violent behaviour
Why doesn’t catharsis work?
- anger increases the amount that people think about upsetting stimuli, in turn leading to activation of aggressive thoughts and feelings
- may have short term positive effects but in the long term it strengthens aggressive response
How might self-esteem effect aggression?
- people high in narcissism are likely to lash out at others when egos are threatened
- procedures to protect of bolster self-esteem might prevent them from engaging in aggression
Thomaes et al (2009)
self-esteem
- 12 to 15 year olds completed a measure of narcissism and then had to complete a task that either bolstered or didn’t bolster their self-esteem
- aggression was was rated by classmates
- high narcissism students were more aggressive than the low narcissism students in no-ego boost condition
- no difference in self-affirmation condition
