Aggression and mass media

Question 1

Aggression

Answer 1

harmful social interaction with intention of inflicting damage or unpleasantness. Can be in retaliation or without provocation.

Question 2

Human aggression classified into:

Answer 2

• Direct (physical or verbal behaviour intended to cause harm to someone)
• Indirect aggression (harming social relations of an individual or a group)

Question 3

3 defining features of aggression:

Answer 3

1. Intention to harm- underlying motivation to harm or injure another person
   - Not defined by its consequences
   - E.g. shot fired from a gun but misses its target
   - E.g. dentist can cause pain but the harm is accidental and there is no aggression
2. Awareness of adverse effects: behavious can cause harm
   - Carelessness or incompetence does not reflect intention of harm
3. Harmful actions that target wants to avoid: not performed at targets request

Question 4

Measuring aggression

Answer 4

• Observation
• Self-reports
• Archival data
• Experiments

Question 5

Measure of aggression

Answer 5

o Electric shocks
o Loud noise
o Cold water
o Spicy

Question 6

Theories of aggression

Answer 6

• Biological approaches
  o Ethology
  o Behaviour genetics
  o Hormonal explanations
• Psychological
  o Frustration-aggression hypothesis- response to frustration
  o Cue arousal theory
  o Cognitive neo-associationist model and excitation transfer
  o Learning theory
  o Social information processing theory

Question 7

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

Answer 7

• 1941
• All frustration leads to aggression and all aggression comes from frustration
• Frustration is blockage of a goal-directed activity
• Inhibiting factors of aggression: fear of punishment, unavailability of frustrater
• Displaced aggression
  o Aggression in response to frustration is not directed at original source
• Problem: many factors other than frustration can cause aggression

Question 8

Cue arousal theory

Answer 8

• Aggression is a result of affect elicited by aversive stimulation that becomes interpreted as anger

Question 9

Weapon effect

Answer 9

Individuals who were previously frustrated showed more aggressive behaviour in the presence of weapons than in the presents of neutral objects

Question 10

idk what this is

Answer 10

• Male university students performed a task
• Part 1: peer evaluated the task by giving them electric shocks
  o Anger was manipulated by having confederate give electric shocks, independent of actual performance
  o Participants who received 7 shocks reported to feel more anger than those with 1 shock
• Part 2: participants had the opportunity to give shocks to the frustrater
  o Object near the shock key: weapon vs badminton racket vs no object
  o They were told the object belongs vs not belongs to the frustrater

Question 11

idkdkdkkd

Answer 11

• Participants quicker to identify handgun and slower to identify the screwdriver if they had need a picture of a black person
• Participants were quicker to identify the screwdriver and slower to identify the handgun if they had seen a picture of a white person
• Black people are stereotypically associated with crime and violence

Question 12

Cognitive neo-assocationist model

Answer 12

• Frustration as only one type stimulus that elicits negative affective arousal
• Negative affective arousal also influenced by other stimuli: loud noise, pain
• 2 processes: automatic and controlled

Question 13

cognitive neo-associationist model

Answer 13

1. Swift and automatic appraisal process
   - Little or no conscious awareness
   - Unspecific negative feelings> 2 reactions: fight vs flight
   - Fight: aggression related responses/basic anger
   - Flight: escape related reponses/basic fear
2. Elaborate and control appraisal process
   - Cognitive pricessing: person interprests basic feelings of anger or fear
   - Evaluation of potential outcomes, memories of similar experiences, social norms about appropriate emotion in situation attributions
   - More specific state: anger or fear

Question 14

Excitation transfer theory

Answer 14

• Same core: cognitive appraisal theory of physiological arousal -> influences by Schacter’s two- factor theory of emotion
• Can non specific and non aversive arousal supplement anger and as a result, increase readiness to behave aggressively?

Question 15

Aggression and learned behaviour

Answer 15

• Bandura
• Bobo doll
• Kids watched adults be aggressive towards the doll
• Kids then showed more aggressive behaviour towards doll after watching the adult

Question 16

Situational influences on aggression

Answer 16

• Media
• Alcohol
• High temperature
• Noise
• Crowding

Question 17

Alcohol

Answer 17

• 80% of violent offenders had been drinking before committing their crimes
• Causal relationship
• People who drink more are more aggressive
• People who do not normally consume alcohol become more aggressive when they consume alcohol
• Causal link between alcohol intake and aggression
• Alcohol has an indirect effect on aggression
  o Alcohol reduced attentional capacity
  o Prevents comprehensive appraisal
• Alcohol
  o Prevents thorough processing d situational information
  o People only pay attention to the most salient features of the situation
  o Impairs peoples awareness of social norms that normally inhibit aggressive behaviour
  o People are more responsive to aggressive cues present in the situation