Aggression Booklet 5: Social psychological explanations

Question 1

What are three different social psychological explanations?

Answer 1

1. Frustration-aggression hypothesis
2. Social Learning Theory
3. De-individuation

Question 2

Who proposed the frustration-aggression hypothesis?

Answer 2

Dollard

Question 3

What did Dollard say about the frustration-aggression hypothesis?

Answer 3

Suggested aggression is a consequence of feelings of frustration, frustration is a feeling that we experience when we are working towards a goal and there are barriers that prevent you from doing it

Question 4

Therefore frustration is an unpleasant experience, and to be relieved of it we need to be …

Answer 4

aggressive

Question 5

What are the 2 factors that affect whether aggression will occur?

Answer 5

Proximity - if person is closer to achieving their goal then likelihood of aggression greater
If frustration Justifiable - If there is no justifiable reason (train cancelled no reason for example) then more likely to lead to aggression

Question 6

What is the first study into frustration-aggression hypothesis?

Answer 6

Green

Question 7

What was the method of Green’s study?

Answer 7

Gave male students a task of completing a jigsaw puzzle, level of frustration was manipulated by researcher in three days
1. Puzzle impossible to complete
2. Ran out of time because of interfering confederate
3. Confederate insulted participant as they failed to solve puzzle
(Also a control group no frustration)
Next part, the participants allowed to shock the participant every time they made a mistake on another task

Question 8

What were the results of Green’s study?

Answer 8

Found participants who were insulted gave the strongest shocks, then interfere group, then impossible, all three chose more aggressive than control group

Question 9

What are the evaluations of the frustration-aggression hypothesis?

Answer 9

😀Research evidence to support: Harris
😀Evidence to support justification: Pastore
😥Methodological issues: self-report
😀Evidence to support: Przybylski
😥Overly simplistic (individual differences)

Question 10

What happened in research study to support: Harris?

Answer 10

Had confederates push in front of peoples queues in shops, found that the closer the person was to the front, more likely to act aggressive (proximity)

Question 11

What happened in research study to support: Pastore?

Answer 11

He gave participants a series of situations to rate how aggressive they would feel in, included situations like: waiting for a bus and seeing it drive past, found that people angrier and more aggressive when situation was frustrating, however, however self-reported more angry when frustration not justified (Bus just didn’t stop) instead of (Bus out of service)

Question 12

What happened in research study to support: Przybylski?

Answer 12

-Participants take part in a study about video games, before study place hands in ice-cold bath for 25 seconds, told that this length of time determined by earlier participants
-Then played tetris, half played regular half played BasTet
-It was found that after tetris, participants who played BasTet gave longer punishments by a mean of 10 seconds, neither game was violent but aggression increased in BasTet

Question 13

What is the SLT explanation for aggression?

Answer 13

According to Bandura, aggression is learned through modelling
-Must be through a role model: parent, sibling, celebrity etc.
-If person observes role model being vicariously rewarded, makes more/less likely to repeat

Question 14

What are the different factors that affect modelling, ARRM?

Answer 14

Attention
Retention
Reproduction
Motivation

Question 15

What are the evaluations of SLT explanation of aggression?

Answer 15

😀Evidence to support: Bandura
😀Evidence to support: Williams
😀Positive practical application: reduce aggression (fantasy games?)
😥Socially sensitive (places blame off perp but media they exposed to)

Question 16

What happened in evidence to support SLT study: Williams?

Answer 16

Studied a remote Canadian Village in the 1980s before and after the introduction of TV to the area, found aggression through words and actions rose after introduction of TV

Question 17

What is de-individuation?

Answer 17

A process whereby people lose their sense of individuality and identity and engage in socialised aggressive behaviour

Question 18

When does de-individuation occur?

Answer 18

When individuals feel less identifiable, hidden by a uniform or being in a large group, their behaviour is less inhibited so they’re more likely to be aggressive

Question 19

What did Le Bon highlight?

Answer 19

Highlighted that when part of a large anonymous crowd, individuals are more likely to behave in an anti-social and aggressive manner. Individuals in groups fails to see the consequences of their action and social norms are forgotten

Question 20

What is the most important factor towards de-individuation?

Answer 20

Anonymity - more anonymous the crowd, the greater the threat of extreme actions because a “collective mindset” takes over and crowd acts as one

Question 21

Prentice-Dunn distinguished two types of self-awareness, what were these?

Answer 21

Public self-awareness: in normal circumstances people are concerned about the impression they will create in others
Private self-awareness: this relates to the individual’s own thoughts, feeling, values and morals. Your own internal standards

Question 22

De-individuation can lead to a … in these types of self-awareness which Prentice-Dunn believes can then often lead to aggressive behaviour

Answer 22

Shift/change

Question 23

What are the evaluations of De-individuation?

Answer 23

😀Evidence to support: ZImbardo
😀Evidence to support: Zimbardo’s Milgram study
😥Evidence to contradict: Gergen
😀Practical application: Reduce football hooliganism

Question 24

What happened in Zimbardo’s Milgram study?

Answer 24

Reenacted milgram study but deindividuated participants with bulky lab coats and hoods that hid faces, sat in separate cubicles and never referred to by name. Other group wore clothes and wore name tags, deindividuated participants shocked learner twice as long as identifiable participants

Question 25

What happened in Gergen study?

Answer 25

Groups of 8 participants who were complete strangers placed in a dark room with each other for an hour, told to do whatever they like and would never encounter each other again.
Instead of being aggressive, they were touching and kissing (showing affection)

Question 26

How could this be used to prevent football hooliganism?

Answer 26

As we know public self-awareness leads to increase in aggressive behaviour, steps can be taken to reduce feeling of anonymity and reduce aggression
For example, police could use CCTV in these areas