Aggression & Prosocial Behaviour

Question 1

Define aggression.

Answer 1

Any form of behaviour intended to harm another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment.
Not accidental. Unwanted by targets.

Question 2

Define violence.

Answer 2

Aggression that aims at stream harm.

Question 3

Name the 6 main types of aggression (Buss).

Answer 3

Physical.
Verbal.
Active - actively done by the perpetrator.
Passive - not actively aggressive but it highlights anger (e.g. refusing to talk to someone).
Direct.
Indirect - does not involve direct contact and requires a third person. (e.g. negative rumours).

Question 4

Name the 4 main types of aggression (Dodge & Coie).

Answer 4

Proactive - instrumental, planned.
Reactive - uncontrolled, impulsive, driven by emotions.
Proximate - aim to cause harm immediately.
Ultimate - aim to obtain something from harm (long-term).

Question 5

What are some issues when studying aggression?

Answer 5

Complex + hard to define - cultural + norm-based.
Difficult to measure.
Ethical issues.

Question 6

What are some ways to measure aggression?

Answer 6

Simulations, observations, self-report measures, willingness of being aggressive.

Question 7

What is the biological explanation of aggression?

Answer 7

Aggression is an instinct (Riopelle).
Can be controlled + can adapt to the situation. Elicited by specific stimuli/situations.
Used to protect species + survival of genes.
Emerges in threatening situations.

Question 8

What are the main social explanations of aggression?

Answer 8

Frustration-aggression hypothesis. 
Excitation transfer. 
Cognitive net-association theory. 
Social learning. 
Script theory.

Question 9

Explain the frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard).

Answer 9

Frustration is a state that emerges when circumstances interfere with a goal. Aggression reduces frustration.
The target is unrelated to the frustration - innocent person that is easily accessible.
Inhibiting factors = fear of punishment.

Question 10

What are the weaknesses of the frustration.aggression hypothesis?

Answer 10

Vague definition of frustration.

Frustration doesn’t always lead to aggression.

Question 11

Explain the excitation transfer theory (Zilman).

Answer 11

Transfer from an arousal emerging in a situation to another situation with the likelihood of eliciting an aggressive behaviour.
Event causing arousal - arousal continuing - annoying event.

Question 12

Explain the cognitive neo-association theory (Berkowitz).

Answer 12

Unpleasant experiences elicit negative effects than activate aggressive associations.
Aggressive thoughts/behaviours are associated in memory and activated by aversive events.
Causal link between negative effects elicited by aversive events and aggression = hostile aggression.

Question 13

Explain the guns study (Berkowitz) which provided proof for the cognitive net-association theory.

Answer 13

When in the angered condition, pps showed much higher levels of aggression by choosing higher shock levels for all scenarios (even the badminton one!) as opposed to the non-angered condition.

Question 14

Explain social learning theory (in regards to aggression) (Bandura).

Answer 14

Learning by direct experiences - behaviour is learnt + maintained by rewards + punishments.
Learning by vicarious experiences - models + imitations (e.g. Bobo doll experiment).

Question 15

Explain script theory (Huesmann).

Answer 15

Observing aggression leads to learned and internalised aggressive scripts. Scripts guide behaviour.
Scripts = associated concepts in memory. Chronically accessible + generalised to situations.

Question 16

Give two studies which provided evidence for script theory.

Answer 16

Television - aggressive acts increase for both gender + for both pps with prior/no prior aggression.
Video games - self-perception of aggressive behaviours decreased when playing violent video games. Increased likelihood of aggressive behaviour.

Question 17

What are 3 personal variables which can lead to a variation in aggression?

Answer 17

Traits - some people tend to be more aggressive (e.g. self-esteem, narcissism).
Gender - men often more aggressive than women. Gender difference depends on type of aggression (e.g. direct vs indirect).
Beliefs - positive attitudes toward violence = more aggression. Acceptance/condemnation of aggression.

Question 18

What are 3 situation variables which can lead to a variation in aggression?

Answer 18

Aversive situations - frustration, interpersonal provocation.
Environment - crowding, discomfort.
Primes/cues - exposure to mass media, exposure to objects.

Question 19

Explain the general aggression model (Anderson & Bushman).

Answer 19

Integrates all theories and factors that affect aggression.
Considers proximate and ultimate goals of aggression + aggression forms.
Inputs; personal + situation -> routes; affect, cognition, arousal -> appraisal; appraisal + decision -> outcomes: thoughtful OR impulsive.

Question 20

Define altruism.

Answer 20

Behaviours carried out to benefit others without anticipation of external rewards. Emphatic motivation is vital.

Question 21

What is the difference between helping behaviour and prosocial behaviour?

Answer 21

Helping - actions intend to provide benefit to or improve well-being of others.
Prosocial - actions defined by society as beneficial to other people. Not driven by professional motivations. May be driven by egoistic OR altruistic motivations.

Question 22

How did the Kitty Genovese story contribute to prosocial behaviour research?

Answer 22

The shock at the lack of help let to development of prosocial behaviour theories.

Question 23

What prosocial theories were developed in the 60-80s?

Answer 23

WHEN people help/not help.
Decision model of bystander intervention.
Cost-reward analysis.

Question 24

What prosocial theories were developed in the 80s-90s?

Answer 24

WHY people help/not help. 
Biological theories. 
Social learning. 
Social + personal standards.
Emotions.

Question 25

Name two factors that increase the likelihood of helping.

Answer 25

If a situation is perceived as an emergency compared to not/with cues of danger.
A lone bystander is more likely to help than several bystanders. Presence of others inhibit/slow people+s responses.

Question 26

What are the three main aspects in the bystander effect?

Answer 26

Others’ judgements.
Social influence - no action - less serious situation.
Responsibility - alone vs shared.

Question 27

Explain two studies which provided proof for the bystander effect.

Answer 27

Latane & Darley - three conditions; alone, group or passive confederate. Pps alone were more likely to report the smoke.
Latane & Rodin - lady in distress. Pps alone were more willing to help than when in pairs.
Passive confederate led to the lowest helping rates in both.

Question 28

What two main factors can affect helping rates in the bystander effect?

Answer 28

Relationships - if victim and bystander are friends - effect is reduced.
Group membership - increased helping rates if victim is a member of the same group as bystanders.

Question 29

Explain the cost-reward model/bystander calculus model (Piliavin).

Answer 29

Observing an emergency elicits arousal in the bystander.

In order to cope: consider costs + benefits of helping/not helping.

Question 30

What is a weakness of the cost-reward model?

Answer 30

Does not explain impulsive helping (immediate, non-deliberative, not based on decision-making).

Question 31

What are the three main evolutionary theories of why people help?

Answer 31

Evolutionary theories: innate predisposition to act pro-socially.
Kin selection.
Mutualism/reciprocal altruism.
Social learning.

Question 32

What is kin selection theory?

Answer 32

More inclined to help relatives than unrelated others.

Life-death situations = higher helping rate of healthy people than sick people.

Question 33

What is mutualism/reciprocal altruism theory?

Answer 33

Individuals derive some benefit from helping unrelated others if the favour is repaid.
Beneficial outcome of helping someone and being helped in return.

Question 34

What is social learning theory (in relation to prosocial behaviour)?

Answer 34

Learnt not innate behaviour.
Telling children to help others increase their prosocial behaviours willingness, reinforcement of helping behaviours, exposure to helping behaviours + role models (vicarious learning - modelling effect).

Question 35

What is an example of a situational cue which can affect bystanders’ behaviours (study!)?

Answer 35

Exposure to mass media.

In prosocial condition - more likely to help researcher + assist in following experiments.

Question 36

How do norms play a role in prosocial behaviour?

Answer 36

Provide a script for prosocial behaviour.

Learned from social modelling + reinforcements.

Question 37

Give 3 examples of common norms.

Answer 37

Reciprocity - like mutualism.
Social responsibility.
Personal norms - internalised norms that are socially learned but vary among individuals.

Question 38

What are two emotions which affect prosocial behaviour and how do they affect prosocial behaviour?

Answer 38

Empathy + mood.
Empathy - increases helping behaviour - empathy-altruism hypothesis. Empathy elicits motivations to help the person (altruistic motivation).
Mood - when happy we want to maintain this - focus on positive activities. When sad - fewer helping behaviours as we are focussing on own problems.
Negative-state relief hypothesis - adults more likely to help when sad as this may make them feel better.