Aggression - social psychological theories

Question 1

Bandura (SLT)

Answer 1

• when aggressive model was neither rewarded or punished and when rewarded children tended to show spontaneous aggressive acts
• all children learnt the behaviour but only those who observed role model being rewarded were motivated to imitate the behaviour
• bobo doll not living person; unsure as to whether this study shows that imitation of aggression is a cause for aggressive behaviour towards other people

Question 2

Robertson (SLT)

Answer 2

• individuals born in same year at regular intervals
• correlated television viewing with criminal convictions
• found that those who spent more time watching TV during childhood were significantly more likely to have criminal conviction
• associations similar for both males and females
• supports SLT as watching TV is a vicarious experience

Question 3

Paik and Comstock (SLT)

Answer 3

• meta-analysis

- strong effect size for effect of TV violence on aggressive behaviour

Question 4

Deanx (IDA for SLT)

Answer 4

• in some cultures e.g Pygmies in central africa there is very little aggression, lack male aggressive stereotype
• have same biological sex differences so must be lack of aggressive male stereotypes
• suggests SLT is more important than hormonal factors

Question 5

Prentice-Dunn and Rogers (deindividuation)

Answer 5

• reduction in private self-awareness is associated with increased anti-social behaviour

Question 6

Malamuth and Check (deindividuation)

Answer 6

• male students at American university
• almost 1/3 admitted they would commit rape if not identified
• questionnaire; prone to social desirability effects, people less likely to tell the truth

Question 7

Zimbardo (deindividuation)

Answer 7

• female students to deliver electric shocks
• half were deindividuated
• deindividuated group gave twice as many shocks on average
• artificial lab experiment, results may not occur in real life

Question 8

Watson (deindividuation)

Answer 8

• 23 warrior societies
• 13 that committed extreme violence, 12 significantly changed appearance
• less prone to demand characteristics
• cultural bias - change in appearance could be for other reasons, should not apply theory from one’s own culture onto another

Question 9

Postmes and Spears (deindividuation)

Answer 9

• meta-analysis
• insufficient support for this theory
• suggests individuals in a crowd do not lose identity, instead take collective identity e.g in peaceful crowd become peaceful

Question 10

Mann (IDA for deindividuation)

Answer 10

• 10/21 incidents of suicide where crowd had gathered, taunting took place
• claims that darkness, size of a crowd and distance are factors likely to produce a state of deindividuation
• practical application for police