Attraction & Aggression Flashcards
Aggression can be defined as
behaviour that results in personal injury or destruction of property; behaviour intended to harm another of the same species; the intentional infliction of some form of harm on others
Despite some disagreement about what ‘aggression’ entails, there appears to be consensus that
aggression at least involves
the intention to harm
Let us say that we want to study violence in young children. We go to a pre-school setting where we
set up a large, soft plastic doll and arrange for an adult to punch it. Later, we observe how often
individual children hit the doll. The measure of hitting the doll is
an experimental analogue of aggression
The debate about whether a biological or a social explanation offers a better account of aggression
exemplifies the
nature-nurture controversy
The view that aggression stems from an innate ‘death instinct’ (Thanatos)is the
psychodynamic approach.
Evolutionary social psychology, ethology and Freudian theory all have a strong
biological emphasis
in explaining aggression.
Warren has just been stood up by Christine—again! He is upset and angry, and yells at his
housemates, who have not tidied up the backyard after a house party. The model of aggression that
best predicts Warren’s outburst is
frustration-aggression
It is possible that some acts of aggression arise from: (a) a learned aggressive behaviour, (b) a
person’s arousal from an earlier, unrelated source, and (c) a later interpretation of the cause of the
arousal state such that an aggressive response seems appropriate. A model that argues this way isthe
excitation-transfer model
According to social learning theory, an aggressive response
does not require a direct reinforcer in order to be learned
Marta watches her Mum praise Jim, Marta’s older brother, for drying the dishes. Marta is a bit
jealous and decides she will dry the dishes tomorrow. In the language of social learning theory she has
just
learned by vicarious experience
Research has indicated that there may be a link, albeit a weak one, between aggression and an
individual’s
level of testosterone; Type A personality; gender orientation
People who live in close proximity are more likely to be attracted to each other because
it is easy for them to interact; they simply expect to meet each other more frequently; interaction makes them more familiar to each other
A reason why sharing similar attitudes is thought to lead to attraction is because
when people agree with you, this acts as a positive reinforcement for you
Finding a person more attractive the more we see them is a functionof
the mere exposure effect
