Ch. 5 Human Aggression and Violence Flashcards
Aggression
AGGRESSION can be physical or nonphysical intended to cause harm
- Aggressive behavior is not necessarily criminal.
- The EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE says that aggression has an adaptive quality to gain resources and mate. Aggression and the capacity for murder are a remnant of our evolutionary past
- A PERSONALITY DISORDER is a long-standing, enduring pattern, maladaptive in nature. involving distorted and self-defeating behaviors as they respond to others.
HIGH SELF-ESTEEM is connected to AGGRESSION. Especially when an inflated self-image is threatened.
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NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER (NPD) is an extreme case of high self-esteem. It is so exaggerated that it is considered a disorder.
- Those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are prone to aggression due to their oversensitivity to criticism, sense of entitlement, lack of empathy, arrogance, and exploitation of others for their own selfish needs.
- ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER (APD) are also prone to aggression – show a lack of reliability, are irresponsible, lack remorse for their behavior, lack empathy.
Hostile vs. Instrumental Aggression
HOSTILE AGGRESSION (Expressive, Affective, Reactive, Overt) DRIVEN by ANGER with the goal of HARMING THE TARGET of AGGRESSION.
- It is in response to a perceived threat with the goal of making the victim suffer.
- Most criminal homicides, rapes, etc, are aimed at harming the victim.
Those who demonstrate Hostile Aggression have the following attributes:
- Impulsive (little self-control)
- Anger, high arousal (bad temper)
- Vengeful (unforgiving)
- Use Direct confrontation
- Lack of social cognition (ignore social rules and norms)
- Lack of control
- Begins early
- Decreases w/ age (not always)
INSTRUMENTAL AGGRESSION (Proactive, Covert) PREMEDITATED with some goal other than HARMING the victim – driven by an expectation of REWARD (Ex: Robbery, Burglary, Theft, White collar crimes).
- The Instrumentally Aggressive desire something or some status from someone else and they are determined to take it.
- They are NOT necessarily intent on harming anyone UNLESS someone interferes with their pursuit of the reward.
- So the characteristics of Instrumental Aggression include:
- Premeditated (not impulsive)
- Less emotional (not driven by arousal)
- Reward-driven
- Sly, underhanded
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Reliance on cognitive capabilities (thought out)
- May evolve into a well-learned strategy in order to avoid being caught.
- No original intent to harm
- Increases w/ age
Theoretical Perspectives of Aggression
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE of AGGRESSION says that humans are susceptible to “AGGRESSIVE ENERGY” from birth. It uses the analogy of a Hydraulic pump (known as the HYDRAULIC MODEL) to explain.
- Humans are susceptible to “aggressive energy” from birth.
- Excess aggressive energy must be DRAINED OFF or pressure will build to dangerous levels.
- To control aggression, you must have multiple, appropriate channels for CATHARSIS to control violence
ETHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE on AGGRESSION says that there is an inherited instinct for humans (and animals) to DEFEND TERRITORY to ensure sufficient, necessary resources.
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE on AGGRESSION says that the evolution of behavior is based on the principles of natural selection and that aggression is NORMAL because it has been helpful in securing resources, mating in the survival over generations.
- Aggression may be NORMAL, not pathological
DISPLACED AGGRESSION THEORY of AGGRESSION says that in instances when the individual CANNOT AGREE AGAINST THE SOURCE of provocation (perhaps a boss), she may INSTEAD be AGGRESSIVE TOWARD an AVAILABLE (INNOCENT) TARGET (perhaps her sister).
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis (Berkowitz)
FRUSTRATION-AGGRESSION HYPOTHESIS – Focuses on FRUSTRATION-INDUCED CRIMINALITY which says that people who use violence to reduce frustration (originating from being BLOCKED from a GOAL) will, under extreme frustration, become MORE VIOLENT THAN USUAL, possibly even resorting to murder and other violent actions to reach that goal.
- According to BERKOWITZ, frustration from some goal creates only the READINESS for AGGRESSION.
- Eliciting cues in the environment determine if aggression or some other behavior results from that frustration.
- The more intense and frequent the frustration is in an individual’s life, the more sensitive they will be to subsequent frustration, especially if they have a HIGH EXPECTATION of reaching the GOAL.
- Using VIOLENT BEHAVIOR to REDUCE FRUSTRATION will be REINFORCED since it REDUCES UNPLEASANT AROUSAL by ALTERING the STIMULI.
FRUSTRATION-INDUCED RIOTS – This theory is used to explain behavior during riots and floods. People have materialistic Goals. When they are blocked from these goals, people will steal these things when given the chance because they have been frustrated from that goal.
Society drives an expectation of the things you can/should achieve (Ex: You should have a car or a watch or an iPhone). This creates a frustration that is released in individuals by looting during extreme, unpoliced situations like riots or catastrophes.
- However, in many instances when VIOLENCE (in the form of VIOLENT PROTEST, RIOTS, or LOOTING) was ANTICIPATED, none resulted, so the RELATIONSHIP is NOT CLEARCUT on THAT LEVEL.
WEAPONS EFFECT – The mere presence of a weapon (even if just a picture) INCREASES aggressive behavior.
- This effect held true for both angered and non-angered individuals.
SOCIALIZED OFFENDER – Offenders who are the product of learning aggressive behaviors and learned to expect rewards.
INDIVIDUAL OFFENDER – Offenders who are the product of a long series of unmet needs, which led to frustration and resulted in aggression to secure the unmet needs.
Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY (VICARIOUS LEARNING THEORY):
- Severe aggressive acts are a product of multiple causes.
- Characteristically aggressive people first display aggressive behavior at a very early age.
- Temperament begins to reveal itself prior to 2 years old, and you might be able to tell if a child is going to be unusually aggressive even then.
- A 6-year-old can adopt aggressive behaviors in interactions with peers. Aggression INCREASES in intensity from then through adolescence
- By age 8 – children are characteristically either MORE or LESS AGRESSIVE over a variety of situations.
- Aggression can become a stable characteristic of an individual
- Childhood aggression can predict adult aggression.
Childhood aggression is the product of multiple interacting factors:
- Genetic (temperament)
- Perinatal (Time around birth)
- Physiological
- Familial (Interaction, parenting, household)
- Learning (BANDURA – the environment is a strong influencing factor in behavior
- RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM – person and environment affect each other.
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BANDURA saw personality as an interaction among three primary things:
- Environment
- Behavior
- Person’s Psychological Process (ability to entertain images in our minds and language)
BANDURA Bobo doll Experiment – Children were shown a film of a woman beating up a Bobo doll (one that pops back up after you knock it down). She was very violent, punching and yelling at the doll. The kindergartners were then allowed to play in the same room shown in the film with a new bobo doll. Often, their response was to beat up the clown doll, imitating the adult in the film. They changed their behavior WITHOUT being reinforced to do so.
MODELLING – BANDURA called the type of learning that REPLICATED others, MODELING.
- He noted that there are THREE TYPES of MODELING:
- LIVE MODEL – People who act as an example that children follow (Parents, Teachers, Peers, and members of your subculture)
- SYMBOLIC MODEL – (Celebrities and characters in stories)
- VERBAL INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL – Descriptions and explanations of a behavior.
COGNITIVE SCRIPTS – Like mental shortcuts, things learned in daily experience, either observed directly or whatever. Stored in memory, used as guides for social behavior.
- They are unique to each person. Guides you how to react to a given situation.
- If you’ve been in a situation and worked you’re way through it, a cognitive script is saved. The next time you encounter that situation, your cognitive script will be used to work through the situation more efficiently.
- Suggests what situations occur in a given environment and how we should respond to them to produce a likely outcome.
- Once established, COGNITIVE SCRIPTS are RESISTENT to CHANGE. They may persist into adulthood.
If a child is reinforced for being aggressive, that will influence the development of aggression
Also if they are the object of aggression
Biological structures limit the types of aggressive responses that can be learned and this tends to influence the rate of how learning progresses.
Aggressive children are believed to acquire aggressive cognitive schemas. In other words, a cognitive script that depicts the world as a hostile place, and that aggression is acceptable, then you encode social scripts that emphasize aggressive responses.
HOSTILE ATTRIBUTION BIAS – the tendency to interpret seemingly ambiguous actions as hostile or threatening when it could have been interpreted in many different ways.
- Can develop in preschool and remain stable throughout adulthood.
- Child Abuse may result in a Hostile-Attribution Bias because abuse causes the individual to jump to the conclusion that others are out to hurt them.
Media & Violence
CONTAGION EFFECT – tendencey in some people to copy (Copycat) things they see on Media – (Ex: teen shootings, suicides).
VIDEO GAMES – research community divided on impact of video games with regard to aggressive behavior
- Unlikely that video games directly cause violence, but violent viddeo games could have an influence and be a risk factor when mixed with other risk factors.
Violence in media can DESENSITIZE us to Violence
Gender Differences in Aggression
- Males and Females tend to be EQUALLY AGGRESSIVE TODDLERS.
- Around 3-5 years old is when BOYS become more OVERTLY AGGRESSIVE (physically) and GIRLS become more COVERTLY AGGRESSIVE (relational).
- ENCULTURATION and SOCIALIZATION promote different types of aggression in boys and girls.
Road Rage
ROAD RAGE is when an angry, impatient, aroused motorist intentionally injure, kills, or tries to injure or kill another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian in response to traffic dispute, altercation, or grievance.
- Provocation may be real or imagined
- Is common.
- Results from Frustration and is not usually attributed to the behavior of the victim of ROAD RAGE.
AGGRESSIVE DRIVING is less severe.
TYPICAL ROAD RAGER tend to be male 19-35, violent or criminal histories, psychiatirci problems, drug and alcohol problems
Violence
VIOLENCE is destructive physical aggression intentionally directed at harming other persons or objects.
- May be methodical or random, sustained or fleeting, intensive or uncontrolled.
Profiling a Violent Person
A TYPICAL VIOLENT PERSON:
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SOCIAL INFORMATION PROCESSING – is how we understand the words and actions of others.
- Normally, NON-violent people process social information in steps.
- we encode social cues.
- we make sense of these cues
- we search our minds for an appropriate response
- we decide on the best option for responding
- And then we make that response.
- Normally, NON-violent people process social information in steps.
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DODGE proposed that Violent behavior may result from Deficits & biases at any of these stages.
- Social Perception – Evidence shows that violent people search for and encode FEWER SOCIAL CUES than their NONVIOLENT peers.
- They pay MORE attention to cues at the END of the interaction INSTEAD of at the beginning.
- This means that they may be misinterpreting the INTENT of others as being HOSTILE (HOSTILE ATTRIBUTION BIAS).
- Violent people show more RESTRICTIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITY.
- Consider FEWER CONSEQUENCES than non-violent people.
- Together, these processes lead violent people to perceive their actions and rationales as a VIABLE FORM of CONDUCT.
Etiology (causes) of Violent Behavior
FOUR SEQUENTIAL STAGES ACROSS THE LIFESPAN (Veitzel, Hosman & Lionel)
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STAGE 1: Distal Antecedents – The things that precede violence
- Biological factors (e.g. genes, brain dysfunction)
- Psychological factors (e.g. impulsiveness, deficits in problem-solving)
- Environmental factors (e.g. family functioning, high crime neighborhood)
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STAGE 2: Early indicators – Red flags appearing in childhood.
- Conduct Disorder,
- Poor parenting
- Early aggression, poor emotional regulation
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STAGE 3: Developmental processes associated with the intensfication of violent behavior, such as…
- School failure
- Cognitive style (e.g. hostile attributions)
- Substance abuse
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STAGE 4: Maintenance variables – Adolescence moved them into an adult stage of violent behavior because there are maintenance variables that have come into force – like continued reinforcement for violent conduct. They’ve committed violent acts and it has worked out for them.
- Association with criminal Peers
- Social Conditions that create opportunities for crime
- Socioenconomic deprivation
- Contemporary Thinking characterizes VIOLENCE as an INTERACTION between both the character of the INDIVIDUAL and the characteristics of the ENVIRONMENT to which they are exposed (Bandura’s RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM).
Role of Anger
ANGER is the emotional state most often associated with violent behavior (no kidding.)
- Particularly disfunctional anger (when it has significantly negative consequences for the individual who is becoming angry or the person they are angry with.)
- It would be WRONG to say that anger is the principle cause of violence. It is NOT.
- It would be WRONG to say that all violent offenders are angry. They are NOT.
- But there is a CLEAR CORRELATION between ANGER and VIOLENCE.
NAVACO 1975 – In order for someone to become angry, there must be some Environmental TRIGGER , which is usually someones peerception of words or actions of another individual.
While ANGRY, our cognitive process act in such a way that creates a HIGHER POTENTIAL for ATTRIBUTION ERROR –The fundamental attribution error refers to an individual’s tendency to attribute another’s actions to their character or personality, while attributing their behavior to external situational factors outside of their control.
- INTENTIONAL CUE-ING – Seeing hostility in the words and actions of others while an ATTRIBUTION ERROR occurs. “I am behaving in reposnse to what happens to me. Others behave in the way they do because of who they are.”
Moral Reasoning
Gibbs and Associates – association between moral reasoning and violent behavior. They focused on the bridgee between theories regrding social informantion processing and other theories of moral development.
They suggest that this bridge take the form of COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS by which we rationalization (self-justification) or MISLABEL our own behavior.
- Ex: If I perceive someone’s actions as having hostile intent, it may lead me to assault them. And it is my DISTORTED RATIONALIZATION, not their actions, that lead to the violence.
- This COGNITIVE DISTORTION is also seen in the biased interpretation of the CONSEQUENCES of my own behavior, RATIONALIZING that we “didn’t hurt them too bad, or as bad as we could have” or “ Oh, they’re okay.”
- This DISTORTIONS are often supported by their PEER GROUP.
