Chapter 12: Aggression Flashcards
What is aggression?
Behavior that is intended to and in fact does harm another person by inflicting pain or injury
It is sometimes difficult to determine whether an action was intentional or accidental
What do alternatives definitions of aggression focus on?
- The form of the act
- The outcome of the act
What does the best definition of aggression focus on?
- the aggressor, the victim, and the community
- An act is aggressive if the aggressor intends it to harm the victim, the victim perceives it to be harmful, and it is considered aggressive according to the norms of the community
What is proactive aggression?
Behavior in which a person is hurt or injured by someone who is motivated by a desire to achieve a specific goal (instrumental aggression)
What is reactive aggression?
A form of hostile behavior in response to an attack, threat, or frustration, usually motivated by anger (hostile aggression)
What is physical aggression?
Hostile behavior that inflicts physical pain or discomfort
What is verbal aggression?
Words that inflict pain by yelling, insulting, ridiculing, humiliating
What is relational aggression?
Behaviour that damages or destroys interpersonal relationships by means such as exclusion or gossip
What is social aggression
Verbal attacks or hurtful nonverbal gestures, such as rolling the eyes or sticking out the tongue
what is direct aggression?
Physical or verbal hostile behavior that directly targets another person
What is indirect aggression?
Hostile behavior by an unidentified perpetrator that hurts another person by indirect means
What are examples of indirect and direct physical aggression?
Direct: Pushing, hitting, kicking, punching, or shoving a person
Indirect: Destroying a person’s property, getting someone else to physically hurt the person
What are examples of direct and indirect verbal aggression?
Direct: Insulting, putting down, name-calling, or teasing a person
Indirect: Gossiping, saying mean things behind a person’s back, urging someone else to verbally abuse the person
What are examples of direct and indirect relational aggression?
- Excluding, threatening to stop liking a person
- Spreading rumors or lies, exposing secrets about a person, ignoring or betraying the person, building an alliance that excludes the person
How can aggression be adaptive in early childhood?
-Early childhood - aggressive interchanges can teach young children how to settle conflicts and disputes and promote their social-cognitive growth
How can aggression be adaptive in middle childhood?
-Middle childhood: aggression can be used as a way to attract peers and impress them with the aggressor’s toughness
How can aggression be adaptive in adolescence?
Adolescence: demonstration of aggressive prowess may be a key to maintaining membership or rising in the status hierarchy of a gang
How might adaptive advantages be mixed with maladaptive outcomes?
Gaining status with peers especially deviant peers can lead to increases in deviant activities and increased contact with authorities including law enforcement
Who is more likely to be involved in direct physical aggression incidents?
By toddlerhood boys are more likely than girls to instigate and be involved in direct physical aggressive incidents
among 3-5 year olds, who is more physically aggressive?
boys are more physically aggressive than girls and this difference persists through adolescence
Who is more likely to disapprove of aggression?
Girls are more likely than boys to disapprove of aggression and to anticipate parental disapproval for acting aggressively
In what ways are girls aggressive?
- Relational aggression is used as early as preschool and continues to grow in sophistication during middle childhood and adolescence
- BUT boys use relational aggression as much as girls do–although they use physical aggression more than girls
What have researchers found about aggression for early and late starters?
- Researchers have found that aggression is relatively stable over time for both boys and girls, especially physical aggression
- Early starters - Children who start to behave aggressively at a young age - often remain aggressive through childhood and adolescence
- Although a small % remain aggressive (12% boys; 1% girls)
- Late starters - Children who begin to act aggressively in adolescence - tend not to continue their aggressive behavior in adulthood
_______ twins are rated more similarly than _______ twins on aggressive behaviour
identical; non-identical
What type of aggression is more heritable?
Physical aggression (50%) appears to be more heritable than social aggression (20%)
The antisocial behavior of _____ starters is more heritable than that of ______ starters
Early; Late