Chapter 12 - Aggression Flashcards
It is useful to distinguish between two types of aggression (Berkowitz, 1993), which?
Hostile and Instrumental aggression.
Define aggression
Intentional behavior aimed at causing physical harm or psychological pain to another person.
What is hostile aggression?
Aggression stemming from feelings of anger and aimed at inflicting pain or injury.
What is instrumental aggression?
Aggression as a means to some goal other than causing pain.
Mention the leading evolutionary arguments supporting “humans are an aggressive species”.
- Men are more violent than women (fact).
- Aggression is linked with the male sex hormone, testosterone.
- Men are evolutionarily selected to be aggressive because it enables them to defend their group and perpetuate their genes.
- Chimpanzees, which we share 98% of our DNA with, are known as an aggressive species. It is the only nonhuman species in which groups of male members hunt and kill other members of their kind - at about the same rate as in humans.
Mention the counter-arguments of evolutionary psychology for “humans are an aggressive species”.
- Zing Yang Kuo(1961) raised a kitten in a cage with a rat. They became friends, and the cat did not chase other rats.
- The bonobo apes, which genetically is equally close to humans as chimpanzees, are known for their nonaggressive behavior. Prior to engaging in activities that could otherwise lead to conflict, the bonobo apes have sex. The bonobo apes form female-dominated societies and are known for their sensitivity to others in their group (Parish & de Waal, 2000).
What is the major stance on human aggression from a cultural point of view?
We cannot conclude that human beings are programmed, like many other species, to protect their territory and behave aggressively in response to specific stimuli. The complexity and importance of our social interactions make the contribution through genes ineffectual.
Which three lines of evidence support the view that culture is more important than genetics in terms of human aggression?
Studies …
- of cultures across time
- across cultures
- laboratory experiments
One of the three lines of evidence for the theory that culture is more important than genetics in human aggression is studies of cultures across time. Expand
Changing social conditions can influence groups to become more or less aggressive. The Iroquios of North America were known to live peacefully, not fighting other tribes. When the barter with the Europeans brought them in direct competition with the neighboring Hurons over furs, however, they “developed” into ferocious warriors. It would be hard to explain this change because of their genetic innate aggressiveness.
One of the three lines of evidence for the theory that culture is more important than genetics in human aggression are the studies of differences in aggression across cultures. Expand on this.
We already know that some cultures have seen much more war and turmoil than others, is this genetic or bound to culture or social situation? In close-knit cultures that depend on cooperation for the group’s survival, anger and aggression are considered dangerous and disruptive, and an offender will be ostracized or punished.
One of the three lines of evidence for the theory that culture is more important than genetics in human aggression is laboratory studies. Especially famous are Nisbett’s studies, mention his design and results.
In a serious of experiments with southern and northern students at the university of Michigan, Nisbett and his colleagues deomonstrated how a culture of honor manifests itself in the cognitions, emotions, behaviors and even physiological reactions of its young men. Each participant was “accidentially” bumped into by the experimenter’s conferderate, who then insulted him by calling him a denigrating name. Southerners were more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened, became more upset (rise in cortisol levels), were more phsiologically primed for aggression (rise in testosterone levels), became more cognitively primed fro aggression, and were ultimately more likely to engage in aggresive and dominant behavior following the incident (Cohen et al., 1996)
Richard Nisbett’s hypothesis of the difference in violence between nothern and southern americans is thus..
Higher rates of violence derive from economic causes. The higher rates occur in cultures that were originally based on herding, in contrast to cultures based on agriculture. Herders are extremely vulnerable because their livelihoods can be lost in an instant by the theft of their animals.
Even within the south, Nisbett found that homicide rates were more than twice as high in the hills and dry plains (where herding occurs) as in farming regions.
What is a culture of honor?
A culture where even a small dispute put a man’s reputawtion for toughness on the line, requiring him to respond with violence to restore his status.
What are the physiological influences of aggression?
- Achohol
- Pain
- Heat
How does achohol increase aggression?
- Dishibition, alchohol makes you less inhibited.
- Alchohol disrupts the way we usually process information, making us prone to misinterpretation of social information.
- People expect to become more aggressive, and will therefore behave more aggressively.
