Chapter 4: Situational Elicitation of Aggressive Behaviour Flashcards
(37 cards)
What are the two cues viewed in class?
- Aggressive cues
- exposure to aggression-related stimuli primes aggressive thoughts - Social cues
- being left out /ignored can lead to aggressive behaviour
Under the theme of aggressive cues; what has research found with the weapon effect?
The weapon effect, or linking aggression-related stimuli to aggressive thoughts, can occur without conscious awareness (ex. if we are subliminally exposed)
- Countries with stricter gun control laws have far fewer gun deaths
- A household with no gun is 5 times less probable having a suicide in the family
For example, in Canada, the rate of spousal homicides involving guns dropped 74% from 1980 to 2009; this can be directly linked to stricter gun laws passed in 1991 and 1995
- With a gun in the home, it is 22 times more likely to kill a family member in an argument than against a stranger as self defense
What did Bartholow (2004) find within the weapons effects by using hunters as participants? What conclusions can be drawn from this study?
The weapon effect only occurs if we link the object with aggression
Bartholow (2004) studied how guns were associated with aggression, they used hunters and non-hunters as participants
They found that assault rifles (non-hunter guns) were associated with aggression in both groups, but hunting rifles were only associated with aggression among non-hunters. Hunters view the hunting rifle as a tool for their hobby, rather than an instrument to kill.
This finding lead to two main conclusions:
- the aggressive meaning of a situational cue is not an inherent property of the stimulus itself, but is assigned on the basis of the perceiver’s pre-existing knowledge structures and past behavioural experience
- support provided for the General Aggression Model (GAM) by showing that differences in the accessibility of aggressive cognitions are linked to differences in aggressive behaviour
What did Frank & Gilovich (1988) find when studying uniforms?
Frank & Gilovich (1988) studied uniform colour and aggression
They examined penalty records of all pro football (NFL) and hockey (NHL) teams from 1970–1985
For all but one season, teams with dark uniforms were penalized more, but this study was limited to a context of aggression, since no one in dark clothing at a funeral is aggressive.
Under the theme of social cues; define ostracism. What is ostracism associated with?
Ostracism is being excluded, rejected, and ignored by others
Ostracism came from “Ostraka”, an ancient myth from Greece where they would write a name on a piece of pottery and if a person’s name reappeared thousands of times, they would shun the person for 10 years.
Ostracism is associated with negative psychological effects, especially over long periods of time, and can also lead to aggression, such as school shootings.
What experimental paradigms are used to study social cues?
- Cyberball
- virtual ball-tossing game in which a participant is excluded by 2 confederates - Life alone: results of “personality test” reveal participant will end up alone, relationships won’t last, then compared to a confederate who got positive results
- Get acquainted: participants told no one wants them in their group or that everyone wants them in their group
What did Eisenberger et al. (2003) find in an fMRI study when studying ostracism?
Using the cyberball paradigm, participants were rejected while in an fMRI machine
They found that social rejection activates the same brain area (dACC) as does physical pain
What did DeWall et al. (2010) find in regards to social rejection by using tylenol?
They had participants take a tylenol or a placebo everyday for 3 weeks
I.V: tylenol vs. placebo
After the three weeks, participants were given an fMRI while playing Cyberball
They found that in the placebo condition there was high dACC activation, however those who took tylenol had no dACC activation; meaning, tylenol (a pain medication) can help emotional pain like it helps physical pain
What did Warburton, Williams & Cairns (2006) find in regards to social aggression by using a game of catch?
They had participants playing game of catch with two confederates
IV.1: exclusion (participant only given ball 3 times) or included
IV.2: control vs. no control over unpleasant noises
DV: aggression towards a third confederate (hot-sauce paradigm)
They found that participants who had no control over noises and were excluded gave significantly more hot sauce to the confederate. Participants who were excluded but still had control over their environment didn’t give as much.
Social rejection undermines an individual’s sense of control, aggression is a means of regaining control.
How does alcohol affect aggression? What were the results of the university study conducted on alcohol?
Alcohol unleashes aggression when people are provoked.
A Canadian campus survey of 4000 students from 40 Universities (Mihic et al., 2009) found that greater reported consumption leads to greater reported aggression, especially at bars and parties.
Problem: desirability bias
What does Graham and Wells (2001) find for aggression in bars?
They observed 117 aggressive incidents at bars in London, ON.
They found that:
- more alcohol leads to more aggression, especially severe physical aggression
- aggressive confrontations usually include 5 or more people, and 3/4 of confrontations were all males
- the most aggression occurred between 12am-2am
- individuals will often change roles, the peace maker will become the aggressor
There were four general issues leading to aggression:
- conflict with staff
- bar activities; dancing, pool
- defensive behaviour; insults, stealing, bumping
- interpersonal/relationships; jealousy
What is the association between alcohol and domestic violence?
Alcohol is associated with domestic violence
Domestic violence is six times higher if spouse drinks heavily vs. moderately or not at all
2/3 of people in Canada accused of spousal homicide are found to be using alcohol or high at the time
Why does alcohol cause aggression?
Alcohol causes changes in thought, perception and interpretation
a. Alcohol myopia: the tendency for alcohol consumption to cause a narrowing of attention
- makes aggressive cues salient
- ex. shoving interpreted as aggressive
b. Reduces normal inhibitions against aggression
- decrease in glucose levels; not able to exercise self-control
c. Decreases self-awareness
- in turn, decreases morals and values
d. Expectancy effects
- people who believe alcohol causes aggression will be more aggressive
How is pain associated with aggression?
Animals in pain, who can’t flee, often attack anything in sight (Azrin, 1967)
It is unethical to induce high degree of physical pain in humans but observations of human behaviour suggest there is a pain-aggression link
ex. aggression in sporting events
How is heat associated with aggression? What did studies find when they manipulated and tested heat?
This is called the heat hypothesis, and seems to be supported.
Time period effects:
Violent crimes and riots are more likely to occur on hot days. The rates of murder, assault, and rape are highest in summer months.
It has been found that hotter cities have higher rates of violent crimes. This might be simply because more people are outside, but it is also found that domestic violence rates rise as well, and families typically spend more time together inside in the winter.
Reifman studied baseball games and found that when it was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, pitchers hit the batters 2x as many times.
Concomitant heat paradigm:
An experimenter manipulated the temperature of room (ex. 20C vs. 27C vs 32C)
As heat increases, participants show more aggressive:
- thoughts & feelings
- word associations
- behaviour toward confederate
In one study, police were more like to perceive a burglar as threatening and shoot them as heat increased.
But extreme heat may lead to apathy.
Limitation: participants can make link that hot room is testing aggression
These same results are not found in uncomfortably cold conditions.
How did Williams et al. (2007) describe the reaction to rejection?
They the reaction to rejection as a two-step process:
- Reflexive; an automatic reaction
- largely unaffected by individual differences or contextual variables in the situation
- followed by feelings of anger, sadness, and helplessness - Controlled; a cognitive appraisal
- occurs after given time to reflect on exclusion episode, and is influenced by stable dispositions and the features of the situation
- aggressive response to rejection especially likely if individual has high narcissism
What did Taylor (1967) find when studying alcohol in participants?
Participants consumed a beverage that may or may not have contained enough alcohol to get them legally drunk, they were then provoked and given opportunity to retaliate; a balanced placebo design
Given alcohol + expect alcohol
(A) yes + yes = alcohol
(B) no + yes = antiplacebo
(C) no + yes = placebo
(D) no + no = control
- to compare physical effect: group B & D
- to compared psychological effect: group C & D
The largest effect size of d = 0.61 was found between group A (alcohol) & C (placebo)
Suggesting that the pharmacological changes induced by alcohol promote aggressive behaviour only in combination with the psychological effect.
The overall effect size was stronger for men (d = 0.5) than women (d = 0.13)
Are their cultural variations in aggression, how does it change through time? What are cultures of honour?
Anthropologists note many cross-cultural differences in aggression
The Yanomamo of South America are extremely aggressive, compared to the Alaskan Inuit who are remarkably kind and peaceful
Aggression can vary drastically over time within any culture
For example, the Iroquois were a peaceful tribe until Europeans ignited conflict with the Hurons
Cultures of Honour are cultures in which male violence is seen as socially acceptable
ex. the men from the south of America treat an insult as
a threat to their reputation and view aggression as legitimate means of restoring their honour
What difference did Cohen (1996) find in aggression between people from the south and north of America? Why is there a difference?
They studied difference in aggression between the northern and the southern states
IV.1: place of origin (Northern vs. Southern US)
Participants were told to take their questionnaire to a room at the end of long hallway
IV.2: participants bumped and insulted by confederate or participant walks by confederate
Found that participants from the south were much more aggressive and had higher testosterone levels when insulted than those from the northern states
Why? Southern US was a herding-based culture so aggressive norms developed to discourage theft of animals
There were norms for retributive justice in the “Wild West” – argument murders are twice as high for people in Southern US
“southern culture of honour”
How is murder viewed in the southern states of America?
People from southern US have a more lenient attitude toward murder when they believe the perpetrator was acting to protect their honour
Cohen & Nisbett (1997) found that when a man had killed a man after discovering he had an affair with his wife, southern US citizens had an understanding towards this man, but not for theft of an everyday item
What is “priming”?
The psychological mechanism underlying the impact of aggressive cues on aggressive cognitions and behaviour is referred to as “priming”.
Primes are stimuli that activate specific mental concepts which in turn feed into subsequent judgements and behaviours.
ex. media depictions of violence, words with an aggressive meaning, or name of people associated with violent crime are clearly associated with aggressive connotations.
What did Anderson (1998) find when studying exposure to weapon primes?
They presented participants with series of word pairs, with the first word of each pair acting as a prime.
IV: primes were aggression-related (weapon words) vs neural (animal words)
They were asked to read the second (target) word of the pair out loud as fast as they could.
DV: reaction times for reading aggressive or natural target word
Participants were significantly faster in reading out aggressive target words when they had been primed by a weapon word than when the prime had been an animal word.
- this same effect can be seen when using pictures of alcohol instead of weapons
Do aggressive cues needs to be recognized consciously? Describe a study that tested this.
No, aggressive cues work automatically, without conscious monitoring or awareness.
Bargh (1982) exposed participants to subliminally presented word lists in which 0%, 20%, or 80% of the words were related to hostility
ex. hostile, insult, inconsiderate
They also gave a scenario describing a person showing mildly hostile behaviour and were asked to rate the person on a number of traits related to hostility.
Participants with the word list of 80% hostile word rated the stimulus person as significantly more hostile than the participants in the 0% or 20% conditions.
Define rejection.
Rejection involves an explicit declaration that an individual or group in not wanted
