Chapter 9: What is Aggression

Question 1

What is Aggression?

Answer 1

• “Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone”
• Can be social or physical

Question 2

Cyberbullying

Answer 2

Harassing or threatening someone using e-communication

Question 3

Physical Aggression

Answer 3

Hurting someone else’s body

Question 4

Social Aggression

Answer 4

Hurting someone’s feelings or threatening their relationships

Question 5

Hostile Aggression

Answer 5

• Aggression driven by anger and performed as an end in itself
• ex. Most murders

Question 6

Instrumental Aggression

Answer 6

• Aggression that is meant to some end
• Most wars or terrorist acts

Question 7

Theories of Aggression: Instinct Theory

Answer 7

• Freud speculated that human aggression comes from a self-destructive impulse or “death urge”
• Lorenz saw aggression as adaptive behavior
• Bofadeez saw aggression as involving instinctive behaviour

Question 8

Instinctive Behavior

Answer 8

An innate, unlearned behaviour pattern exhibited by all members of a species

Question 9

Aggression as Social Behavior

Answer 9

• Calling aggression an instinct explains the behavior without looking at the context
• Instinct Theory fails to account for the various forms of aggression
• Even though aggression is biologically influenced, this doesn’t mean it’s instinctual

Question 10

Aggression as Evolution

Answer 10

• Purposeful aggression improved the odds of survival and reproduction
• Mating-related aggression: men primed to think about sex were louder toward men who provoked them
• Selfish gene-theory: men are more likely to abuse step-children than biological children

Question 11

Aggression: Neural Influences

Answer 11

• Certain neural systems in animals and humans facilitate aggression
• These brain systems can be manipulated to increase or decrease aggression

Question 12

Aggression: Genetic Influences

Answer 12

• Heredity influences the neural system’s sensitivity to aggressive cues

Question 13

Aggression: Biochemical Influences

Answer 13

• Alcohol: Experiments and police data indicate that alcohol unleashes aggression when provoked
• Reduced self-awareness by focusing attention on provocations (bump in crowd)

Question 14

Aggression: Frustration-Aggression Theory

Answer 14

• Posits that frustration triggers a readiness to aggress

Question 15

Frustration

Answer 15

• The blocking of goal-directed behaviour
• All sports with offence-defence involve a frustrating event

Question 16

Frustration-Aggression Theory: Displacement

Answer 16

• The redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the frustration
• Usually, the target is a safer or more socially acceptable target

Question 17

Frustration-Aggression Theory Revised

Answer 17

• Irritation leads to frustration, but not anger (Unjustified frustration)
• Frustration (when annoyance continues) builds to produce anger
• Aggressive cues: What are the social cues that allow me to be aggressive in this context
• Revision allows for the theory to be context-dependent

Question 18

Frustration-Aggression Theory Revised: Reasoning

Answer 18

• Since we use reasoning to assess the context, aggression cannot be considered to “takeover” our mind

Question 19

Aggression: Relative Deprivation

Answer 19

The perception that one is less well off when compared to others

Question 20

Aggression: Learned Social Behavior

Answer 20

• The rewards of aggression
• We learn to aggress when rewarded

Question 21

Aggression: Observational Learning

Answer 21

• Social Learning Theory: We learn social behavior by observing and imitating and being rewarded and punished
• Family provides model behavior
• Culture shows what is appropriate and what is not

Question 22

Social Learning View of Aggression

Answer 22

• Aversive experiences lead to emotional arousal
• Rewards and costs lead to anticipated consequences
• These combine to form a judgement

Question 23

Influences on Aggression: Aversive Incidents

Answer 23

Aggression often comes from aversive incidents
- Pain
- Uncomfortable heat
- An attack

Question 24

Influences on Aggression: Pain

Answer 24

• Many species attacked whatever was around them when experiencing pain
• Frustration (not being fed when expected) also provoked aggressive behavior
• Berkowitz showed that when experiencing slight pain, participants were more willing to harm others (pain rather than frustration as provocation)

Question 25

Influences on Aggression: Heat

Answer 25

• Climate variations (smell, smoke) are linked with aggressive behavior - the most investigated is heat
• Experiments showed that aggressiveness was increased when uncomfortable heat was present
• Real-world statistics show that hot weather leads to increased aggression

Question 26

Influences on Aggression: Attacks

Answer 26

Being attacked (insulted, threatened, physical) is conducive to aggression, especially when perceived as intentional

Question 27

Influences on Aggression: Arousal

Answer 27

• Arousal can lead to extreme feelings that override bodily and mental control
• Arousal can be positive or negative
• Energy levels can make situations more extreme in either positive or negative directions
• Energy levels are the same, but context-dependent (hockey game, burglary)

Question 28

Elements of Hostile Aggression

Answer 28

• Aversive situation (pain, frustration, attack, crowding)
• Leads to; hostile thoughts, angry feelings, and arousal
• These all contribute to an aggressive reaction

Question 29

Aggression Cues

Answer 29

• Social cues
• Context cues
• We are more likely to be aggressive when a weapon is present

Question 30

Media: Porn or Sexual Violence

Answer 30

• Distorted perceptions of sexual reality
• Aggression against women
• Media awareness education

Question 31

Media: TV and Internet

Answer 31

• One type of arousal energizes other behaviors (more aggressive due to misplaced arousal)
• Viewing violence disinhibits our appetite for destruction (more normal)
• Media portrayals evoke imitation

Question 32

Television Affects Behavior

Answer 32

TV watching correlated with later criminal conviction ratings

Question 33

Media: Effects on Thinking

Answer 33

• Desensitization (army program)
• Social Scripts (Media creates ways we’re “supposed to behave”)
• Altered perceptions (Changes in thought patterns)
• Cognitive priming (Primes to see something that may not be happening)

Question 34

Media: Altering Perceptions

Answer 34

• The different influences of media combine to shape and shift our reality
• Desensitization can combine with social scripts to make us numb to the actions we are doing

Question 35

Media: Video Games

Answer 35

• Identify with violent characters
• Actively rehearsing violence
• Engage in the whole sequence of enacting violence
• Engage with continual violence and threats of attack
• Repeat violent behaviours over and over
• Get rewards for violent acts

Question 36

Effects of Video Games

Answer 36

Repeated Violent game-playing leads to:
- Aggressive beliefs and attitudes
- Aggressive perceptions
- Aggressive expectations
- Aggressive behaviour scripts
- Aggressive desensitization
These all contribute to increased aggressive personality

Question 37

Media & Aggression: Prosocial Behavior

Answer 37

Since aggressive behaviour on TV can be imitated, so can good behaviours