DEFINITIONS 10 Aggression: Its Nature, Causes, and Control

Question 1

aggression

Answer 1

Behavior directed toward the goal of harming another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment.

Question 2

drive theories (of aggression)

Answer 2

Theories suggesting that aggression stems from external conditions
that arouse the motive to harm or injure others. The most famous of these is the frustration-aggression hypothesis.

Question 3

general aggression model (GAM)

Answer 3

A modern theory of aggression suggesting that aggression is triggered by a wide range of input variables that influence arousal, affective stages, and cognitions.

Question 4

frustration-aggression hypothesis

Answer 4

The suggestion that frustration is a very powerful determinant of aggression.

Question 5

provocation

Answer 5

Actions by others that tend to trigger aggression in the recipient, often because they are perceived as stemming from malicious intent.

Question 6

teasing

Answer 6

Provoking statements that call attention to the target’s flaws and imperfections.

Question 7

excitation transfer theory

Answer 7

A theory suggesting that arousal produced in one situation can persist and intensify emotional reactions occurring in later situations.

Question 8

Cultures of honor

Answer 8

Cultures in which there are strong norms indicating that aggression is an appropriate response to insults to one’s honor.

Question 9

TASS model

Answer 9

The traits as situational sensitivities model. A view suggesting that
many personality traits function in a threshold-like manner, influencing behavior only when situations evoke them.

Question 10

type A behavior pattern

Answer 10

A pattern consisting primarily of high levels of competitiveness, time urgency, and hostility.

Question 11

type B behavior pattern

Answer 11

A pattern consisting of the absence of characteristics associated with the type A behavior pattern.

Question 12

hostile aggression

Answer 12

Aggression in which the prime objective is inflicting some kind of harm on the victim.

Question 13

instrumental aggression

Answer 13

Aggression in which the primary goal is not to harm the victim but rather attainment of some other goal—for example, access to valued resources.

Question 14

bullying

Answer 14

A pattern of behavior in which one individual is chosen as the target
of repeated aggression by one or more others; the target person (the victim) generally has less power than those who engage in aggression (the bullies).

Question 15

cyberbullying

Answer 15

Bullying (repeated assaults against specific target persons) occurring in chatrooms and other Internet locations.

Question 16

punishment

Answer 16

Procedures in which aversive consequences are delivered to individuals when they engage in specific actions.

Question 17

catharsis hypothesis

Answer 17

The view that providing angry people with an opportunity to express their aggressive impulses in relatively safe ways will reduce their tendencies
to engage in more harmful forms of aggression.

Question 18

self-affirmation

Answer 18

Refers to the tendency to respond to a threat to one’s self-concept by affirming one’s competence in another area (different from the threat).