Exam 3 Flashcards
6 Theories of aggression
- biological
- evolution
- biochemistry
- pain
- frustration
- social learning
aggression
behavior intended to hurt others psychologically or physically
2 types of aggression
hostile- reacting behavior motivated by strong emotions that is intended to harm
instrumental- premeditated behavior because of external motivation / goal
displaced aggression
aggression directed towards someone other than the instigator
Catharsis theory
“catharsis”- to cleanse or purge
-acting aggressively (or even exposed to aggression) releases anger and aggressive impulses into a harmless outlet
-Freud: people should express bottled-up anger. If repressed, surface as psychological disorders
Aristotle: viewing tragic plays gave people emotional release from negative emotions
anger
something that entails bodily states (physiological arousal and mental meanings)
theories of aggression
- pain and discomfort
- weather and aggression (hotter weather more aggressive)
Why can aggression be functional?
Help us survive, pass down genes, and protection
Relative Deprivation
deprivation leads to more frustration when other social groups possess it
Ex: living in poor area around rich people
Culture of honor and aggression
-Associated with people in the south
-Certain cultures more likely to be more aggressive when reputation is threatened
-Small threats are magnified.
-Reason why it was important to have an appearance of being tough in past cultures
-More murders in south due to “insults” to one’s pride
Culture of honor and aggression study
Cohen and 1996= participants (½ from south) were bumped into and called “asshole”
-People from south responded more aggressively to provocation
Categorization
sorting objects into groups
Social categorizations and the 2 types
Sorting people into groups. We do this quickly like “young person. College student”
-Ingroup- people who belong to the same group we do
-Outgroup- people who belong to a different group we do
Outgroup homogeneity effect
people often assume outgroup members are more similar to each other than ingroup members are to each other
Stereotypes
-beliefs about the attributes of a group of people
-Beliefs that associate groups of people with a trait
Stereotype threat
-increased anxiety due to possibility of confirming negative stereotype
-Steele
Why do we use stereotypes
-Generalizations to simplify things ( to keep things simple)
-Heuristics
-Normative vs informational influences
2 basic dimensions of stereotyping someone
- Good vs bad people
- High vs low competence
- High vs low warmth
Interpersonal consequences of stereotyping
-If people feel judged, anxiety will increase , people’s performance will go down
-Most influenced= the ones that care the most
prejudice
-a prejudgement of a group and its members
-A negative attitude toward others based on their group membership
-Exist for survival. Help maintain cognitive consistency
Ingroup favoritism
more favorable/ positive attitudes towards people in one’s own group
Minimal group effect
even when group is randomly determined, people show favoritism toward ingroup members (quick cohesiveness and loyalty)
Why are prejudiced feelings not justified
-judging an individual independent of their actual attributes/actions
-Way too generalized
-A lot of false information in society
Sources of prejudice
-Innate prejudices
-Indirect experience (the media)
-Direct experience (what happened to you)
Characteristics of an unprejudiced person
- Optimistic
- Genuine
- Forgiving
- Empathy
- Humility
Evaluation of groups
Praise ingroup
Derogate outgroup -> stronger ingroup identity, stronger outgroup prejudice
too much ingroup pride can be bad (ex: nazi germany); what you identify as doesn’t matter as much as the extent to which you identify to the group
Realistic group conflict
-groups compete for scarce resources
-Produces conflict, discrimination, pride
Ex: immigrants coming in and “sealing jobs”.
The more you internalize it, the bigger a threat it will become to you
Robber’s Cave study
Wanted to see how quickly conflict factors could arise
Group conflict theory in boy scout camp
Boys assigned to a group (rattlers or eagles)
Developed cohesiveness and loyalty to group
Competitive activities created conflict
Competed for awards -> scarce resources (ramps up ingroup pride)
Once competition was introduced, quickly started to show ingroup pride and malice towards outgroup
Discrimination
-unequal behavior towards or treatment of a group or its members
-Often stems from prejudicial attitudes and stereotypical beliefs
Racism
prejudiced attitudes toward a particular race
-1949 study about how many white ppl are willing to enter relationships with Black people.less than 50%
-Automatic racial biases:
Tool vs gun task
Black face influenced how accurate they were to categorize picture as a gun or tool
More likely to indicate an object was a weapon
Automatic racial biases
-Tool vs gun task
-Black face influenced how accurate they were to categorize picture as a gun or tool
-More likely to indicate an object was a weapon
modern racism
-Seldom consciously intended
-Knee-jerk prejudices
4 ways to reduce prejudice
- Identify with the outgroup
- Intergroup contact- “contact hypothesis” -> common goals are key
Friendships
Equal-status contact- contact on an equal basis and should be between people equal in status - Conscious control of stereotypes
- Focus on superordinate categories
Not “us” and “them” but “WE”
Subordinate vs superordinate
subordinate- lower level
super- more abstract
3 Features of aggression
1, A behavior, you can see it. Not internal response
2. Intentional, not accidental
3. Victim wants to avoid harm
Violence
the aggression hat is intended to cause extreme physical harm
Major decline happened in 17th century during age of reason
Violent images more readily available to us through the media so we are more likely to
overestimate amount of violence due to availability heuristics
Internal factors affecting aggression
- age
- gender
- personality traits
- hostile biases
age and aggression
1-3 yr olds are most aggressive. Often rely on physical aggression to resolve conflict and get what they want
18-24 yr olds commit most murders in US
gender and aggression
-at all ages males tend to be more physically -aggressive than females
-In heterosexual partners, women are actually slightly more likely than men to use physical aggression
-When men do use physical accretion -> cause serious injuries and even death to partners
-When people are strongly provoked, gender differences in aggression shrink
-Females more likely to engage in relational aggression -> intentionally harming another person’s social relationships, feelings of acceptance, or inclusion within a group (gossiping, spreading rumors, excluding someone)
personality traits and aggression
-Aggressiveness is almost as stable as intelligence over time
-“Dark Triad of Personality”- narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism
Narcissism- mythical character Narcissus who fell in love w his own reflection
Psychopaths- callous individuals who lack empathy for others
Machiavellianism- Machiavelli advocated using means necessary for power, including aggression and violence
hostile cognitive biases
attribution- interpret behaviors as having hostile intent
perception- perceive social interactions in general as being aggressive
expectation- expect others will react to conflicts with aggression
External factors of aggression
- frustration-aggression theory
- weapons
- violent media
- alcohol
frustration-aggression theory
blocking a goal-directed behavior -> arouses aggression
study : 7 & 8 y/o boys showed cool toy. Some watched first (more aggressive) others played first (less aggressive)
All unpleasant events cause aggression, not just frustration and automatically trigger a flight-flight response (ex: provocations, social rejections, hot temps)
weapon effect
Violent video games may be more harmful than violent TV shows because:
1. Active involvement enhances learning.
2. Players more likely to identify with violent character than watchers
3. Violent games directly reward for violent behavior
Violent games increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and aggressive behaviors
Decrease empathic feelings and prosocial behaviors
Similar effects obtained for males and females, regardless of age and country
alcohol and aggression
Deliberately used to promote aggression (increase rather than cause)
Theories on how alcohol disrupts cognitive processes
1. Pharmacological theories
2. Expectancy theories that focus on social attitudes about alcohol facilitate aggression
Reduces glucose, which provides energy to brain for self-control
Alcohol myopia theory- causes people to only focus on obvious features in a situation
Behaviors occur under contradictory impulses
Alcohol undermines people’s ability to process conflicting responses = more extreme behaviors
Ineffective methods for reducing aggression
- catharsis
- punishment- inflicting pain or removing pleasure for a misdeed
when is punishment most effective>
- intense
- prompt
- applied with consistency and certainty
- justified
- possible to replace undesirable behaviors with a desirable alternative behavior
Kids who are physically punished by parents at home are more aggressive outside home
What do all emotions have?
Bodily states (arousal) and mental meanings
Successful interventions
- changing external causes rather than internal.
- Aggression problems best treated in early development
Blatant biases
conscious beliefs, feelings, and behavior that people are willing to admit, are more hostile, and openly favor their own group
if hate one outgroup, also hate many others
Social dominance orientation
-a belief that group hierarchies are inevitable and a good idea to maintain order and stability
-Preference for inequality as normal and natural
Right-Wing authoritarianism
Respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity
Subtle/Automatic biases
ambiguous, unintended, unfair and disrespectful
Implicit Association Test
Implicit association test
picks up how easily people pair ideas with the same evaluation
Ougroup disliking stems from ingroup liking
Younger people quickly paired young names and good things. own group with good thing and other group with bad things
IAT predicts economic discrimination (fewer resources + disliked outgroups)
Sometimes our own automatic associations trump our own values
Ambiguous Biases
- Social Identity Theory -> shows favor for ingroup.
- Self-categorization Theory -> same but emphasizes shelf as member of ingroup
- Aversive racism- people avoid outgroups and their own prejudices
Ambivalent Biases
- Stereotype Content Model
-when new group, people want to know its intentions for good/ ill then competence
WARMTH AND COMPETENCE
-model minority stereotype- excessive competence but deficient sociability
C-> envy
C + W -> pride
W-> pity
Stereotype
Discrimination
Prejudice
belief
behavior
attitude
Treatment of hysteria
discharge of emotional state associated with trauma.
Interpersonal trauma
results obtained through direct aggression
Hydraulic model
-basis of cathartic model
Frustration turns into anger -> anger builds up inside -> explosion of emotions
-Core idea: it’s better to get anger out in little bits rather than exploding
Hydraulic model experiment
-Hornberger 1959
-Participants received an insulting remark from a confederate
-1/2 pounded a nail with a hammer, the other half did not
-Result: people who hammered nails were more harsh/hostile when criticizing confederate
Cognitive neoassociation theory
ruminating while venting (negativei affects)-> stimulate aggressive tendencies
-negative affect automatically stimulates thoughts, memories, expressive motor reactions, and physiological responses associated with both fight and flight tendencies.
fight associations -> anger
flight associations -> fear
Aggressive thoughts are linked together in memory
Once aggressive thought is processed or stimulated, activation spreads out among the network links and primes or activates associated thoughts.
Thoughts linked along the same sort of associative lines to emotional reactions and action tendencies
Activation of aggressive thoughts can cause a complex of associations consisting of aggressive ideas, emotions related to violence, and the motivation for aggressive actions
venting
-behaving aggressively against safe, inanimate objects
-primes aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavioral tendencies.
-keep angry feelings active in the memory and increase the likelihood of aggressive responses
Ruminations
“self-focused attention”
-directing attention inward on the self, particularly on bad mood.
-Any process that serves to aggravate the bad mood. increase anger and aggression
Distractions
Any process that serves to distraction attention away from a bad mood
should reduce anger and aggression
Rumination and Distraction Rusting and Nolen study
College students angered by reading a story abt a prof mistreating a student, then told to imagine themselves in that situation
-some students ruminate by writing about emotion-focused and self-focused topics
-others were distracted by writing about nonemotional, irrelevant topics.
Participants who ruminated reported being angrier
Rumination and Distraction insulting study
-Found that aggression towards insulting confederate was decreased by solving distracting math problems
-To date: no research has examined the effects of rumination and distraction in the effects of venting activities on anger and subsequent aggression.
