Institutional aggression

Question 0

Institutional aggression

Answer 0

• Behaviour that exists within/defines certain institution or group ie a school or a prison.
• Also other forms of collective violence between social groups based on racial, national or religious characteristics of members of one group, infamous examples include the Nazi movement and lynching mobs

Question 1

Zimbardo: situational factors

Answer 1

• Agg is product of an institution. SF; overcrowding, ^frustration levels, peer pressure and lack of EC can all have an effect.
• In absence of EC people more likely to deviate from normal rules of societal conduct.
• SF also include use of dehumanising labels ie “animals” where target groups seen as below moral consideration.
• FM DI occurs where individual ID removed. Culmination of these factors influence an individual to act in an evil way.

Question 2

Zimbardo: Abu Ghraib

Answer 2

• Where American soldiers abused and humiliated prisoners; Z argue range of SF;time of day, lack of EC: punishment/authority = normally moral guards abusive and aggressive.
• Guards displayed extreme agg/sexual humiliation, becoming lost in their role and the situation.
• Power of environment overtook individual responsibility and caused them to display more aggression.

Question 3

Bandura: supporting research (electric)

Answer 3

• Student participants, C1 ‘overheard’ other students referred to as “animals”, in C2 they were described as “nice”.
• Pps later asked to deliver electric shocks, significantly more shocks delivered to the students described as animals.
• TF labels impacted on the students decision to become more aggressive in their delivery of shocks
• Thus dehumanisation results in aggression.

Question 4

Ecological validity: Rwanda (Hutu kill Tutsi)

Answer 4

• Such R has high IV, although its EV can be questioned because of its artificiality.
• Finding applied to real life atrocities of dehumanisation.
• Exemplified by Rwandan massacre of the Tutsi by the Hutu people.
• Broadcasts by popular Hutu radio station instrumental in inciting agg against the Tutsi group.
• Refered to as “Inyenzi” (cockroaches).
• Approx 800,000 Tutsi people died in genocide. dehumanisation in a situation ^ the levels of aggressive behaviour.

Question 5

Environmental determinism: diminished responsibility

Answer 5

• // limitation of situational explanation is it is deterministic.
• Z argued that people influenced by powerful systems lose some of their free will = ‘diminished responsibility’ for actions.
• Actions become a product of their environment; moral implications regarding guards’ personal responsibility for their own behaviour. -
• Not all guards exposed to the same situation, took part in the acts
• TF ID plays a part and agg may be result of individual free will whether or not to act aggressively.

Question 6

Alternative biological: testosterone

Answer 6

• Disregards effects of NT/hormones; shown to play sig role in Agg. -TF an alternative exp for IAgg = biological paradigm.
• Sex hormone, T believed to influence agg due to its effect on areas of the brain controlling aggression.
• Reasonable to argue that the SExp not achieve Holism as BF have been shown as significant, they should be considered when explaining institutional aggression.

Question 7

Irwin and Cressey: importation model

Answer 7

• Irwin and Cressey’s Importation model for IAgg, focused on prison
• Believed that Iagg occurs bc of personal and psychological characteristics of prisoners within institutions.
• Individual’s social history influence how they adapt to prison env.
• These characteristics more likely for some inmates to act violently.
• I+C argue that prisoners normative systems not institution = in Agg

Question 8

Harer and Steffensmeiser: black inmates

Answer 8

• Harer and Staffenmeister collected data from 58 American prisons -Found; black inmates had significantly ^ rates of inter-personal V.
• TF suggesting those from most deprived backgrounds more likely to import outside behaviour into the prison.
• Hence Iagg imported from established cultural norms

Question 9

SSR: stigma, correlation, B2E and Banyard

Answer 9

• // such R leads to undue prejudice against certain social grp
• N-W prisoners vulnerable to a stigma of agg particularly in comparison to white prisoners. Even more dangerous when we consider that most supp R for IM based on correlatory F not CaE
• TF NCN but poor educational opportunities/barriers 2 employment perpetuating circumstances = violent norms for these groups.
• NOT ethnicity/social standing of people that makes them more aggressive so care must be taken to avoid unethical abuse of stats
• Banyard: dominoes is played quietly by white M, but white M observing a group of Caribbean M playing the same game labelled it as agg/threatening bc they lack understating of what constitutes agg in these societies - HL ethnocentrism

Question 10

Delisi: Contradictory (gang involvement)

Answer 10

• Studied 800 inmates, gang involvement before prison.
• Assumed based on IM that GB would be shown in prison due to importation of previous cultural values.
• Found no evidence that GM had any bearing on levels of violence.
• must be other factors outside of importation of agg.

Question 11

Systemic gender bias.

Answer 11

• Systemic GB relates to samples, generalisations made, RWA of F.
• F not only have different biological make up to M but CF that influence their agg are qualitatively different as well.
• Role of F in IAgg understudied and made irrelevant by the biased sampling methods.