L13 - Aggression Pt 1

Question 1

What is aggression?

Answer 1

• Intentional behaviour aimed at causing either physical or psychological pain
• Accessibility of aggressive thoughts: aggressive affect

Question 2

Is all aggression the same?

Answer 2

• Antisocial: violates social norms e.g bullying
• Prosocial: supports social norms e.g acts of law enforcement
• Hostile: behaviour intended to harm either physically or psychologically motivated by feelings of anger and hostility e.g an unprovoked punch
• Instrumental: behaviour intended to harm in the service of motives other than pure hostility - means to an end e.g rugby tackle

Question 3

Is aggression nature or nurture?

Answer 3

• Combo of bio/env factors
• Bio factor: tested role of MAOA gene, and in non-humans, short form of gene = greater aggression
• Env/Social factor: Childhood mistreatment by parents

Question 4

Study on aggression and nature/nurture by Caspi:

Answer 4

• Data from 550 males in NZ
• Each ppt had a measure of MAOA genotype, env adversity and anti-social behaviour at age 26
• Results: If low MAOA activity, childhood treatment makes a large difference in anti-social behaviour, and a large relationship between it. High MAOA activity shows similar pattern but the aggression is less variable
• Combo of bio marker and the env factor causes greatest aggression

Question 5

What are Neural and chemical influences of aggression?

Answer 5

• Amygdala associated with aggressive behaviour
• When activated = animals aggress
• Humans: activated by presentation of threatening faces and perceiving anger in others

Question 6

Study looking at the amygdala:

Answer 6

• WHITE American ppt go into fMRI scanner, were presented with pictures of unfamiliar people who were either white/black
• Looked at different oxygenation levels changed in the brain as pictures change, measured ppts racial attitudes through explicit and implicit measures
• Implicit measures related with amygdala activity

Question 7

What does Serotonin do?

Answer 7

Could inhibit aggressive impulses

Question 8

What does Testosterone do?

Answer 8

Associated with aggression

Question 9

What was the study looking at serotonin and testosterone?

Answer 9

• Higher testosterone levels among prisoners convicted of violent crime vs non-violent
• Among non-violent criminals, higher testosterone served longer before parole
• Prisoners with higher test = seen tougher by other prisoners

Question 10

What is the relationship between alcohol and aggression?

Answer 10

• Alcohol is a disinhibitor and increases likelihood of anti-social behaviour
• Link between alcohol consumption and aggression

Question 11

What was the study on alcohol and aggression?

Answer 11

1) Alcohol clouds our ability to behave in a rational way; we focus on immediate cues
2) Assessed intoxication and aggression at bars/clubs
- Level of intoxication of crowd and mean level of intoxication at the bar level significantly predicted frequency/severity of aggression
3) Think-drink effect - expectations of effects of alcohol
- Gave ppt non-alcohol/modest/high drink and manipulated expectancies of alcohol in the drink
- DV = ppt is unhappy with confed and has to allocate amount of hot sauce to confederate in taste test
- Found that more aggressive = more hot sauce allocated
- Expectation of alcohol predicted how much hot sauce allocated, not actual intoxication

Question 12

Why are some cultures more aggressive than others? (the USA)

Answer 12

• Cohen conducted experimental ethnography
• Culture of honour is defined by its members strong concerns about their own and other’s reputations, leading to sensitivity to insults and a willingness to use violence to avenge any perceived wrong
• Self-protection norms are more pronounced in America south when their honour is slighted & more likely to respond with aggression

Question 13

What was the exp showing how southern vs northern Americans respond to potential provocation?

Answer 13

• Exp 1: Southerners more likely to aggress when bumped by a confed and then insulted
• Game of chicken: confed walks into ppt, and looking at what point does ppt give way and let confed walk past them
• Southerners moved out of the way before northerners in the control condition (politeness) but lot less difference when insulted. Shows context is important for them
• Northerners moved out the way at the same distance roughly
• Looked at differences in testosterone levels if they had been insulted/not
• Southerners had a large jump in testosterone when insulted compared to the northerners.
• Control condition: didn’t matter if from north/south

Question 14

What are situational causes of aggression?

Answer 14

• Physical env
• Social env
• Objects in env

Question 15

Does temperature affect aggression?

Answer 15

1) How many times pitcher hit a batter, the temperature when game started
- Found that as temp increases, the more the pitcher hit a batter, the pitcher was retaliated against more
- When no hits = no motivation to retaliate = not much effect of temperature
2) Effect of aggression on serious behaviour. Broken down into season and serious crimes e.g murder and rape.
- If rates change with season, temperature has an effect. Violent crime takes place more in spring/summer time as shown by data

Question 16

How does temperature affect aggression?

Answer 16

• Increased physiological discomfort can increase arousal
• Feelings of discomfort = misattributed to others = frustration

Question 17

What was the study about global warming projections and temperature and aggression?

Answer 17

• As temperature increases over the years due to global warming, there is an increase in number of murders and assaults in America

Question 18

What did Hsiang do? (Global study)

Answer 18

• Examined links between global climate change patterns and global patterns of civil conflict
• Found probabilities of new civil conflicts arising throughout the tropics doubles during el nino (warmer and less consistent weather) than La Nina (opposite) years
• Suggests that el nino might have had a role in 21% of all civil conflicts since 1950 and stability of modern society relates strongly to climate change

Question 19

What is the global warming model?

Answer 19

• Global warming = increased heat = droughts and extreme weather patterns inc irritability (direct heat effects) = Violence prone adults causing pre/post-natal developmental problems & Intergroup conflict = violent crime, intergroup violence, civil war etc.

Question 20

What is the Frustration-aggression Theory?

Answer 20

• Belief that you are being prevented from goal increases likelihood of aggression
• Closer you are to goal = greater aggression
• EXP: confed had to cut into queue of people either second in line or 12th and how does ppt react who was cut in front of
• More aggression by person who had been further up in queue

Question 21

When does aggression increase?

Answer 21

• When frustration is unexpected e.g traffic jams
• Relative deprivation: feeling that we have less than we deserve

Question 22

Study on relative deprivation?

Answer 22

• Students hired to raise money for charity, they were paid on commission with expected levels of high/low success
• High expectation ppts were more verbally aggressive to non-donors and slammed phone down harder

Question 23

How does competition affect aggression?

Answer 23

1) Robber’s Cove Study: no contact = group contests = seek to reduce group hostilities
- Needed mutual interdependence to reduce intergroup hostility rather than simple contact
2) Some ppts think of competitive situation/control/cooperate with someone else before playing Mario Bros
- Could act non/aggressive e.g fireball/jump on them
- DV = kill ratio (being aggressive)
- Among males and females when asked to compete, kill ratio is higher, and when asked to cooperate, kill ratio is lower

Question 24

Link between Ostracism and aggression:

Answer 24

• Strong link between feeling ostracised (feeling ignored/socially excluded by others) and aggression
• Leads to temporal need-threat model of aggression

Question 25

What is the temporal need-threat model of aggression?

Answer 25

• Exposure to ostracism = feel pain, threats to self-esteem & belonging = anger/sadness = Appraisal and coping which is influenced by context and individual differences = Need fortification = either anti/pro-social behaviours or they seek solitude = if prolonged can lead to alienation, depression, helplessness and worthlessness

Question 26

What was a study looking at Ostracism?

Answer 26

• Manipulating ostracism in diff ways e.g providing false personality feedback (alone in future vs many friends)
• Asked to get acquainted task
• Ostracised ppts behaved more negatively toward others

Question 27

Is income inequality linked with increased violence?

Answer 27

Relatively Weak Linear Correlation

Question 28

What were the studies on pain?

Answer 28

• Removing punishment elicits +ve behaviour in rats?
• Couldn’t be tested as when rats felt pain, they attacked each other
• Students hold hand in painfully cold water
• Produced higher level of aggression