LB: Aggression, WEEK 7 Flashcards
What is aggression?
- An act intended to cause harm to someone else > can be associated with different forms of aggression (e.g punching someone, spreading rumours)
- People perceive aggression in different ways > someone may consider not reacting in a situation as aggressive if a failure to act is intended to hurt someone > e.g. not helping someone avoid something humiliating
- Intention of harm is necessary for aggression > regardless of an aggressive act succeeds in being aggressive or not, it is still considered aggressive regardless of the outcome because harm was the goal
Types of aggression
- Hostile aggression: Aggressive behaviour stemmed from feelings of anger and is performed with the primary goal of intentional injury or destruction > performing aggressive acts out of anger + aiming to cause harm
- Proactive aggression or instrumental aggression: Aggressive behaviour whereby harm is inflicted as a means to a desired end (means towards a goal) > e.g. a person pushing people to get on the train, their goal is to get on the train but to achieve this goal they may have to hurt some people > occurs because the aggressor believes there is no easier way to obtain the goal
- Reactive aggression or emotional (affective) aggression: Aggressive behaviour where the means and the end coincide; harm is inflicted for its own sake. > seen as impulsive aggression where acts are carried out as an emotional response
- Importantly, harm from aggression can result in consequences including (but not limited to) immediate pain, psychological trauma, anxiety self-blame, collateral damage or death. (different kinds of aggression are not that important + coincide)
What causes aggression?
- Both nature and nurture play a role in aggression > aggression has complex causes coming in many forms (biological, psychological, socio-cultural + EV)
- Biological: biological influences can be studies at different levels such as genetic influences (study using gene markers who commit aggressive acts), neural influences (brain regions controlling aggression) and chemical influences such as hormonal changes
- Psychological: psychological factors can explain whether individuals behave aggressively in certain situations > evolutionary psychologists argue that males are aggressive due to their dominating behaviour which is associated to mate selection.
- Learning and role models could also influence aggression > e.g. having aggressive role models may make someone more susceptible to being aggressive and if aggressive behaviour is rewarded they might continue doing it
- Social-Cultural & Environment: may impact aggression if someone inhabits a challenging environment, are exposed to violent media (encourages + fosters aggression) > reinforcement of aggression
- Some ideas between all these influences overlap which reiterates the notion that there are many causes of aggression interacting
Biological influences of Aggression
- Genetic influences: Twin studies show if one MZ twin admits to having had a violent temper (aggression) the other twin would independently admit the same > DZ twins are less likely to show this similar pattern
- The Y chromosome is a marker in those committing violent acts and crimes > supports sex differences in aggression across species > male primates are generally more violent than females (males = XY chromosome, females = XX chromosome)
- Cross-cultural studies show that men are more violent, more likely to cause permanent body injury or kill than women
- Another genetic marker is monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) > this helps bring down neurotransmitters like dopamine + serotonin > these are feel good hormones playing a role in pleasure sensation + mood regulation > people with MAOA gene expression tend to behave more aggressively
- Neural influences: No one specific area linked to aggression but seems to involve the frontal lobe and amygdala > diminished activities in those areas of the brain indicate aggression may be more likely > Animal and human brains have neural systems that, given provocation, will either inhibit or facilitate aggression
- Biochemical influences: hormones such as testosterone levels can affect aggressiveness > testosterone influences the neural systems controlling aggression > studies show that drugs which sharply reduce testosterone levels lead to reduced aggressive tendencies in men while increased testosterone in women may increase aggression
- Alcohol is a drug unleashing aggressive responses > slows brain activity that controls judgement and inhibitions. Research suggests that aggression prone people are more likely to drink + become violent when intoxicated > even thinking they are intoxicated or not knowing they are intoxicated increases violent behaviour
Psychological influences of Aggression
- Aversive events: these are things which people do not like such as hot temperatures, physical pain, insults from others can evoke hostility. Even hunger can make people “hangry”, feeding anger and evoking hostility
- E.G. the frustration aggression principle > where frustration creates anger which can spark aggression
- Research indicates higher temperatures and variation of climate may have a large effect on risk of violence
- People can employ types of self-justification to make it psychologically easier to harm others > e.g. blaming the victim for “wrong-doings” or convince themselves that the victim “deserves it”
- Freud’s principle of catharsis explains that we have aggressive instincts + impulses from these instincts build up inside us + needs to be released > how do we do this when violence is punished? Freud argues that aggressive impulses are channelled into socially acceptable behaviours like sports + discharge aggressive impulses by watching and identifying with people who behave aggressively
- We see things in everyday life that are violent + aggressive > builds up cortisol and adrenaline which are hormones designed to help us fight to defend ourselves against assaults > since often we cannot use this cortisol and adrenaline in action/defence, we vicariously live out aggression with violent movies and video games
- Evolutionary views: Argues physical aggression is genetically programmed in men for defence and reproduction purposes
- Male aggressiveness tends to start early in boys who show more physical aggression than girls > evolutionary view argues that males aggress to establish dominance over other males + get high status (as that is what females select for mating)
- Males aggress out of sexual jealousy to ensure that their mate is faithful thus ensuring their own paternity
- Although males aggress more, females aggress to protect their offspring
Social-Cultural influences of Aggression
- Environmental stimuli and learning can impact how we react in situations
- Reinforcement for example plays a role in aggressive behaviours where our own experience shows impacts how aggressive you are
- If an aggressive behaviour led to a positive outcome such as praise, people are likely to be more aggressive (children especially) > children whose aggression has successfully intimidated others tend to become bullies
- Parents need to model and reward sensitivity and cooperation of children from an early age to prevent aggressive behaviours alongside disciplining the child WITHOUT showing violence (they may copy) > this can reinforce desirable behaviours
- Media is another model of aggression > media primes us to respond aggressively when provoked. Media violence teaches us social scripts (mental files of how to act) > studies show we imitate what we view so when we are presented with risky behaviours which seem glorified, it is more likely to increase real-life risk-taking + aggression such as driving dangerously and extreme sports
- Music lyrics promoting violence (another form of media) also provide social scripts + can lead to negative/aggressive feelings
- Aggression is also a behaviour which can be learnt from observing and imitating others (Bandura)
- Because many behaviours impact aggressive behaviour, there are many things which can be done to change this behaviour including learning anger management, avoiding violent games, communication improvement etc..
Is aggressiveness innate?
Freudian Psychodynamic view
- Freud proposes that humans are driven by an inborn instinct to seek pleasure + create > Freud called this Eros
- Also suggests that humans are born with an aggressive instinct called Thanatos > Thanatos = human inborn instinct to aggress + destroy
- Unclear whether aggression is biologically programmed in human nature but comparison of humans to animals provide evidence supporting this
Is aggressiveness innate?
Ethological perspective
- Ethology is the study of animal behaviour in its natural context
- Ethological view is that if animals + humans are observed behaving aggressively in similar situations, we can infer that those behaviours help humans + animals survive and reproduce > e.g. in animals, aggression is seen when another animal tries to take its own survival related resources (like food) , similarly, humans may display aggression if others try take control of their properties
- Animals + humans show aggression when themselves and/or their offspring are attacked > threat to status seem to be a primary trigger for aggression
- Social status are important for greater access to materials, resources, sexual partners + control over others
- Consequently, this view argues that we are programmed to respond with aggression in certain situations
Is aggressiveness innate?
Ainsworth & Maner (2014)
• hypothesised that males motivated by mating would show greater aggression to a male proposing a potential threat to this motivation > got heterosexual male ppts who would see pictures of 10 female faces, men in the mating prime condition saw very attractive faces while control condition saw less attractive faces > ppts then shown a photo + description of who they thought would be their opponent (confederate) in a competitive game. Ppts in the control condition did not find the confederate threatening + no mention of dating in self-description. The exp control condition the confederate was shown as high status and self-described as liking to detect
• Ppts played a reaction game against their alleged opponent (confed) > whoever won each round would get to blast aversive music in the opponent’s headphone > could change how high/low the sound was, higher the sound showed greater aggression
Men primed with mating showed greater aggression suggesting aggressive behaviour towards men who are likely to compete for access to mates
Physiology of aggression
Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex
• Physiology of the human brain shows why we respond with anger in certain situations
• Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is involved in the detect of social threat > this responds when there is a conflict between our expectations and the situation we are in > e.g. if you are driving a car and another car unexpectedly cuts in front of you so you swerve to avoid collision, blood will rush to your dACC to let you know something is wrong > your expectation of your drive has been violated due to the actual situation thus aggressive behaviours make occur to resolve this imbalance
Research shows the dACC is activated when you feel rejected by others which may explain why studies peer relation suggest peer rejection can predict aggression
Physiology of aggression
Hypothalamus, amygdala and hormones
- Hypothalamus and amygdala are involved in fear and anger emotions > when faced with threat the thalamus prepares for fight or flight > fear results in avoidance (flight) whilst anger results in aggression to fight
- Many hormones impact aggression, the most studied is testosterone which correlates with aggressiveness in situations involving conflict > both men and women have this but higher concentration in men
- Probs et Al (2018) looked at the relationship between testosterone and aggression in menstruating women > testosterone levels vary across the menstrual cycle it is difficult to study this relationship > measured testosterone with saliva + aggression with a lab based bargaining game (ppts had to rank offers as fair/slightly unfair/extremely unfair) > aggression measured by rejection rates of unfair offers
- Women showed more reactive aggression when testosterone was high > supports the link + relationship
- But it could be that aggression causes an increase in testosterone whilst others argue the interaction between testosterone + other hormones = aggression
- Serotonin appears to restrain impulsive and aggressive behaviour thus low levels of serotonin are related to high levels of aggression
Triggers of aggression
- Things like social situations, physiological events, social rejection and assault may lead individuals to respond with aggression
- Attack, Insult or social rejection: Perception of verbal or physical attack and negative feelings can trigger aggression
- In a study, ppts had short conversations before voting for the person they wanted to interact with > this was rigged so some ppts were told everyone wanted to talk to them to create the social accepted condition whilst others were told nobody wanted to interact with them to make the rejected condition
- Next ppts played a game with another ppts, ppts who won could choose a volume + duration of a sound the losing ppts experience > those experiencing rejection chose louder and longer noises than the accepted
- Heat/general body discomfort: People behave more aggressively in hot temperatures – more violent crimes occur in summer
- Larrick et al (2011) assessed data from 55,000 major league basketball games + found that batters were more likely to be hit during higher temperatures > hotter countries may have more instances of violent crime (to be tested)
- Weapons effect: The presence of guns tends to increase aggression + aggressive thoughts
Triggers of aggression: Berkowitz & Lepage (1967)
Berkowitz & Lepage (1967) did an exp where male ppts were purposely insulted to aggravate them > 7 experimental conditions where all subjects had the opportunity to administer electric shocks to a confederate > for 2/3 of the men, there were weapons on the table + were told different stories about who the weapon belonged to/why it was there > other ppts had nothing on the table while some had badminton rackets
• Aggression measured by no. of shocks given > presence of a weapon significantly affected the number of shocks given > ppts became most aggressive when angered (by insult) and in presence of weapons
Frustration-Aggression hypothesis
• Aggression can be explained using this
• The idea that frustration always elicits the motive to aggress, and that all aggression is caused by frustration > before aggression there needs to be an event causing frustration
• BUT frustration does not always produce aggression, instead produces anger or annoyance
• Frustration based aggression seems to be directed at targets which did not cause the frustration > this is displacement
• Displacement: Aggressing against a substitute target because aggressive acts against the source of the frustration are inhibited by fear or lack of access > people will display displaced aggression when for some reason they are not able to aggress against the original source
• E.g. if you receive a bad review from your boss, you may aggress towards your colleagues or family because you cannot aggress to the boss as they hold a high status + there would be consequences for aggressing towards them
• Pederson, Gonzales, and Miller (2000) investigated the presence/absence of provocation in relation to follow up minor triggering action and aggression
• Ppts in the provocation condition had to listen to irritating music and complete hard tasks > after the experimenter would say they scored lower than the average + insulted them by attacking their problem solving skills + effort > followed by a trigger condition for some subjects where the confederate (assistant) mispronounced some words + mixed up responses in a trivia game they participated in
• Researchers measured aggression by analysing the subjects responses to measures including subjective ratings of the assistant > ppts made harshest evaluation when rating a confused assistant if they had been insulted by the experimenter earlier
Critics argue the frustration-aggression is too simplistic for understanding aggression + because these studies rely on self-report, there are problems with the results gathered but it does provide an interesting framework to understand aggression
Social Learning Theory
• SLT is based on the fact we model behaviour + experiences of reward/punishment guide our aggressive behaviours
• Bandura’s theory that behaviour is learned through the observation of others as well as through the direct experience of rewards and punishments
• Bandura et al (1961) Bobo doll study: somewhat frustrated kids watched a model (adult) kick around a inflated doll > these kids similarly behaved aggressively with the doll + kicked it around more so than kids who watched the quite model who did not behave aggressively with the doll
• Here, people are not just learning aggressive behaviours, they are also developing attitudes about aggression which guide how they solve social problems
• Bandura argues that people are more likely to model behaviour that they experience live > followed by experiences through video tapes + cartoons
• Ward & Carlson (2013) found watching reality TV was associated with higher aggression + the more realistic the TV perception is, the more likely aggressive behaviours will be learnt > not just violent movies and TV shows lead to higher aggression
• Other studies also found that children who watch violent TV are more likely to be aggressive + the association was not due to the child watching violent TV because they are already aggressive
• Bandura’s research is consistent with the cycle of violence > children witnessing parental violence or are abused are more likely to be aggressive towards their partners or kids
People can learn aggressive behaviours but can also learn non-aggressive behaviours from non-aggressive models to decrease violence > observing calm and reasonable behaviour may help an aggressive person in dealing with situations w/o aggression
