Lecture 13 - Agression

Question 1

What is the definition of aggression?

Answer 1

Physical or verbal behaviour intended to harm a person who does not want to be harmed
- Intent is very important

Question 2

What is the definition of hostile aggression?

Answer 2

Aggression motivated by anger or hostility
- Primary goal is to injure

Question 3

What is the definition of instrumental aggression?

Answer 3

Aggression motivated by considerations other than anger/hostility
- The goal is to injure, but only in as a means to some other end

Question 4

What is the difference between aggression and violence ?

Answer 4

Violence is typically reserved for acts intended to cause extreme physical harm
- All violence is aggression, but not all aggression is violence.

Question 5

What is the evolutionary view on aggression?

Answer 5

• Aggression is part of our basic programming
• Improves odds of survival and reproduction

Question 6

What are the sex differences in aggression ?

Answer 6

Across cultures and time
- Men more likely to engage in physical aggression than women

Question 7

What is frustration?

Answer 7

The blocking of goal-directed behaviour.

Question 8

Name the hypothesis:
- Frustration increases likelihood of aggression

Answer 8

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

Question 9

What is displace aggression?

Answer 9

Aggression directed towards a target other than the source of one’s frustration.

Question 10

Name the concept:
- The perception that one is less well off than others with whom one compares oneself.

Answer 10

Relative deprivation

Question 11

True or false

• Higher levels of income inequality are positively associated with violent crime

Answer 11

TRUE

Question 12

When is frustration more likely to occur?

Answer 12

-The closer the person is to the goal, the more frustrating it is to have the goal blocked

Question 13

When is aggression more likely to occur?

Answer 13

• Aggression is more likely to result from arbitrary frustration than non-arbitrary frustration
  Ex: is your progress blocked for a good reason or on a whim?

Question 14

How can physical pain cause aggression and frustration?

Answer 14

• Studies show that physical pain is a powerful elicit or of aggression
  Why?
• Pain often signals the presence of a serious, proximate threat to survival
• Often, fighting is your best chance
• Pain triggers a defensive state that may facilitate survival

Question 15

What is psychological pain?

Answer 15

THe unpleasant emotional state experienced when we miss out on some valued reward
- Get smaller reward than expected
- Don’t get the reward expected
- Barrier placed between individual and reward

Question 16

What is social pain?

Answer 16

Aversive emotional reaction to experiences of social loss, rejection, ostracism or relational devaluation

Question 17

What is social pain theory?

Answer 17

Pain experience can be divided into two, dissociable components

Sensory-discriminative component : what, where, how intense is it?

Affective component : how unpleasant is it?

Question 18

What component gives social pain its motivational force?

Answer 18

Affective component

Question 19

How can social pain cause aggression?

Answer 19

Social exclusion can produce a response of aggression in people. The pain may activate an aggressive impulse automatically, much like crying.

Question 20

What is the influence of hot temperatures on aggression?

Answer 20

Uncomfortably higher temperatures are related to higher rates of aggression,

Question 21

Name the process:
- Ascribing arousal resulting from one source to a different source (aggression)

Answer 21

Misattribution of arousal

Question 22

Name the process:
-Leftover arousal caused by an initial event can intensify emotional reactions to a second event.

Answer 22

Excitation transfer theory

Question 23

What do construals have to do with aggression?

Answer 23

We don’t react to a situation — we react to our interpretation (construal) of the situation

Question 24

What is the cognitive new association theory?

Answer 24

Aggressive thoughts, emotions and behavioural tendencies are linked together in memory in networks
- When one concept or node is activated, this activation spreads to related concepts and increases their activation as well

Question 25

What is social learning theory? (Aggression)

Answer 25

We learn aggressive behaviours by observing others

Question 26

What is a vicarious punishment?

Answer 26

A decrease in a behaviour due to the observer witnessing the model being punished for that behaviour

Question 27

What is a vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 27

An increase in a behaviour due to the observer witnessing the model being reinforced for that behaviour

Question 28

How are men socialized to be more aggressive?

Answer 28

Starting early in life, men are socialized to value and exhibit dominant aggressive behaviour while women are socialized to value and exhibit empathy and compassion.

Question 29

What is relational aggression?

Answer 29

Harm is causes through damage to social relationships or social status, rather than through physical injury
- More likely to be shown by women
- Thought to be influenced by social norms

Question 30

What are cultures of honour characterized by?

Answer 30

1) strong concerns about one’s own reputation
2) willingness to defend one’s honour after injury or insult

Question 31

What is rejection sensitivity?

Answer 31

Dispositional tendency to anxiously expect, readily perceive and strongly react to social rejection
- Automatic link between rejection and aggression-related cognitions

Question 32

What is the role of the OPRM1 gene in sensitivity to social pain?

Answer 32

It affects how effectively a class of chemical messengers called endogenous opioids can bind to their receptors

Question 33

What are endogenous opioids?

Answer 33

They are the body’s natural painkillers

Question 34

What is the differential susceptibility hypothesis?

Answer 34

-In some cases, a gene that leads to negative outcome in negative social circumstances may also lead to a positive outcome in positive social circumstances

Question 35

What is dehumanizations?

Answer 35

Stripping other people of their human characteristics