Lectures 13 and 14: Aggression Flashcards
What is aggression?
An intentional behaviour aimed at causing either physical or psychological pain
What is the difference between antisocial and prosocial aggression
Antisocial aggression= violates social norms, i.e. bullying
Prosocial aggression= follows social norms, i.e arresting someone
What is the difference between hostile and instrumental aggression
Hostile aggression= Behavior intended to harm, either physically or psychologically, motivated by feelings of anger and hostility, i.e. an unprovoked punch
Instrumental aggression= Behavior intended to harm in the service of motives other than pure hostility (means to an end), i.e. a rugby tackle or protesting to advance an ideological cause
Environmental and biological influences on agression
What did Capsi et al 2002 do/find in relation to aggression and nature vs nurture
Biological factor- tested role of MAOA gene
–> In non-humans, “short” form of MAOA gene linked with greater aggression
Social Factor – childhood mistreatment by parents
- to what extent do either/both predict violent crime in the future (ivs)
- Data from ~ 550 males from New Zealand (used males due to only two MAOA genotypes)
- For each Pp, had measure of MAOA genotype, environmental adversity, and anti-social behaviour at age 26 (clinical diagnosis, criminal behaviour, personality measures)
Results:
This shows that the combination of having the short form of MAOA alongside the highest level of childhood maltreatment led to people being more likely to engage in antisocial acts.
If you have the short form + mistreatment, you are 3 times more likely to be convicted of a violent crime
Neural and chemical influences on aggression: the amygdala
How is the amygdala linked to aggression?
The amygdala is associated with aggressive behaviour
- when activated, animals aggress
- in humans, amygdala is activated by the presentation of threatening faces and perceiving anger in others
—> Amygdala activity elicits fear response, which makes aggression more likely
Neural and chemical influences on aggression: the amygdala
What did Phelps et al 2000 do/find in relation to the amygdala and prejudice
- PPS placed in MRI scanner, showed them pictures of unfamiliar Black and White individuals
- Also looked into implicit and explicit measures of prejudice
- Explicit measure; asking people questions whereby they had to think about what their attitudes are
- Implicit measure; asking people questions whereby they just answer and don’t think about their attitudes (not consciously asking their opinion)
Results:
Implicit measures are related with amygdala activity. The more prejudiced one is, the more activity there is in the amygdala when faced with White vs Black faces.
Neural and chemical influences: serotonin and testosterone
How are serotonin and testosterone related to aggression
- Serotonin → may inhibit aggressive impulses
- Testosterone → associated with aggression
Neural and chemical influences: serotonin and testosterone
What did Dabbs et al 1987 find in relation to testosterone in prison
- Found higher testosterone levels among prisoners convicted of violent vs. non-violent crimes
- Found that among non-violent criminals, higher testosterone served longer before parole
- Also, prisoners with higher testosterone levels were perceived as tougher by other prisoners
Neural and chemical influences: alcohol
How does alcohol relate to aggression (steele and jacobs 1990)
- Alcohol is a disinhibitor and increases likelihood of anti-social behaviour
- Steele and Josephs (1990) → alcohol myopia
– > alcohol clouds our ability to behave in a rational way; focus on immediate cues
–> Focus on salient cues, immediate gratification, don’t think about the consequences
Neural and chemical influences: alcohol
What did graham et al 2006 do/find in relation to alcohol and aggression in clubs?
- Field study
- assessed intoxication and aggression at bars/clubs
- Went to 118 clubs and bars in Toronto
- They found that the level of intoxication of the crowd and mean level of intoxication at the bar level significantly predicted frequency/severity of aggression
Neural and chemical influences: alcohol
What did Begue et al 2009 find concerning expectations of alcohol
- IV1= gave Ps non-alcohol/modest BAC/high BAC drink
- IV2= manipulated Ps’ expectancies of alcohol in drink (none/low/high)
- After 20 minutes they met a confederate, who they end up not liking.
- DV = amount of hot sauce allocated to confederate in taste test
Results
- Found that the more aggressive people were in general, the more hot sauce they gave
- The expectation of how much alcohol they consumed actually predicted how much hot sauce they put in the cup, not just what they actually consumed
Aggression across cultures
What is a culture of honour? (Cohen and Nisbett 1994)
- A culture of honour is defined by its members’ strong concerns about their own and others’ reputations, leading to sensitivity to insults and a willingness to use violence to avenge any perceived wrong
- Self-protection norms more pronounced in American south, when their honour is slighted, more likely to respond with aggression
- AKA when someone feels insulted, they are more likely to be aggressive.
Aggression across cultures
What did Cohen et al 1996 do/find to explore aggression in the north vs south?
Experiment 1 - southerners more likely to aggress when bumped by a confederate and then insulted
- only 30% of northern pps were angry compared to around 80% of southerners
Experiment 2- game of chicken; at what point, when walking down a hall, are they willing to move out of the way from a confederate.
- The southerners were more polite than the northerners until insulted, moving away much slower
Experiment 3- effects of ‘bump’ on testosterone levels
- In the control, it didn’t matter whether they were northern or southern, testosterone was the same
- There was a significantly greater increase for those in the south after the insult however.
What situational causes of aggression are there?
- Temperature
- Frustration
- Competition
- Ostracism
- Income inequality
- Pain
Situational influences: temperature
How did Larrick et al 2011 use baseball data to look at heat and aggression?
In the newspaper, you get sport stats, including how many times a pitcher hit a batter on the other team, along with the temperature it was when the game started
- AKA how many times an opposing pitcher threw a ball at the batter (hitting them).
They found that the more batters hit by pitchers, the more you are motivated to retaliate
If the temperature was warmer, however, the more inclined people were to retaliate
Situational influences: temperature
What did Anderson 1989 find in relation to aggression, temperature and violent crime?
Found that violent crimes i.e. murder, rape, are more likely to occur in the warmer seasons
Situational influences: temperature
What did Anderson and Delisi (2011) find about aggression, temperature and global warming projections?
- Looking at archival data in America
- The hotter the year, the more murders and assaults per year
Situational influences: temperature
What did Hsaing et al 2011 find in relation to aggression and El Nino years
- El nino years- result in hotter temperatures
- Examined links between global climate change patterns and global patterns of civil conflict
- Used data from 1950 to 2004, found that the probability of new civil conflicts arising throughout the tropics doubles during El Niño years relative to La Niña years.
- They suggest that El Niño may have had a role in 21% of all civil conflicts since 1950, and that the stability of modern societies relates strongly to the global climate
Situational influences: temperature
What did Miles-Novelo and Anderson 2019 suggest about global warming and aggression?
- Proposed a model suggesting that as global warming increases, we will have extreme weather
- This will have direct effects (irritability) and will have effects on the economy, i.e. crop failure
- The collapse of the economy will have direct effects on development, making violence prone adults, and will directly cause intergroup conflict (i.e. civil unrest)
- All these effects will lead to more violent crime, war, and terrorism
Situational influences: temperature
Overall, how does temperature impact aggression?
- Increased physiological discomfort can increase arousal
- Feelings of discomfort caused by the heat may be misattributed to other people
- Leads to frustration
Situational influences: frustration
What is the aggression frustration theory?
- belief that you are being prevented from goal increases likelihood of aggression
- the closer you are to the goal, the greater the aggression
Situational influences: frustration
What did Harris et al 1974 find in relation to frustration and queuing
Confederate cut into queues
–> Moved into either 2nd or 12th in queue
Results
- More aggression found by person who was 2nd in queue compared to those in 12th.
Situational influences: frustration
What is relative deprivation?
- relative deprivation - feeling that we have less than we deserve
—> aggression increases when frustration is unexpected (i.e. traffic jams, failed deliveries)
Situational influences: frustration
What did Kulik and Brown find in relation to frustration and relative deprivation?
- Students hired to raise money for charity (making phone calls)
- Paid on commission- expected high or low levels of success
–> Pps told that they will probably be more/less successful in getting donations, and will be paid a cut based on their success
Results
- High expectation participants more verbally aggressive to non-donors (and slammed phone down harder
Situational influences: Competition
What did Sherif et al 1961 find in their robbers cove study? How does this link to competition/aggression
- 2 groups of boys, for about 5 days these 2 groups got to know each other without contact.
- The next stage was putting the 2 groups against each other for prizes; they found more aggression as a consequence of having this group exclusivity.
- After this, the leaders tried to reduce group hostilities by joining the groups
–> Needed mutual interdependence (cooperation) to reduce intergroup hostilities, rather than simple contact
Situational influences: Competition
What did Anderson and Morrow 1995 find in relation to competition and Mario
- some Ps think of competitive situation before playing Mario Brothers
- Control ps thought about how they once cooperated with someone
Results
- People who thought of a time they were competitive had a higher kill ratio in mario; they needlessly killed more enemies
Situational influences: Ostracism
What is Ostracism
Ostracism → being ignored and socially excluded by others
Situational influences: Ostracism
What does the temporal need threat model of aggression suggest about ostracism and aggression
Ostracism is linked to feelings of physical pain, problems with self esteem, anger, and resolving these feelings may lead us to aggressing
Situational influences: Ostracism
What did Twenge et al 2001 find in relation to ostracized pps and aggression?
- researchers manipulated ostracism in different ways, e.g. providing false personality feedback (alone in future versus many friends)
- Pps then given a get-acquainted task, meeting new people
Results
- Ostracised Ps (relative to controls) behaved more negatively toward toward others (more negative job evaluations, blasts of white noise)
Situational influences: income inequality
How is income inequality linked with aggression
The more income inequality, the higher homicide rates are. (as seen in figure)
Situational influences: pain
What did Ajzen 1967 find about pain and aggression?
- Wanted to see if removing punishment would elicit positive behaviour in rats
- couldn’t be tested → as soon as rats felt pain they attacked each other
Situational influences: pain
What did Berkowitz 1993 find in relation to pain and aggression?
- Students hold hand in painfully cold water
- Produced higher level of aggression
Aggression and Cues
What is an aggressive stimulus
An aggressive stimulus - object whose mere presence can increase the probability of aggression
- Can be presented in different ways, i.e. pictures, words, media, supraliminal/subliminal
Aggression and Cues
How did Anderson et al 1998 explore cues and aggression? what did they find?
- Pps primed with aggressive or neutral stimuli (i.e. image of gun vs image of puppy)
- Pps then see word on screen, pps asked to read these words aloud as fast as possible (e.g. assault, injure, access, mellow)
Results
- aggressive prime facilitated processing of aggressive words; people primed with aggressive prime had faster reaction times
Aggression and Cues
What did Klinesmith et al 2006 do/find in relation to primes and testosterone
- Saliva sample taken from male Pps (testosterone)
- Pps interact with gun or children’s toy
- Re-measure testosterone levels
- Later, as part of taste sensitivity study, asked to add hot sauce to water – will be consumed by the next participant
(regression study, Gun vs toy is IV, Hot sauce is DV, hypothesizing that testosterone levels are the mediator of the effect; the change in testosterone levels causes the impact on hot sauce choice
Results:
- Pps who touched the gun had greater testosterone increase
- AND they added more hot sauce
Media violence and aggression
What did Bandura et al 1961 argue about why we are aggressive?
Bandura et al. (1961) → social learning theory … we learn to be aggressive by observing others and imitating them
Media violence and aggression
What did Bandura et al 1963 find in relation to learned aggression
- Bobo doll study
- kids see adult play with toys, either aggressive or not (rewarded or not)
- when kids play, they imitate the model, for BOTH physical and verbal aggression
Media violence and aggression
What might Bandura’s bobo doll study suggest about how media violence may affect us?
- By the time we’re teens, we’ve seen on TV thousands of murders and other acts of violence
- The more violence people watch on TV as kids, the more violence they exhibit as teens and adults
Media violence and aggression (correlational data)
How did Huesmann et al 1984 look into media violence? Why is this method good?
- Longitudinal study
- Measured violent TV viewing AND aggression at ages 8, 19, and 30
- Looking here, does the impact of TV violence predict what we are like in terms of violent behaviour at another point in time (Allows us to infer causality
Results
- The higher frequency of exposure to violent media= more violent behaviour later in life
Media violence and aggression (correlational data)
What did Johnson et al 2002 find in relation to adolescent TV watching
- TV watching during adolescence and early adulthood predicted likelihood of subsequent aggression
- controlling for previous aggressive behaviour, childhood neglect, family income, neighbourhood violence, parental education, and psychiatric disorders
Media violence and aggression (correlational data)
What did Huesmann et al 2003 find in relational to childhood TV watching?
- 6-10 year olds (1970s & 80s), followed up 15 years later
Results
- Childhood exposure to violent media leads to increased aggression in adulthood for both females and males
Media violence and aggression (experimental data)
What did Bushman 1998 find/do in relation to media violence and aggressive words?
- Ps view violent or non-violent film
- Next, shown letter strings - asked ‘are they words or non-words?’ (i.e. lemon, smack, glonk)
- DV= speed of neutral words compared to aggressive words; aiming to find interaction again
Results
Ps who watched violent movie faster were on aggression words, also give more violent free associations
Videogames and aggression
What effect did Bushman and Anderson 2002 find violent videogames had on aggressive responses?
- Ps play violent or control video games for 20 mins (Mortal Kombat, Future Cop vs. Austin Powers, 3D Pinball)
- Pps then asked to complete a story where Todd had been in a car accident
–> what might todd say/do/think next
Results
If you have been playing aggressive video games, you are more likely to come up with more aggressive responses that todd may have
Videogames and aggression
What did Guimetti and Markey 2007 find in relation to videogames and dispositional anger
- People randomly assigned to violent/non-violent game
- Also take a measure of dispositional anger; does this moderate the effect of video game on anger.
–> Would people with high dispositional anger have the biggest effect of priming on anger
Results
Effects of video games strongest among individuals higher in dispositional anger
Videogames and aggression
What did Carnagey et al 2007 find in relation to video games, desensitisation and aggression
- Ps play aggressive or control video game
- next, pps watched 10 minute TV show containing violence
DV= Physiological measures taken (baseline; after game; during video)- heart rate; GSR (galvanic skin response)
Hypothesis= Habituation: will people still respond to violence if they have already been exposed to violence?
Results
It would seem that being exposed to violent games causes us to be desensitized to violent films; shows habituation
–> BPM and GSR of people who played violent game lower than controls when watching violent film (less affected by it)
Violence and desensitization
What did Bushman and Anderson 2009 find in relation to violent games and helping behaviour?
Experiment 1= Ps play violent or control video game for 20 mins, then hear a staged fight outside; do pps help
Result = People in the violent game condition were less likely to help, took more time to help, were less likely to even hear the fight, and rated the fight as relatively mild (not severe) when compared to the control
Experiment 2= minor emergency staged outside movie theatre; are pps more likely to help before/after the violent film?
Results = After the film, those who saw the violent film had a longer delay before helping
NOTE= People were equally likely to help before the film, suggesting this effect isnt about specific people
Violence and desensitization
What did Fischer et al 2010 find in relation to the effects of personalisation and aggression?
- Pps play aggressive (boxing) or non aggressive (bowling) Wii game with personalised Mii or generic Nintendo character
Research question = To what extent do we identify with the character we are playing with, and how does this affect our levels of aggression
Results=
shows that playing as yourself (mii) made it more likely for us to act in a more aggressive way
Online video games
What did Hollingdale and Greitemeyer 2014 find in relation to playing online vs offline violent games?
- Pps played Call of Duty vs. Little Big Planet
- Later given an ‘unrelated’ task requiring chilli sauce assignment
Results
Found main effect of game type (violent/nonviolent), but no interaction or effect of online vs offline
SO no effect of online vs offline
Reducing aggression: Catharsis
What is catharsis?
catharsis → “blowing off steam”
Reducing aggression: Catharsis
Does catharsis reliably reduce aggression?
- limited support
- Studies suggest that trying to reduce anger by acting violently actually increases subsequent aggression
Reducing aggression: Catharsis
What did Bushman 2002 do to explore catharsis using a punching bag?
Made pps angry, then:
- Gave them a punching bag with target in mind (catharsis), telling hem to punch it with the anger focus in mind to release stress
- Gave them a punching bag with distraction in mind (get fit), not making them have a target in mind
- No punching bag
Results
Catharsis group were the most aggressive and doing nothing at all was more effective at reducing aggression.
Reducing aggression: catharsis
Bushman, Baumeister and Stack 1999: what happens when people are told catharsis works?
Pps who were told catharsis works were more aggressive than those who were told it doesnt
Reducing aggression: catharsis
Bushman & Whitaker (2010): how does catharsis link to video game use?
Ps who believed catharsis is effective (whether manipulated or measured as an IV) were more attracted to violent video games, especially among individuals who want to get rid of their anger
Reducing aggression: green spaces
Kuo and Sullivan 2010: how does access to green spaces reduce aggression?
- Examined police reports of violence taking place near housing project in Chicago (98 buildings)
- Residents were randomly assigned to building, all residents had comparable backgrounds, economic hardship
Results=
Likelihood of violent crime was lower near buildings surrounded by green spaces
Reducing aggression: positive media
What did Friedrich and Stein 1973 find relating to positive media on child behaviour?
Children were more helpful after 4 episodes of Mr. Rogers
Reducing aggression: positive media
What did Coates et al 1976 find relating to positive media on child behaviour? (Builds on Friedrich and Stein)
- Beneficial effects of Sesame Street for children initially low in prosocial behaviour
- Mr. Rogers was beneficial for all children
Reducing aggression: positive media
What did Greitemeyer and Schwab 2014 find in relation to prosocial music and aggression?
- Ps were randomly assigned to listen to pro-integration music versus
control - Read lyrics as they listened to the music
- In what they thought was a separate study, could allocate aversive white noise to what they believed to be an ingroup or outgroup member (being mean)
Results:
- For the neutral music, people are more likely to be mean to the outgroup relative to an ingroup member.
- For the pro-integration music, this effect disappeared; the pro integration music served to reduce discrimination and prejudice
Reducing aggression: prosocial videogames
What did Gentile et al 2009 find in their longitudinal study looking into children’s gaming habits on prosocial behaviour
- Children’s gaming habits and pro-social behaviour were assessed at two times, 3-4 months apart
- More prosocial games at time 1, more prosocial behaviour at time 2 (controlling for behaviour at time 1)
Reducing aggression: prosocial videogames
What did Gentile et al 2009 find in their experimental study looking into the effect of prosocial games
- IV – randomly assigned to pro-social, anti-social, or neutral video game
- DV – assigned partner easy or hard puzzles
Results= Those who played the prosocial game were nicer (helped more)
