Situation explanations of institutional aggression

Question 1

situation explanations

Answer 1

• disagrees with dispositional explanation
• the deprivation model:
• proposes that aggression results from a number of environmental deprivations

Question 2

deprivation model

Answer 2

• deprivation of liberty
• deprivation of autonomy
• deprivation of goods
• deprivation of heterosexual relationships
• deprivation of security

Question 3

deprivation of liberty

Answer 3

• prisoners are deprived of their freedom
• main form of punishment
• often have to obtain permission to eat, sleep, shower etc..

Question 4

deprivation of autonomy

Answer 4

• prisoners have no power
• have very few choices
• leads to a feeling of almost helplessness among inmates
• lead to frustration + aggression

Question 5

deprivation of goods

Answer 5

• access to things we take for granted e.g. smart watches etc,,
  = restricted + denied entirely
• brings about a frustrated sense of failure to most prisoners
  = aggression

Question 6

deprivation of heterosexual relationships

Answer 6

• men may feel emasculated from the loss of heterosexual relationships
• the greater opportunity for homosexual behaviour may lead to anxieties

Question 7

deprivation of security

Answer 7

• prisoners may live in fear of aggression from other inmates
  = leads to a heightened sense of physical threat
• this feeling of perceived continual threat can result in an aggressive response as a form of defence

Question 8

situations where violent prisoners are only violent in

Answer 8

• overcrowding
• heat + noise
• job burnout

Question 9

overcrowding

Answer 9

• a government report in 2014 attributed the record rates of murder, suicide + assaults to increased overcrowding in British prisons
• a Japanese study found that prison population density had a significant effect on inmate violence rates, even after controlling other possible contributing factors

Question 10

heat + noise

Answer 10

• prisons tend to be hot + noisy places
• high temps + noise exacerbate the effects of overcrowding
  = may predispose inmates to aggressive behaviour
• study w/ students found that a combo of high temp + high pop = produced more -ve emotions than in comfortable temps + lower pop density

Question 11

job burnout

Answer 11

• job burnout among prison staff refers to the experience of being psychologically worn out + exhausted from a job
  = gradual loss of caring about work
• linked to the development of violence in prison settings
  = deterioration of relationship w/ inmates

Question 12

strengths

Answer 12

• overcrowding
• practical applications

Question 13

overcrowding - strengths

Answer 13

• one strength to the deprivation model is shown in a study
• found that overcrowding in prisons can be the cause of not just ill health
• but also result in aggression + violence
• psych proposed that overcrowding can heighten stress
  = result in over reaction to other factors in the institution

Question 14

practical applications - strengths

Answer 14

• There are practical applications in our understanding that the prison environment can lead to aggression
• In 2005, Wilson set up two units in HMP Woodhill
  = where the overcrowding was reduced
  = music was introduced to reduce noisy conditions
  = the temperature was carefully controlled
  = He found that initiating these conditions was a successful way to lower levels of aggression.

Question 15

weaknesses

Answer 15

• low vs high security
• little link

Question 16

low vs high security - weaknesses

Answer 16

• deprivation model can be criticised
• two psychs undertook a field experiment
• they randomly allocated 561 male inmates to either low security or high security prison
• inmates matched on criminal history + predisposition to aggression
• found only 3% difference in aggressive behaviour between prisons
• demonstrates that aggression is more likely due to the individuals rather than the situation
• low security prisons should’ve afforded less stress, lower level of violence
  = study goes against situational explanation + supports dispositional

Question 17

little link - weaknesses

Answer 17

• psych investigated aggression in 371 state prisons in the US
• found little evidence to support the link between violence + overcrowding
• pointed out that stress is experienced by most individuals in a prison environment
  BUT not al resort to aggression
  = assumption that stress + frustration alwasy lead to aggression is flawed