Social Psychological Agression Flashcards
Social learning theory suggests…
Aggression is learned by observation and imitation of people in the environment
2 principles of SLT aggression…
1) aggression that is rewarded will be repeated and learned
2) aggression associated with a reward will be learned
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Learning through observing the consequences of someone else’s behaviour
What are the 4 stages of SLT?
Attention, retention, reproduction & motivation
Details of the reproduction stage…
To imitate the behaviour they must be physically able to perform the observed act
Details of the motivation stage…
How motivated they are depends on whether the act has been rewarded
3 studies into SLT and aggression…
Bandura et al
Bandura, Ross and Ross
Williams
In Bandura et Al, how many ppts and where were they from?
72 (36 males and 36 females) from Stanford university nursery
Wht were the 2 findings of Bandura et al?
Those who witnessed aggressive role model more likely to show aggression
More likely to imitate same sex role model
What is the main difference between Bandura et al and Bandura, Ross and Ross?
Bandura, Ross and Ross used video clips that shower adults being aggressive to the bobo doll
What were the 3 conditions in Bandura, Ross and Ross?
Model reward, model punish and no consequence
After the children were observed playing for 10 minutes, what were they offered a reward for?
If they could imitate the behaviour is they’d seen in the video (shows they’d retained it but not motivated to reproduce)
What did Williams do?
Studied levels of physical and verbal aggression in a Canadian community after introduction of tv
4 evaluation points of SLT of aggression…
Deterministic, too simplistic, practical applications, explains cultural issues
How does SLT being deterministic make it harder to find someone guilty of an aggressive crime?
They say they have no responsibility as they just observed and imitated
How does SLT explain cultural issues?
Kung San tribe of Kalahari desert don’t use aggression to discipline kids so little aggression in their society as the kids don’t observe aggression
Practical applications of SLT and aggression…
Reduce aggression by educating parents to not show aggression and gang intervention
What is the other social psychological theory of aggression?
Deindividuation
What is deindividuation?
Process where by people lose their sense of social identity and engage in anti social behaviours
Who proposed deindividuation?
Festinger et al
A larger group leads to…
Greater anonymity which leads to greater difficulty identifying individual
Explain the influence of being watched
Become self cons so monitor own behaviour in fear of being judged so obey rules of society
Link influence of being watched to aggression and deindividuation
When we feel deindividuated we lose fear of being judged so more inclined to break rules of society and bigger chance of aggression
What is the idea of self awareness
That we know what type of person we are
Link the idea of self awareness and aggression
When self awareness is blocked by environmental factors (large crowd) lose sense of self awareness therefore more likely aggressive
Research into deindividuation
Zimbardo 1973
Zimbardo 1970
What year was Zimbardos Stanford prison experiment?
1973
How were guards in Stanford prison experiment deindividuated?
Dark glasses, khaki trousers and had a wooden baton
After 2 days of the Stanford prison experiment what happened?
Prisoners rebelled and became visibly distressed
What caused prisoners to have a mental breakdown?
Harassment and humiliation by the guards
After how many days was the Stanford prison experiment stopped?
6 days
How were the females in Zimbardos 1970 experiment deindividuated?
Wore lab coats and hoods
What were the females in Zimbardo 1979 asked to do?
Give what they thought to be genuine electric shocks
3 Evaluation pints of deindividuation theory…
It doesn’t always lead to antisocial behaviour, practical applications and supporting research
Who’s research found im deindividuation lead to either prosocial or antisocial behaviour depending upon the situation?
Spivey and prentice Dunn
What is the practical application of deindividuation?
Using cctv to reduce aggression as clear signing of cameras makes people feel self conscious so monitor own behaviour
Definition of aggression
An act or series of acts with the aim to cause harm to another person or object
