Week 11 - Aggression and Conflict Flashcards
Conflict and aggression definitions
Conflict
A perceived incompatibility of goals between two or more parties
Aggression
behaviour intended to harm someone else
a strategy to promote and maintain status an resources
origins in survival of the fittest
Interpersonal aggression (2 types)
Instrumental aggression
aggression serving mastery needs
to control other people or obtain valuable resources
Hostile aggression
aggression serving self/group-esteem needs
driven by anger and other negative feelings
Causes of the two types of aggression
toys in a room study
Instrumental aggression
Rewards and punishment (hitting brother to get the remote)
Personal abilities (how well you can face a competitor)
Gender differences (physical aggression men)
Less resources (poverty is the single greatest predictor)
Hostile aggression
Negative feelings eg frustration
Kids and toys in a room study
half the kids told they could go straight in and play, half kids told they had to wait
the kids that got frustrated played more aggressively with the toys
Norms and aggression 3 studies (TV)
Culture of honour (responding nice for nice , insulting honour got to get them back)
Models and media (glorified and often unpunished)
Study: viewing more violent TV makes you more aggressive BUT not causation, could be more aggressive people watch more violent TV
Study: delinquent boys randomly assigned violent and non-violent conditions. Found that violent primes made you more likely to react to conflict or difficult situations with violence
Longitudinal 22 year long study on TV watching
watched more violent TV = more likely to be aggressive and have a criminal record
Norms can restrain aggression
eg pick on someone your own size
institutionalised as formal rules
Views on aggression as learned
social learning theory
Social learning theory: behaviour is learned through the observation of others and through direct experience of rewards and punishment
1) Direct experience of punishment and rewards
more likely to use aggression if it brings positive outcomes
2) reciprocal determinism (each thing also influences all the other things)
3) Observational learning
self-efficiency: confidence in our ability to perform a behaviour
Expectations: anticipation of rewards or punishments from behaviour
Value placed on behaviour : trying to be cool/liked by the group
Socialisation and biological explanations for gender differences (principle of connectedness
Men tend to be more aggressive than women in most cultures
Men may be more physically aggressive whereas women are more verbally/indirectly aggressive (These are accepted in society ie girls get punished more for fighting)
Once social norms are removed women exhibit more physical aggression but still not quite as much as men (testosterone bumps it up)
Reducing aggression (2 solutions)
Situations that favour superficial thinking often promote aggression (caused by time pressure and emotional arousal)
Solution: minimise cues for aggression
Guns in the room study - participants had more aggressive thoughts
Solution: promote non aggressive norms
Sherif’s Robber’s Cave Demonstration
Phase 1 - ingroup formation
Boys in two camps assigned as Eagles or Rattlers
Put in situations to increase cohesiveness of group eg hiking,swimming,cooking
Phase 2 - Intergroup competition
Competitive games between groups eg baseball which aroused feelings of conflict and tension (only one winner)
Camp party- told different start times, only squashed food left for rattlers which created hostility
Investigators then tried to reduce hostility
no competitive games, non-conflict social contact eg movie night but things only became worse
Implication : Contact alone can not reduce conflict and hostility (in the short term, long term effects need to be explored)
Five Conditions for optimal and successful intergroup contact
1) Valued common goal
2) Equal status: no one is better than anyone else
3) Repeated personal interaction; one to one interactions to increase stereotype inconsistent experience
4) Social norm of Equality: Authority figure (or society) should reinforce a norm of tolerance and acceptance
5) successful results
DIFFICULT TO CHANGE STATUS OF EXISTING GROUPS
DIFFICULT TO CHANGE SOCIAL NORMS ON A LARGE SCALE
Resolving conflict through negotiation
GRIT
Building trust
difficult history = increased distrust of outgroup
negotiations often fail because no one will act
Trust and Norm reciprocity
GRIT (gradual and reciprocal initiatives in tension reduction )
Group A states intention to reduce conflict and encourages B to do the same
Group A does the initiative —> puts pressure on B to reciprocate
If B cooperates then group A will quickly reciprocate
Group A still maintains the ability to retaliate if Group B takes advantage
Social Psychology in GRIT
Reciprocity
Sense of control : B can choose how to respond thus perceived risk of cooperating is lessened
Social control - other people put pressure on them to reciprocate
