Weeks 9-10 Flashcards
Why is it difficult to define aggression?
Definitions vary from culture to culture.
E.g. Shunning is aggressive behaviour to the Amish, mutilation is aggressive behaviour in gangs
Define aggression
Behaviour intended to harm another being who is motivated to avoid such treatment
Is aggression inherent to humans or is it learned?
No one knows for sure! There are conflicting bodies of thought.
How did Freud explain human aggression?
Aggression stems from the “Death Instinct”, Thanatos, which is in opposition to the “Life Instinct”, Eros. An aggressive urge stemming from Thanatos builds up from bodily tensions, and needs to be expressed.
How do neo-Freudians view aggression?
An innate process whereby people sought a healthy release for primitive survival instincts that are basic to all species.
How do ethologists explain aggression?
There are positive, functional aspects of aggression. Potential for aggression is innate, but elicited by specific environmental stimuli called ‘releasers’.
Animals are more aggressive towards others of their own species.
What is fighting instinct?
List two characteristics of fighting instinct in humans.
Innate impulse to aggress - present in humans despite lacking well-developed killing appendages such as teeth or claws.
- Once we start being violent, we do not seem to know how to stop.
- In order to kill, we need to resort to weapons
What is evolutionary social psychology?
Extension of evolutionary psychology that views complex social behaviour as adaptive, helping the individual, kin, and the whole species to survive.
How does evolutionary social psychology explain aggression?
Specific behaviour has evolved because it promotes the survival of genes that allow the individual to live long enough to pass the same genes on to the next generation. Aggression is adaptive because it must be linked to living long enough to procreate.
E.g. A mother bear protecting her cubs.
What hypothesis assumes that all frustration leads to aggression, and all aggression comes from frustration? Commonly used to explain prejudice and intergroup aggression.
What are some examples of this hypothesis?
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
E.g. Terrorism is spawned by chronic and acute frustration over the ineffectiveness of other mechanisms to achieve socioeconomic and cultural goals
What are flaws of frustration-aggression hypothesis?
Loose definition of ‘frustration’
Difficulty in predicting which kinds of frustrating circumstance may lead to aggression
What theory describes the expression of aggression as:
- A learned aggressive behaviour
- Arousal or excitation from another source
- The person’s interpretation of the arousal state, such that an aggressive response seems appropriate?
Excitation-transfer model
In this model, any experience that markedly increases the level of overall excitation
can lead to unintended consequences.
E.g. Road rage may be more likely after a gym session as the individual is already in a heightened state of excitation.
Scolding a child who accidentally gets lost.
Hooliganism at football matches.
What theory features the processes of acquisition, instigation, and maintenance?
Social learning theory
What factors might cause someone to learn to be aggressive?
- Previous experiences of others’ aggressive behaviour
- How successful aggressive behaviour has been in the past
- The current likelihood that an aggressor will be either rewarded or punished
- Complex array of cognitive, social, and environmnental factors in the situation
Bandura conducted a study in which children watched adults being aggressive both in person and on TV. In which instance did children exhibit a modelling effect?
Both
What is a schema about an event called?
A script
Can aggression be passed down from generation to generation?
Yes - aggression can become an established pattern of behaving that can repeat itself by imitation from generation to generation
A child watches an adult be aggressive towards a doll live, on video, and in a cartoon. Which version is the most effective condition for modelling aggressive behaviour?
Live, but all have an effect
How is spanking related to anti-social behaviour?
Almost linear relationship between frequency of spanking and level of antisocial behaviour
However the effect in this study (Boutwell et al, 2011) was negligible in girls!
What personality factors might be linked to aggression?
- Tendency to attribute hostile intentions to others
- Polarised self-esteem (extreme high or low)
- Poor frustration tolerance
What term is used to describe people who are overactive and excessively competitive, with higher susceptibility to coronary heart disease?
Type A personality
What are some ways in which Type A behaviours are destructive?
- More prone to abusing children
- Experience more conflict with peers and subordinates (but not superiors!)
Why is the role of hormones in aggression complex?
- Studies vary in focusign on aggression induced by fear, stress, and anger
- Hormone involved may be correlates rather than causes of aggression
- An environmental trigger is usually required to activate both a hormonal response and the expression of aggressive behaviour
How does aggression differ between sexes?
Men
+ Physical violence
+ Direct aggression
= Verbal aggression
Women
= Verbal aggression
+ Indirect aggression (gossip, manipulation)
What is catharsis?
Using our behaviour as a release for pent-up emotions
Is catharsis effective at reducing aggression?
There is no evidence for this, and in fact it may have the opposite effect, causing people to be more likely to enact aggression.
What is the relationship between alcohol and aggression?
Alcohol has been found to have a causal relationship with aggression.
People who drink more are more aggressive.
Even people who do not drink often can become aggressive when they drink.
What term describes a reduction in the usual social forces that operate to restrain us from acting antisocially, illegally, or immorally?
Disinhibition
What is deindividuation?
What are some factors that may influence people experiencing deindividuation?
Process whereby people lose their sense of socialised individual identity and engaged in antisocial behaviours. Entails a sence of reduced likelihood of punishment for acting aggressively.
- Presence of others
- Lack of identifiability
What is the term for unified aggression by a group of individuals, who may be unaffiliated, against another individual or group?
Collective aggression
How does deindividuation of the victim occur?
Victims may be dehumanised so that their suffering is not valued or visible.
E.g. Dressing psychiatric patients the same so that they are indistinguishable as individuals.
Drone warfare, where the suffering of victims is not visible.
Referring to war victims as targets or collateral damage
What two environmental factors have been reliably implicated in increasing levels of aggression?
Heat
As ambient temperature rises, there are increases in domestict violence, violent suicide, and collective violence
Crowding
Feeling that one’s personal space is invaded increases likelihood that actions will be perceived as malevolent
How does extreme heat affect aggression?
Saps energy and decreases aggression!
What model includes both personal and situational factors, and cognitive and affective processes in accounting for different kinds of aggression?
General aggression model
What are the four stages of the GAM?
- Input
- Internal state
- Appraisal
- Action
Refer page 294
What is a culture of honour?
A culture that endorses male violence as a way of addressing threats to social reputation or economic position
What three factors are influential in a culture of honour?
- Female infidelity damages a man’s reputation
- A man’s reputation can be partly restored by exacting retribution
- Cultural values of female loyalty and sacrifice, on one hand, and male honour,
on the other, validate abuse in a relationship. The same values reward a woman
who ‘soldiers on’ in the face of violence.
What fact might be evidence that humans do not have a “killer” instinct?
Societies dedicated to non-aggression, such as the Amish, Bushmen of Southern Africa, Ladakhis of Tibet, etc.
Why is there a higher rate of bullying in Latin cultures than in England, Norway, or Spain?
Machismo
Aggression is believed to show sexual prowess and shapes a dominant male in the household
Has violence in media been positively linked to aggression?
YES!
What is the weapons effect?
The mere presence of a weapon increases the probability that it will be used aggressively
What are some examples of rape myths?
Women lead a man on and then cry rape.
Many women secretly desire to be raped.
How is erotica related to aggression?
Depends on the form of erotica.
Mild can decrease aggression.
Extreme can increase.
Are people more likely to recall advertisements that are sexual, violent, or neutral?
Neutral!
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Are men or women more likely to use physical aggression against partners in a heterosexual relationship?
Women, but they do less harm than men.
Male violence is more severe.
Note: Much of women’s use of violence is in defence against sexual assault.
What are some factors for why people hurt those closest to them?
- Learned patterns of aggression - Imitated from parents and significant others
- Proximity of family members makes them more likely to be sources of annoyance
- Stresses, especially financial or health related
- High alcohol consumption
What are some socially desirable and undesirable effects of institutionalised violence?
Positive
Arresting someone for a crime
Negative
Prisoner abuse
What is agentic state?
States of mind thought by Milgram to characterise unquestioning obedience, in which people transfer personal responsibility to the person giving orders.
At an individual level, how can aggression be reduced?
- Violent acts by children should not be rewarded, while non-violent acts are
- Avoid punitive tactics that have been ineffective in the past (corporal punishment, suspension in school)
- Peace studies - multidisciplinary movement dedicated to the study and promotion of peace
Page 312
How might helping behaviour be antisocial?
E.g. Overhelping - when giving help is designed to make others look inferior.
When donations are given to promote self-image, not to benefit the cause.
How might altruism have evolutionary survival value? Give two mechanisms.
Mutualism
Cooperative behaviour that benefits the cooperator as well as others
Kin selection
A cooperator is biased towards blood relatives because it helps propagate ones own genes
In what ways does our willingness to help people differ during normal times and times of great difficulty?
Generally we help those most at need during normal times - the very young, old, or infirm.
We help those most likely to survive in life or death situations.
What is the bystander-calculus model of helping?
- First we are physiologically aroused by another’s distress
- We label this arousal as an emotion
- We evaluate the consequences of helping
Different kinds of empathy lead to different kinds of motivation to help. How does imaging how another person feels differ to imagining how you feel?
Imagining another elicits empathy which leads to altruistic motivation.
Imagining yourself elicits empathy, but also produces self-oriented distress, and involves a mixture of altruism and egoism.
How do men and women differ when empathising?
Women with prior experience of a similar stressful event are likely to empathise. Men do not show this effect.
Women and men with no prior experience of a similar stressful event showed similar levels of empathy.
How are actions that help other people learned in children?
- Giving instructions
- Using reinforcement
- Exposure to models
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What hypothesis proposes that people need to believe - perhaps for their own security - that the world is a just place where people get what they deserve?
Just-world hypothesis
E.g. Perhaps a rape victim deserved it because of the way they were dressed!
People who work hard become rich and successful!
Which two norms have been proposed as the basis for altruism?
Reciprocity norm
We should help those that help us.
Social responsibility norm
We should give help freely to those in need without regard to future exchanges
Are you more likely to be helped when there are many bystanders or just one?
Just one - the bystander effect
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What four stages contribute to deciding whether to give help according to Latane and Darley?
+ Attend to what is happening
+ Define event as emergency
+ Assume responsibility
+ Decide what can be done
What factors influence bystander effect?
- Diffusion of responsibility - “someone else will take care of it”
- Audience inhibition
- Social influence - other onlookers provide a model for action
Page 330
How does mood affect our likeliness to give help?
Good mood makes us more likely to give help. Bad mood reduces likelihood of giving help.
Giving help puts us in a good mood!
How does personality affect our likeliness to give help?
Has little or no bearing on being helpful
What kinds of people are more likely to give help?
Those who are taller, heavier, physically stronger, and better trained to cope with crimes and emergencies.
Is helpfulness gendered?
Men are more likely to help women, than to help other men or man + woman couples.
Men are more likely to help women than vice versa.
This is likely to be related to sexual attraction - attractive women receive more help.
What is the competence effect?
Feeling competent in a situation makes you more likely to help
How is population size related to willingness to help?
People from small towns are more likely to help than people from large cities.
What are four motives for helping others, according to Batson?
- Egoism - prosocial acts benefit one’s self
- Altruism - prosocial acts contribute to the welfare of others
- Collectivism - prosocial acts contribute to the welfare of a social group, e.g. family
- Principlism - Prosocial acts follow a moral principle
Are students more likely to cheat one exams when aroused?
Yes - arousal may be distracting and make us less able to regulate our behaviour.
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