Aggression Flashcards
Aggression determinants
Person centred
- personality
- gender dfis
- use of alcohol
- disinhibition (deindividualisation/dehuminisation)
Situation centred
- temperature
- crowding/noise
- frustration
- Weapons effect (The mere presence of weapon increases probability of aggression)
- social disadvantages
- cultural influences
Biological theories
Psychodynamic
2 instinct drivers - eros (life+sex) and thanatos (death+aggression). Thanatos builds up pressure + release the aggression externally through aggressive behaviour. Everyone have these instincts on a sliding scale
Evolutionary
Social behaviour is innate + adaptive - survival genes relate to evolutionary development (eg. Aggression) because they help people survive and procreate.
—> limitations
- doesnt account for social facotrs
- empirical evidence
- doesnt explain aggression towards familys
Social theories
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
Frustrating events/situations lead to aggression. Displacement of aggression occurs if source of frustration is:
Too powerful (eg. Boss)
Unavailable (political party)
Indeterminant object
(State of economy/environment)
—> limitations
- empirical evidence is mixed
- measurement of frustration is ambiguous
- too simplistic
Cathartic hypothesis
Catharsis can be acheived through aggression or through vicarious means
HOWEVER Bushman et al. (1999) found aggressive behaviour increases aggressive behaviour instead of decreasing it
Cognitive neoassociationalist model
Aggressiv ehtoughts/feelings triggered by cues in the environment (PRIMING EFFECT)
Eg. People, objects (weapons), media
Excitation-transfer hypothesis
Arousal (excitation) can transfer from 1 situ to another (residual arousal) which can lead to aggression if triggered by situational cue
Learning theories
Operant conditioning (Skinner, 1953)
Stimulus-response/ rewards-punishments
Eg. Child takes toy of child 2 (stimulus). C2 hits C, C2 gets toy back + not told off. Stimulus- response strengthened
Social learning theory (Bandera, 1977)
Acknowledges operant conditioning but also suggests behaviour can be learned through vicarious experience (Bobo-Doll - seeing adults play aggressively with doll -> child also played aggressively)
