Aggression Flashcards
(21 cards)
Aggression
defintion— an action/ intentional behaviour to harm another person— who doesnt want to be harmed
Hostile aggression— motivated by feelings of anger and hostility
—often driven by attack or insult on ones values or social identity
Instrumental aggression— in order to satisfy a specific goal (wealth/fame/status)
Research methods— how do researchers study aggression
Observational methods
naturalistic observations— spontaneous occurrences per time unit
—going to playground— recording how many times child is punching another
—devise a plan- how you are recording
field experiments— unobtrusive
creating a ‘scene’ that u are recording— setting a scene in such a way— assuming based on the scene that there will be some sort of diff in aggression
—observe peoples aggressions
—able to record ppt responses
—need a key to determine that is what is aggressive behaviour// what is counting as aggressive behaviour
Laboratory experiments
Teacher/learner paradigm— punishing learner who making faults
—electric shocks/ air blasts in peoples ears
Evaluation paradigm— essay/ plan/ business plan
hot sauce paradigm— taste experiment— receieve note that person in the other room is aversive to hot taste— how much are u getting— premeasure hot sauce— measure what is leftover— essay to quantify
Aggression paradigm
—
Self/ other reports
—aggression questionnaire
—state anger expression
—peer/teacher reports
The situation— situational determinants of aggression
- Provocation
—single most important cause of aggression— Anderson/bush
—some kind of annoyance that is starting it off
-everything else intensifying it dampening it
—one of the biggest provocations— being socially excluded by others- social exclusion
Heat
heat hypothesis— Hot temperatures— related to to higher rates of aggression
—more violent crimes occur in hot summer months— anderson
—could be related to regions— more violent crimes occur in cities— that have higher average temperatures
Higher temperatures— baseball picthers more likely to hit opposing players with ball— especially if their teammates were hit
Heat— experimenal evidence— concomitant heat paradigm
Experimental manipulation of laboratory room temperature
—one of them is comfortable room temperature— 21/22 degrees
—uncomfortably hot room temperature 27/28 degrees
—looked a police officers in VR burgulary scene
—self reports of negative affect/ percieved threat
—percieved it as more aggressive heat situation— responded more aggressively
—but, inconsistent— heat aggression link does not always lead to linear progression of aggression
Climate aggression
near the equator
—heat is the highest
—violence levels are highest
—self control levels are lowest
Alcohol
—People more likely to act aggressively/ be victims of violence after consuming alcohol
—involved in more than 50% of aggressive acts in the western world
—2/3 of murderers consumed alcohol before they murdered their victims
Potential problems with data from natural settings
—could be group effects
—not controlled
Alcohol— experimental evidence
Person comes into laboratory— real bar setting
—researchers dressed up as bartenders
IV 1– participant drinks a drink (alcohol vs not)
IV 2– participants expectation of alcohol consumption yes/no
DV— experimental valid measures of agggresion
Balanced placebo design
3 main effects
—pharmacological effect— anti placebo vs control— non significant effects
—psychological effect— placebo vs control— non significant effects
—combined effects— placebo vs alcohol — significant effects
-control vs alcohol— non significant effects
Explanantions of alcohol/aggression link
1– reduction of inhibitions
2– decrease in self awareness
3- cognitive changes— alcohol myopia hypothesis
Alcohol myopia theory
become near sighted- start focusing on salient cues in environment often times aggressive— not concerned bc of potential consquences- just focusing on someone pushed u etc
—not focusing on other reasons— could be bartender going through crowd
—Chemical properties of alcohol— impaired cognition/ reduce self regulation
—after drinking alcohol— people become worse in reading social cues— become more easily annoyed
—annoy others more easily
—more sensitive to social cues
Weapons and crime
—places where there are more guns available per capita— resulting in more murder rates
Weapon effect— berkowitz
—ppts that participated in this study— provoked beforehand
—either gun/tennis racket left on table
—told that either experimenter or ppt left this gun in room
—ppts delivered more/higher shocks to a confedrate when a badminton racket was present in the room
—same effect was found when ppts were simply excited (via exercise) vs not
Weapons in field experiment
cambridge uni study— study on tasers— in police operations in london
—those officers who were wearing tasers—more visible— more likely attacked by others on the street
—police officers— reacting more aggresively
weapons are making people more aggressive— conceal them
Recreational hunters study
— show no aggression
—experience pleasure
—true for hunting weapons/ not other assault weapons
Violent video games
Playing violent video games— mortal combat vs golf game
—increases aggressive behaviour
—reduced prosocial behaviour— helping— people become more numb to others pain
—increases aggressive thoughts/emotions
—increases physiological responses— assosciated with fighting (blood pressure/ heartrate)
—effects observed in children/adults— men/women// in US JAPAN/ EUROPE
Violent video games/ violence
study by netherlands researchers
—recruited teenage boys
—gave them violent/ non violent games to plau
—gave two options: u can punish person with noise levels 0-10
— noise levels 8-10 can cause permanent hearing damage
—violent video games and high character identification— more likely to use levels 8-10
—asked if they realised it causes permanent damage— reported aggressive feelinfs/ no concern during debriefing
—‘i know but idc’
Part 3– the person
Who are people that are more aggresive
self control— motivation and ability to override unwanted urges
-trait self control
trait anger— measuring anger— experience more angry feelings readily— more intensely/ feelings last longer
—perceieve world differently- more angry
p4– culture and aggression
Dramatic cultural variances which affect how people behave
culture of honor
—culture defined by members strong concerns about their own/others reputations— leads to sensitivity to insults— willingness to use violence/ avenge percieved wrong
—experimental evidence
—higher rates of homicide in south of america than north— due to arguments
—higher job accepting of honor murder vs other criminals
Theories of aggression
Frustration— aggression
—caused by frustration
—some sort of goal in our mind is blocked
—want to achieve it but something blocks us
—depending to this theory leads to frustration
heat affect
—feelings of discomfort caused by heat may be misattributed to agrousal
dollard—when someone blocked from reaching a goal— leads to frustration which triggers aggression
later revsision-berkowitz- frustration doesnt always cuse aggression— but makes it more likely when combined with cues— weapons/anger
Social learning theory
people learn aggression by observing others— especially when aggression is rewarded— reinforcement
behaviour copied through modelling/ reinforcement
—bobo doll experiment— children who saw adults hitting doll more likely to imitate aggressive behaviour
General aggression model (GAM)
comprehensive framework— combining cognitive affective and arousal factors
aggression— result of personal and situational inputs processed thru cognition/emotion
3 main parts
1. inputs— person (trait anger) + situation (insult)
2. internal state— thoughts, feeelings, arousal
3. appraisal— aggressive/non agresive behaviour
