Aggression Flashcards
(13 cards)
Definition of aggression
Behaviour intended to harm another individual
Actions as well as words can be aggressive
Instrumental aggression:
- inflicting harm to obtain something of value
- aggression aimed at harming someone for personal gain/ attention
- often calculated
- if aggressor believes here’s easier way to obtain goal, aggression wont occur
W,motional aggression:
- inflicting harm for its own sake
- often impulsive
- carried out in heat of mement eg jealous rage
Cultural diferences
Gun related violence:
- high in USA
Group aggression:
- high in Western Europe (football supporters)
- dating violence higher amoung Israeli Arabs than Jews
Groping on public transport:
- high in Japan
Gender diferences
Men more physically aggressive
Men more for direct-verbal aggression
Women for indirect aggression (telling lied to get someone in trouble)
Origins of aggression: rewards to become aggressive
Positive reinforcement: aggression produces desirable outcomes
Negative reinforcement: aggression stops undesirable outcomes
Origins of aggression: punishment to avoid aggression
Punishment helps if:
- immediately follows aggression
- strong enough to deter aggressor
- is consistently applied and sen as fair by aggressor
If these conditions not met, can backfire
Punishment offers model to imitate
Origins of aggression: social learning theory (Bandura, 1977)
Theory that bevahour is learned through direct experience of rewards and punishments and through observation of others
People learn from ‘models’ through direct experience or media
Ppl develop positive attitudes towards aggression from aggressive models
Models construct aggressive scripts that serve as guides for how to behave and solve issues
Leith (2007) analysed petal record fro American hockey games
- US born players more likely to be exposed to aggressive hockey models than European- born
- US - born had more penalties per player
Temperature and aggression
Baron 1978: measure no. Of street riots in American cities and correlated it with temperature in those cities
Higher temperature- higher no. Of riots per day
- decreased once reached higher temp
Temperature and police shootings compares
- association between outdoor temperature and fatal police shootings in USA
Excitation transfer theory (Zillman)
- arousal triggers by ones stimuluscan be transferred / added to arousal of second stimulus
- combined arousal then perceived as having even caused by only 1
- discomfort in heat —> arousal (negative effect) —> aggression towards salient
Police rates higher aggressive imprison and likeliness to shoot in hotter conditions
The colour black: perceived aggression
- Referees shown video of football game with team wearing black or white
- asked to judge how aggressive tackles were
- rated more aggressive when wearing black inform
Vrij (1996)
- studnets saw video of may attacking person
- attacker wore black or light clothes
- rates attacker as more aggressive when wearing black clothes
- women reports in assult on bus
- she wore light or dark clothes
- thought her report was dishonest more when wearing dark clothes
- when retelling what she said, reported more incorrect facts when she was wearing dark clothes
Does watching violence on TV make ppl aggressive?
- student who killed friend inspired by film
- ppl attempting to recreate murder scene from film
High TV viewing from young age correlates to more serious criminal acts by adulthood
Tv watching makes ppl, aggressive;
Alternative ideas:
1. Aggressive ppl like watching aggressive movies
2. Low intelligent ppl like watching films + are aggressive
Study on prisoners with no free TV acces
- on movie week were more aggressive
Other sources of aggression
- listening to violent lyrics in music
- violent video games
Violence in TV, movies, music lyrics, video-games
Research reveals evidence that media violence increase liklihood oh aggressive behaviour in both immediate and lon-term contexts
- media/ entertainment industry not convinced
Media violence can trigger hostile thoughts- makes ppl interpret other ppls behavior as hostile
Media violence desensitises ppl to violence - makes it acceptable
Media violence can create social relation that ppl perceive as true
Groups and aggresion
Prosocial behaviour (help a friend) - criminal acts
Anti-social behaviour- sexual acts
Non-normative behaviour (spy on partner)
Neutral behaviour - rob bank
Conclusion + implications
When ppl think they can stay unnoticed — more inclined to criminal and non-normative acts
- also applied to large groups + crowds
Solution= make sure ppl can be identified when in crowd
