Aggression in the Real World Flashcards
(20 cards)
What real world stimulus is hypothesised to be linked to aggression? Where was this exampled?
- Violence in the media,
- The two studnets who carried out the Columbine High School massacre in the US in 1999 were both alleged to be fans of violent video games. Some people believe this to be linked to the killings.
What is the reasoning behind a linking of violent media and aggression?
Seeing characters in games/films being rewarded for violent behaviour could encourage aggression in the players themselves through vicarious reinforcement.
Paik and Comstock (1994), method
- Paik and Comstock conducted a meta-analysis investigating the impact of media violence on behaviour,
- They analysed the results of 217 different studies dating from 1957 to 1990.
Paik and Comstock (1994), results?
- The results showed that there was an overall significant correlation between watching violent television and films and violent behaviour,
- The correlation for men was slightly stronger than for women, and those who watched violent cartoons and fantasy programmes showed more aggressive behaviour than people who watched other types of films and programmes.
Paik and Comstock (1994), conclusion?
There is a correlation between aggressive behaviour and watching violent media images.
Paik and Comstock (1994), evaluation?
- Although this review was large and included many studies, lots of the experiments took place in laboratories and may, therefore, have lacked ecological validity,
- The results also only show a correlation, and not a causal relationship - it might just be that people who are more aggressive are also more likely to choose more violent and aggressive media.
Charlton et al. (2000), against a link between violent media and aggression?
- Studied children in St. Helena (a remote British territory in the South Atlantic) before and after television was introduced to the island in 1995,
- They observed children aged 3-8 in the school playground before television, and children of the same age 5 years after TV was introduced,
- The results showed a very slight decrease in anti-social behaviour in the post-television group.
What are the ideas behind violent media causing aggression?
- Desensitisation,
- Disinhibition,
- Cognitivie priming.
What is desensitisation?
- People usually have an anxious reaction to violence and aggression - we respond emotionally to it,
- Repeated exposure to violence in the media may reduce this response, making people desensitised to violence.
What is disinhibition?
- Most of the time people have inhibitions about behaving aggressively - it is seen as unacceptable behaviour,
- Seeing violence repeatedly in the media may mean it begins to seem acceptable, making people disinhibited.
What is cognitive priming?
- Cues associated with violence in the media, e.g. guns, may trigger aggression in us when we see them in real-life,
- The violent material we see in the media is stored as a memory, connected to other violent memories,
- We are primed to retrieve these memories if we come across anything associated with them, which may prompt aggressive behaviour.
What is institutional aggression?
The term used to describe aggression within an institutional environment, e.g. a prison.
What are the two main approaches to explaining institutional aggression in prisons?
- The dispositional explanation,
- The situational explanation.
What is the dispositional explanation of institutional aggression in prisons?
Argue that institutional aggression stems from the characteristics of the individuals in the institution, their disposition.
Irwin and Cressey (1962), what is the importation model?
- Irwin and Cressey suggested that the characteristics and social norms that inmates bring with them when they enter prison are the main factors that lead to institutional aggression,
- This is called the importation model - inmates import characteristics from their life outside. E.g. they bring in the norms of criminal gangs, where aggression may be a respected trait.
Harer and Steffenmeier (1996), findings?
- Looked at the data from 58 male prisons in the US,
- Found that levels of violent behaviour in prison was significantly higher among black inmates, whereas drug offences in prison were significantly higher among white inmates.
- Harer and Steffensmeier concluded that this supported the importation model, as these results mirror trends in American society outside of prison,
- However, this research has been criticised for being androcentric, as it didn’t include female prisons.
What is the situational explanation of institutional aggression in prisons?
Situational explanations claim that institutional aggression is caused by the environment in the institution.
What is the deprivation model?
- States that conditions in prison, e.g. overcrowding, cause stress, which then results in aggression,
- Skyes (1958) described the particular deprivations that inmates experienced in prison as the ‘pains of imprisonment’,
- These include: loss of autonomy; loss of liberty; loss of security; and so on.
Megargee (1977), findigns in support of the deprivation model?
- Studied inmates in an American prison for young offenders over a period of three of years,
- Found that crowding levels in the prison were significantly correlated with levels of disruptive behaviour.
What does research say of both explanations in conjunction?
- Research evidence for the dispositional and situational explanations of institutional aggression in prisons is often contradictory - in practice, both types of factors probably play a part,
- Jiang and Fisher-Giorlando (2002) looked at disciplinary reports from a prison in the US. They found that the importation model was best suited to explaining violence towards other inmates, whereas the deprivation model best explained violence towards prison staff.
