Chapter 3: Aggression

Question 1

Aggression

Answer 1

Every unwanted behavior (at least unwanted for the target) intended to cause harm (even if no damage is done) or injure another

Question 2

Violence

Answer 2

Subcategory of aggression
Aggression involving the use or threat of physical force
Not all instances of aggression are violent, but all acts of violence classify as aggression

Question 3

Six forms of aggression

Answer 3

1. Physical
2. Verbal
3. Direct: face-to-face
4. Indirect: behind someone’s back
5. Instrumental: primary motive is to achieve a particular goal
6. Hostile: primary motive is to harm the target

Question 4

Measuring aggression

Answer 4

Aggression in the lab (aversive stimuli: electric shocks, loud noise, cold water, …) → ethical issues!
Questionnaire/surveys
Archival data to know prevalence rates of certain crimes among the population

Question 5

Three biological approaches to theories of aggression

Answer 5

1. Ethology
2. Genetics
3. Hormones

Question 6

Ethology

Answer 6

The study of non-human animal behavior
Steam boiler model

Question 7

Steam boiler model (Lorenz, 1974)

Answer 7

Internal aggressive energy is produced continuously and will burst out spontaneously unless released by an external stimulus
Arguments against: people can’t blow off their aggression, people can perform more than one aggressive deed in sequence (and it tends to grow worse)
→ Model is not correct

Question 8

Genetics

Answer 8

Genes explain about 50% of the variance in aggression
Environmental influences have an impact on these genes and will determine whether we will react aggressively or not

Question 9

Hormones

Answer 9

Testosterone: positive association with aggression, strengthens fight-impulse and weakens flight-impulse
Cortisol: negative association with aggression, strengthens flight-impulse

Question 10

Six psychological approaches to theories of aggression

Answer 10

1. Frustration-aggression hypothesis
2. Cognitive neo-associationism
3. Excitation-transfer theory
4. Social learning
5. Social information processing models
6. General Aggression Model

Question 11

Frustration-aggression hypothesis (Miller, 1941)

Answer 11

Aggression is not the only, but a likely response to frustration: frustration leads to aggression
Fear for punishment decreases aggression

Question 12

Displaced aggression

Answer 12

If aggression cannot be expressed against the aggressor, it wil be displaced to a more accessible or less threatening person

Question 13

Weapon-effect (Berkowitz & LePage, 1967)

Answer 13

People show more aggressive behavior when they are frustrated and there is an aggressive cue present
No significant difference between associated or unassociated cue
! Also an effect on participants in a neutral mood → aggressive cues activate cognitive schemata related to aggression

Question 14

Cognitieve neo-associationism (Berkowitz, 1993)

Answer 14

Extension of frustration-aggression hypothesis
Not only frustration, but also negative affect as trigger for aggressive behavior
Automatic appraisal process: we generate an immediate automatic fight/flight reaction
Controlled appraisal process: leads to anger/fear depending on situational context and history of person

Question 15

Excitation-transfer theory (Zillmann, 1978)

Answer 15

States that if neutral arousal is still present in an anger-eliciting situation, the neutral arousal can be transferred onto anger-related arousal and misattributed as anger
Result: stronger feeling of anger and increased aggressive respons

Question 16

Social learning

Answer 16

Direct reinforcement: being rewarded for showing aggressive behavior
Observational learning: learning by imitation (indirect)

Question 17

Social information processing models

Answer 17

Models that highlight the learning influence on aggressive behavior/scripts
Important influence of social scripts on aggressive behavior: children learn aggressive scripts which gives them norms for ‘appropriate’ behavior

Question 18

General Aggression Model (Anderson & Dill, 2000)

Answer 18

Integrates all these different psychological theories of aggression into a comprehensive framework
Explains how personal and situational input variables impact internal states
States also evoke immediate and more controlled response

Question 19

Trait agressiveness

Answer 19

The tendency to show aggressive behavior
4 components: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, hostility
The trait is a very stable characteristic of the person

Question 20

Hostile attribution bias

Answer 20

The tendency to interpret ambiguous behavior (hostile/incident?) as having hostile intent
Bidirectional relationship: hostile attribution causes more aggressive behavior, aggressive behavior predicts hostile attribution

Question 21

Gender differences

Answer 21

Men commit 8x more violent crimes than women
Men show more physical aggression, smaller effect for verbal aggression
Cross-cultural finding
Importance of situational context: men score higher on unprovoked aggression, smaller difference if provoked

Question 22

Three situational influences of aggression

Answer 22

1. Alcohol
2. High temperature
3. Violent media content

Question 23

Alcohol

Answer 23

Increases aggressive behavior
Moderation by empathy: alcohol only has an effect in people with little empathy, not on people with a lot → attentional hypothesis

Question 24

The attentional hypothesis

Answer 24

States that there is an indirect effect of alcohol on aggression through reduced attentional capacity, which prevents a comprehensive appraisal of the situation
People who drink alcohol are more inclined to only focus on the most salient information of the situation which reduces the attentional capacity that is needed to evaluate the situation

Question 25

Heat hypothesis

Answer 25

High temperatures (discomfort) increase aggressive behavior Hot year effect: rate violent crimes is higher in the summer months and higher in hotter compared to cooler summers No 'cold hypothesis' because people can protect themselves against cold

Question 26

Violent media content

Answer 26

Media violence-aggression link is robust: confirmed in experimental, correlational and longitudinal research for both men and women Video games: moderate effect on aggression (contagious effect: indirect effect on boys whose friends played violent video games) Chronic exposure to violent media leads to habituation (and reduced empathy) Repeatedly viewed videos lead to adaptation (desensitization)

Question 27

Intimate partner violence

Answer 27

The use or threat of an act of physical or sexual violence by one partner against the other in the context of an intimate relationship Coercive controlling violence: to have control over someone else (more often shown by men) Violent resistance in response to (more often shown by women)

Question 28

Sexual aggression

Answer 28

A range of non-consensual sexual activities, including unwanted sexual attention More men than women Sex assaults by strangers are rather the exception, it's usually done by a familiar person Risk factors: childhood abuse, alcohol Consequences for victim: PTSD

Question 29

Bullying in school and workplace

Answer 29

11-15 year olds: 12% victim, 10% bullies, long-lasting (not just once, then it's an act of violence) Cyberbullying: humiliate/intimidate others on a large scale under the cloak of anonymity Mobbing: concerning violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace during a longer period of time

Question 30

Three strategies to reduce aggression

Answer 30

1. Catharsis 2. Punishment 3. Inducing incompatible responses

Question 31

Catharsis

Answer 31

Releasing aggressive tension through symbolic engagement in aggressive behavior (fa. boxing, virtual reality video game) ! Not effective and even counterproductive for reducing aggression Symbolic acts of aggression are actually 'aggressive cues' that prime aggressive thoughts and feelings and pave the way for aggressive behavior

Question 32

Punishment

Answer 32

Is effective when: sufficient threat, high likelihood of being caught, negative arousal is not too high, behavioral alternatives are available, punishment follows immediately → Not always the case: chances are low that these five conditions co-occur Criticism: punishment may function as aggressive cue and may convey the message that aggression is a viable strategy of conflict resolution

Question 33

Inducing incompatible responses

Answer 33

Prosocial behavior: playing a prosocial video game reduced aggressive thoughts Positive affect: pleasant music buffered the effect of the provocation on anger Sadness and disgust: negative affective states also trigger avoidance motivation to buffer the effects of frustration on anger

Question 34

Three components that are typical in psychopathy

Answer 34

1. Interpersonal: glibness (verbally fluent) and superficial charm, grandiosity, pathological lying, conning/manipulating 2. Affective: shallow affect, lach of remorse or guilt, callous (cold) or lack of empathy 3. Behavioral: impulsivity, need for stimulation/prone to boredom, juvenile delinquency, criminal behavior

Question 35

The Mask of Sanity (Cleckley, 1941)

Answer 35

The first to describe core features of psychopathic personality Negative adjustment features: failure to follow life plan, loss of insight, ... Positive adjustment features: 'the mask', charm, intelligence, ...

Question 36

The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 2003)

Answer 36

List that can be scored from 0-2, with a maximum score of 40 Categorical measure: cut-off score for diagnosis of a clinical psychopath (25 or more)

Question 37

The triarchic model of psychopathy (Patrick, 2009)

Answer 37

A three-dimensional model that combines interpersonal, affective and behavioral characteristics into 'boldness, meanness and disinhibition'

Question 38

How to measure the triarchic model of psychopathy

Answer 38

PPI-I: Fearless dominance (boldness): stress immunity, social influence, fearlessness PPI-II: Self-centered impulsivity (disinhibition): nonconformity, blame externalization, egocentricity, nonplanfulness PPI-III: Cold-heartedness (meanness): lack of emotion, guilt, or regard for others' feelings

Question 39

Three theories of origin

Answer 39

1. Evolutionary adaptive: psychopaths convince women to have a relationship and then children 2. Biological: early brain damage or structural brain deficits 3. Psychological: poor socialization and trauma

Question 40

Psychopathy and leadership

Answer 40

Many leaders have psychopathic traits People with psychopathy have a higher chance of ending up in a leadership position, but this doesn't mean that they would be a good leader

Question 41

Leadership effectiveness (Vergauwe)

Answer 41

There is a positive relationship with charisma when we look at the general measure of psychopathy, but when we look at the subdimensions we see opposing relationships → Sublevel-analysis: relation between effectiveness and boldness (β = 0.30 = positive) and relationship between effectiveness and meanness (β = -0.23 = negative) Conclusion: important to look at psychopathy from a multidimensional way, it is not because one dimension is good/bad that it is necessarily true for others