Chapters 10-11 Flashcards
(102 cards)
1
Q
People are more likely to help someone in an emergency if the potential rewards seem high and the potential costs seem low.
T/F
A
TRUE
For both emergency situations and more long-term, well-planned helping, people’s helping behaviours are determined in part by a cost-benefit analysis.
2
Q
In an emergency, a person who needs help has a much better chance of getting it if three other people are present than if only one other person is present.
T/F
A
FALSE
In several ways, the presence of others inhibits helping.
3
Q
People are much more likely to help someone when they’re in a good mood.
T/F
A
TRUE
Compared to neutral moods, good moods tend to elicit more helping and other Prosocial Behaviours.
4
Q
People are much less likely to help someone when they’re in a bad mood.
T/F
A
FALSE
Compared to neutral moods, negative moods often elicit more helping and prosocial behaviours. This effect depends on a number of factors, including whether people take responsibility for their bad mood or blame it on others; but in many circumstances, feeling bad leads to doing good.
5
Q
Attractive people have a better chance than unattractive people of getting help when they need it.
T/F
A
TRUE
People are more likely to help those who are attractive. This attractiveness can be based on physical appearance or friendliness.
6
Q
In any situation, people are more likely to help a friend succeed than a stranger.
T/F
A
FALSE
Although we tend to help those closest to us more than we help others, this tendency is often eliminated or even reversed if the task is very important to our own self-esteem and if our friend’s success is threatening to our ego.
7
Q
When seek help more often than men do.
T/F
A
TRUE
At least for relatively minor problems, men ask for help less frequently than women do.
8
Q
In virtually every culture, males are more violent than females.
T/F
A
TRUE
In almost every culture and time period that have been studied, men commit the large majority of violent crimes.
9
Q
For virtually any category of aggression, males are more aggressive than females.
T/F
A
FALSE
Girls are often more indirectly, or relationally, aggressive than boys; and women often exhibit levels of aggression similar to men’s when they have been provoked or when they feel relatively anonymous and individuated.
10
Q
Children who are spanked or otherwise physically disciplined (but not abused) for behaving aggressively tend to be come less aggressive.
T/F
A
FALSE
Evidence indicates that the use of even a little physical punishment to discipline children is associated with increases in subsequent aggressive and antisocial behaviour by the children, even years alter, although this relationship may depend on a variety of other factors.
11
Q
Blowing off steam by engaging in safe but aggressive activities (such as sports) makes people less likely to aggress later.
T/F
A
FALSE
Although people may be less likely to aggress immediately after such activities, initial aggression makes future aggression more, not less, likely.
12
Q
Exposure to TV violence in childhood is related to aggression later in life.
T/F
A
TRUE
Laboratory experiments, field experiments, and correlational research all suggest a link between exposure to violence on TV and subsequent aggressive behaviour.
13
Q
Men are much more likely than women to aggress against their spouses or partners.
T/F
A
FALSE
Some evidence suggests that women engage in more acts of serious aggression against their partners than men do; but men are much more likely to injure, sexually abuse, or kill their partners.
14
Q
Adults who as children were abused by their parents are less likely to inflict abuse on their own children than are other adults.
T/F
A
FALSE
Although most people who have experienced such abuse do break the cycle of family violence, on average they are more likely to abuse their own children than are people who have never experienced parental abuse.
15
Q
altruistic
A
motivated by the desire to improve another’s welfare
16
Q
arousal: cost-reward model
A
The proposition that people react to emergency situations by acting in the most cost-effective way to reduce the arousal of shock and alarm.
17
Q
audience inhibition
A
reluctance to help for fear of making a bad impression on observers
18
Q
bystander effect
A
the effect whereby the presence of others inhibits helping
19
Q
diffusion of responsiblity
A
the belief that others will or should take the responsibility for providing assistance to a person in need
20
Q
egoistic
A
motivated by the desire to improve one’s own welfare
21
Q
empathy
A
understanding or vicariously experiencing another individual’s perspective and feeling sympathy or compassion for that individual
22
Q
empathy-altruism hypothesis
A
The proposition that empathic concern for a person in need produces an altruistic motive for helping
23
Q
good mood effect
A
the effect whereby a good mood increases helping behaviour
24
Q
kin selection
A
preferential helping of genetic relatives, so that genes held in common will survive
25
negative state relief model
the proposition that people help others in order to counteract their own feelings of sadness
26
norm of social responsibility
a moral standard emphasizing that people should help those who need assistance
27
pluralistic ignorance
the state in which people mistakenly believe that their own thoughts and feelings are different from those of others, even when everyone's behaviour is the same
28
prosocial behaviours
actions intended to benefit others
29
social norm
a general rule of conduct reflecting standards of social approval and disapproval
30
threat-to-self-esteem model
the theory that reactions to receiving assistance depend on whether help is perceived as supportive or threatening
31
aggression
behaviour intended to harm another individual
32
catharsis
a reduction of the motive to aggress that is said to result from any imagined, observed, or actual act of aggression
33
cultivation
the process by which the mass media (particularly television) construct a version of social reality for the public
34
cycle of family violence
the transmission of domestic violence across generations
35
desensitization
reduction in emotion-related physiological reactivity in response to a stimulus
36
displacement
aggressing against a substitute target because aggressive acts against the source of the frustration are inhibited by fear or lack of access
37
instrumental aggression
inflicting harm in order to obtain something of value
38
mitigating information
information about a person's situation indicating that he or she should not be held fully responsible for aggressive actions
39
pornography
explicit sexual material
40
social learning theory
the theory that b behaviour is learned through the observation of others as well as through the direct experience of rewards and punishments
41
weapons effect
the tendency of weapons to increase the likelihood of aggression by their mere presence
42
emotional aggression
inflicting harm for its own sake
43
frustration-aggression hypothesis
the idea that frustration always elicits the motive to aggress, and that all aggression is caused by frustration
44
hostile attribution bias
the tendency to perceive hostile intent in others
45
Define prosocial behaviour and give an example of a prosocial behaviour
Actions intended to benefit others
Ex. donating money, giving rides to a friend, babysitting for a friend, volunteering, picking up mail for someone who is out of town
46
How does evolutionary theory explain helping behaviours among genetically-related relatvies, non-kin, and members of an in-group?
Evolutionary perspectives emphasize the survival of the individual's genes.
The selfish Gene: survival of the individual's genes. If a specific social behaviour enhances reproductive success, the genetic underpinnings of that behaviour are more likely to be passed on to subsequent generations.
Kin selection: preferential helping of genetic relatives so that genes held in common will survive
- The purpose of helping is to promote the survival of those who share your genetic makeup.
- kinship selection promotes genetic survival
- preferential helping of genetic relatives should be strongest when the biological stakes are par- ticularly high.
Non-kin helping behaviours
a) Reciprocal altruism: helping someone else can be in your best interests because it increases the likelihood that you will be helped in return.
In-group helping behaviours
a) Altruistic groups: groups with altruistic members may be more likely to thrive and avoid extinction than groups with only selfish individuals. Cooperation and helpfulness for the good of the group (especially when the group faces an external threat) could be an innate, universal tendency.
47
Define reciprocal altruism
helping someone else can be in your best interests because it increases the likelihood that you will be helped in return.
48
Explain the roles that costs and rewards play in helping others
Arousal: Cost-reward model: The proposition that people react to emergency situations by acting in the most cost-effective way to reduce the arousal of shock and alarm. Both the emotional and cognitive factors determine whether bystanders to an emergency will intervene.
Feeling Good: helping often simply feels good. Giving help increases feeling better. Helping improves psychological well-being. Children learn that helping others can be rewarding
Negative State Relief model: the proposition that people help others in order to counteract their own feelings of sadness. People who are feeling bad may be inclined to help others in order to improve their mood.
Being good: many of use are motivated to BE good. We want to help because it's the right thing to do.
The costs of helping: courageous resistance. When help involves constant and exhausting demands, the effects on the helper's physical and mental health can be negative (ex. caring long term for an elderly individual).
49
Describe Arousal: Cost-reward model
The proposition that people react to emergency situations by acting in the most cost-effective way to reduce the arousal of shock and alarm. Both the emotional and cognitive factors determine whether bystanders to an emergency will intervene.
50
Describe Negative State Relief model
the proposition that people help others in order to counteract their own feelings of sadness. People who are feeling bad may be inclined to help others in order to improve their mood.
Egotistical
51
Define altruistic motive
motivation by the desire to improve another's welfare
52
Define egoistic motive
motivation by the desire to improve one's own welfare. Selfish concerns or simple conformity to socialized norms.
53
Define empathy
understanding or vicariously experiencing another individual's perspective and feeling sympathy and compassion for that individual
54
Describe the empathy-altruism hypothesis
the proposition that empathic concern for a person in need produces an altruistic motive for helping. Taking the perspective of a person in need creates feelings of empathic concern, which produces the altruistic motive to reduce the other person's distress.
55
Describe an alternative explanation for the empathy-altruism hypothesis that has been proposed. Outline the research evidence that supports this hypothesis and the research evidence that does not.
There is increasing evidence that the brain is hardwired for social connection. A fascinating study suggests that human infants are capable of at least a rudimentary degree of perspective taking leading to helping behaviour. Study suggests infants are capable of a rudimentary degree of perspective taking leading to helping behaviour. 18 month old infants helping experimenter with a task to retrieve a marker. The experimenter did not ask for help, nor praise or reward the infant.
Limits: Not all helping is altruistically motivated, there are multiple motives to helping, many result in a mix of self-oriented and other-oriented motivators.
Another limit is that motives do not guarantee behaviour. Empathy leads to altruistic motivations, but not necessarily to helpful behaviour. Someone with an empathetic concern for another may not help if they judge that the potential cost of offering help is too high under the circumstances.Also, some people may tend to be more or less altruistic than others.
Another limit: Omoto and Snyder determined that volunteer will stay longer with egoistic goals than through altruistic goals. Self-interest is not necessarily a bad motivator. One’s feelings of empathic concern for others are usually limited to a few other people at a time and in relatively brief periods.
56
Define the bystander effect
the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.
the effect whereby the presence of others inhibits helping.
57
List the steps that bystanders in an emergency go through, as proposed by Latane and Darley. In order for the victim to receive help, identify the obstacles that bystanders in a group have to overcome in each step of the process.
Noticing: Noticing that something is happening. Bystanders in this step need to overcome distractions, stimulus overload, and self concerns. For example, being late to a meeting or being distracted by your children.
Interpreting: Bystanders need to interpret the event as an emergency. In this step, bystanders need to overcome ambiguity and pluralistic ignorance. For example, bystanders may misinterpret cries of pain or fear as laughter. Individuals may also believe that other bystanders aren't reacting because they know somehow that there is not an actual emergency
Taking Responsibility: Taking responsibility for providing help. Bystanders must overcome the diffusion of responsibility. For example, bystanders must not assume that someone else in the vicinity called 911
Decide how to help: Make a decision about how to help. In this step, bystanders need to overcome a lack of competence. For example, individuals may feel that they are not qualified to provide help, but there is usually an alternative option such as calling on others in the area for help or simply calling 911
Provide Help: Actually provide help. In this step, bystanders need to overcome audience inhibition, which is the thought that they will make a bad impression or look silly in front of observers. In addition, bystanders also need to overcome the thought that costs will exceed rewards, for example thinking that someone will sue you because of a mistake. We have things in place like the Good Samaritan Act to
cover situations like this.
58
Define pluralistic ignorance
the state in which people mistakenly believe that their own thoughts and feelings are different from those of others, even when everyone's behaviour is the same. Each bystander thinks that other people aren't acting because they somehow know there isn't an emergency. Actually, everyone is confused and hesitant, but taking cues from each other's inaction, each observer concludes that help is not required.
59
Define diffusion of responsibility
the belief that others will or should take the responsibility for providing assistance to a person in need (someone else will call 911). Usually takes place under conditions of anonymity
60
Define audience inhibition
reluctance to help for fear of making a bad impression on observers.
61
How may a person's good mood affect the likelihood that the person will help others?
Good mood effect: good mood increases helping behaviour. When we're happy we're helpful.
■ Desire to maintain one's good mood. When we are in a good mood, we are motivated to maintain that mood. Helping others makes us feel good, and so it can help maintain a positive mood.
■ Positive expectations about helping. If we have more positive expectations about the rewards of helping, we are more likely to help.
■ Positive thoughts. Positive moods trigger positive thoughts, and if we have posi- tive thoughts about others, we should like them more, which makes us more likely to help them.
■ Positive thoughts and expectations about social activities. Positive moods trigger positive thoughts and expectations about interacting with others and engaging in social activities. These positive thoughts and expectations can pro- mote interacting with others in prosocial ways, including helping them
WHY NOT
■ Costs of helping are high
■ Positive thoughts about other social activities that conflict with helping. Ex. If our good mood makes us want to go out and party with our friends, our motivation to participate in this activity may prevent us from taking the time to notice or take responsibility for helping someone in need
62
Define the good mood effect
the effect whereby a good mood increases helping behaviour. When we're happy, we're helpful.
63
How may a person's bad mood affect the likelihood that the person will help others?
When bad moods make us more likely to help:
■ If we take responsibility for what caused our bad mood ("I feel guilty for what I did."). Greatest determiner for whether or not bad moods lead to helping behaviour.
■ If we focus on other people ("Wow, those people have suffered so much.")
■ If we are made to think about our personal values that promote helping ("I really shouldn't act like such a jerk next time; I have to be nicer.")
When bad moods make us less likely to help:
■ If we blame others for our bad mood ("I feel so angry at that jerk who put me in this situation.")
■ If we become very self-focused ("I am so depressed.")
■ If we are made to think about our personal values that do not promote helping ("I have to wise up and start thinking about my own needs more
64
How may personality, moral reasoning, and family background affect the likelihood that a person will help others?
a) Personality - empathy and advanced moral reasoning contribute to an altruistic personality, meaning those with altruism and empathy are more likely to help.
b) Moral reasoning - people who exhibit internalized and advances levels of moral reasoning are more altruistic than others. Ex. Adhering to moral standards independent of external social controls, and taking into account the needs of others when making decisions about courses of action. On the other hand people whose reasoning is focused on their own needs or on the personal consequences that their actions are likely to have are less engaged in helping behaviour.
c) Family background - positive role models = positive helping behaviour
65
Define social norms
a general rule of conduct reflecting standards of social approval and disapproval. Rule of conduct established by society.
66
Define norm of social responsibility
a moral standard emphasizing that people should help those who need assistance. People should help those who need assistance. Creates a sense of duty and obligation to which people respond by giving more help to those in greater need of it.
67
Define norm of reciprocity
people who give should be paid back
68
define norm of equity
when people are in a situation in which they feel overbenefited, they should help those who are underbenefited.
69
How may role models and social norms affect people's decisions to help others?
Seeing important people in their lives behave pro socially, or antisocially, encourages children to follow suit. Helpful models are important for all of us, not just children.
People who exemplify helping inspire us for three reasons 1) They provide an example of behaviour for us to imitate directly, 2) When they are rewarded for their helpful behaviour, they teach us that helping is values and rewarding which strengthens our own inclination to be helpful, 3) The behaviour of these models makes us think about and become more aware of the standards of conduct in our society.
Social norms are rules of conduct reflecting standards of social approval and disapproval.
Norm of reciprocity - people who give should be paid back
Norm of equity - when people are overbenefited, they should help those who are underbenefited
Norm of social responsibility - moral standard emphasizing that people should help those who need assistance. People should help those who need assistance - creates sense of duty and sense of obligation which people respond by giving more help to those in greater need of it
70
List the characteristics of people who are most likely to receive help when they need help.
a) Personal attractiveness - Attractive people are more likely to be offered help and cooperation across a number of different settings.
b) Attributions of responsibility - People's beliefs about the needy individuals responsibility influence helping. Ex. Aids contracted through blood diffusion vs. sex or drugs.
Ex. too lazy to take notes or tries hard and can't seem to get it right
71
Who is most likely to be helped and by whom and why?
- We are more helpful toward those we know and care about than toward strangers or superficial acquaintances. People in a communal relationship feel murual responsibility for each other's needs.
- we are more likely to help others who are similar to us
- individuals who actually need the help and aren't being lazy
- more likely to help physically attractive people
Reasons:
- We are more likely to be attracted to and develop relationships with people who are similar to ourselves.
- people tend to empathize more with similar others or with people in their in groups.
- The emphasis on similarity could even be a form of kin selection, as people may use similarity in appearance as a signal of potential kinship.
72
Are there any gender differences in helping?
Men - knight in shining armour type help
Women - provide support to friends or loved ones
Men on average are more helpful than women
Women receive more help than men
Women are more likely to provide social support
For situation that don't fit social or knight in shining armor, gender differences are not strong.
Men ask for help less frequently
73
Is help always perceived positively by the person receiving help? If not, when is help not received well.
Likely to feel bad if help is unsolicited.
Receiving help is experienced as self-supportive when the recipient feels appreciated and cared for, but as self-threatening when the recipient feels inferior and overly dependent
Is help sincere or is it intentioned and patronizing, or is it controlling and designed to keep the recipient dependent.
Threat to self-esteem model: The theory that reactions to receiving assistance depends on whether help is perceived as supportive or threatening.
74
Describe threat to self-esteem model
The theory that reactions to receiving assistance depend on whether help is perceived as supportive or threatening.
75
Define aggression
behaviour intended to harm another individual. Aggressor intends to leave the victim worse off than they were before
76
Define violence
extreme acts of aggression
77
Define instrumental aggression
inflicting harm in order to obtain something of value. Ex. A hitman or hired gun. Harming someone for personal gain, attention, or self-defence fits this definition. Also called proactive aggression
78
Define emotional aggression
Inflicting harm for its own sake. Also called reactive aggression. Impulsive and carried out in the heat of the moment.
79
What are the differences in aggression across cultures?
a) Individualistic cultures are more likely to have relatively high rates of aggression because they are less concerned with social harmony and the avoidance of open conflict.
- Looser gun laws = higher rates of gun crimes.
c) Beliefs about aggression (ex. Hitting a partner or disciplining children with force) differ between countries. Genital mutilation.
d) Non-violent cultures - some don't even have the words in their language for quarrelling, fighting, aggression, or warfare. Ex. Chewong, Hutterites. These cultures oppose competition and endorse cooperation in all aspects of their lives.
e) Teenagers and young adults have a higher rate of involvement in violent crime than any other group.
f) Culture of honor in the united states perpetuates violence, encourages violent responses to perceived threats against one's status as an Honorable, powerful man.
g) Australia and New Zealand, more approving of a husband slapping his wife.
h) North American rates of injuring a dating partner are higher.
i) Japanese business men routinely grope schoolgirls on public transportation.
j) Aprox 6000 girls per day are abused with female genital mutilation particularly in parts of Asia and Africa.
k) In Canada, 21.5% of the federal prison population is aboriginal and 9.1% are Black.
l) collectivist = lower murder rates
80
In what ways do men and women engage in aggression differently?
a) Men: men are more violent than women. In virtually all cultures studies around the world. More likely to be murdered. Commit majority of homicides. Consistently more physically aggressive than females
b) Women: represent only 4% of offender population. As likely to feel anger as men, but much less likely to act on anger in aggressive ways. EVEN among children. Women use their tongues for aggression. Indirect and relational aggression. (ex. Telling lies to get someone in trouble, shunning people from certain activities). Likely because they care more about relationships and intimacy than men. More likely to engage in indirect aggression than men.
81
Briefly explain aggression from the evolutionary psychology perspective.
What is the research evidence for such an explanation, and what is the evidence against such an explanation?
- Males are competitive with each other because females select high-status males for mating, and aggression is a means by which males traditionally have been able to schieve and maintain status
- Warriors, not pacifists, would have been more likely to survive and more likely to attract mates and be accepted as part of a group. Individuals who could and would fight, would pass down those tendencies to offspring, evolving to become part of human nature.
- evolutionary theories emphasize genetic survival, because at least some of a person's genes can be transmitted through reproduction, evolution should have favoured the inhibition of aggression against those who are genetically related to us. --\> birth parents are less likely to be aggressive to their children than stepparents are to stepchildren (70-100 times more likely)
- Male-female violence is predominantly triggered by sexual jealousy. (crime stats)
- a) Study: Men with narrower faces were more likely to die a violent death than those with wider faces, a finding attributed to a lack of physical dominance one would find in men with wider faces.
- evolution favoured women who were commited to protecting their children. --\> women aggress to defend their offspring. (study - females in species observed to attack male strangers who come too close to their offspring.
82
Describe the biological explanations for aggression, including the role of genetics, role of hormones, and role of neurotransmitters.
Genetics:
- results have been mixed
- Aggressiveness is a relatively stable personality characteristic, children high in aggressiveness are more likely to be aggressive later in life.
- stronger evidence for direct aggression than indirect relational aggression
- environment stressors present = greater likelihood that genetic predisposition for aggression is activated. Same is true of the opposite --\> prosocial environments lead to decreased aggressive behaviour.
Hormones:
- Research conducted on a variety of animals has found a strong correlation between testosterone levels and aggression., but the relationship in humans is weaker.
- Aggression may cause an increase in testosterone.
- higher levels of stress = higher levels of testosterone.
- Stress may simultaneously elevate both testosterone and aggression
- Trans studies showed that FTM experiences increase in aggression. MTF experienced decrease in aggression. Also a correlation.
Neurotransmitters:
- serotonin works like a braking mechanism to restrain impulsive acts of aggression
- low levels of seotonin in the nervous system of animals are associated with high levels of aggression
Bonus:
- Research using a variety of techniques have found evidence linking abnormalities in the frontal lobe structures with tendencies toward aggressive and violent behaviour.
83
What roles do positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment play in the learning of aggressive behaviour?
Positive reinforcement: when aggression produces desired outcomes
- ex. the child who gets a toy by hitting the toy's owner is likely to hit again
Negative reinforcement: when aggression prevents or stops undesirable outcomes
- the child who can stop other children from teasing by shoving them away has learned that aggression pays
Punishment: most likely to decrease aggression when it immediately follows the aggressive behaviour, is strong enough to deter the aggressor, and is consistently applied and perceived as fair and legitimate by the aggressor. When these aren't met, punishment can backfire.
- punishment perceived as unfair, can provoke retaliation, creating an escalating cycle of aggression
- corporal punishment is positively correlated to children becoming aggressive themselves.
84
When is punishment most likely to decrease aggression?
1) when it immediately follows the aggressive behaviour
2) when it's strong enough to deter the aggressor
3) when it is consistently applied and perceived as fair and legitimate by the aggressor
CERTAINTY of punishment is more important than its severity.
85
Describe the social learning theory as it relates to aggression
The proposition that behaviour is learned through the observation of others as well as through the direct experience of rewards and punishments.
Models influence the prosocial, helpful behaviour and they also affect antisocial, aggressive behaviour. People learn aggressive behaviours from aggressive models. People can also develop positive attitudes and beliefs about aggression as they process and incorporate social information from their environmen. Ex. if kids see parents be aggressive they may have auto aggressive responses in other situations. Changing the model can decrease aggressive behaviours ex. observing non-aggressive responses to situations strengthens existing restraints against aggression. Non-violence can be contagious.
When repeatedly seeing aggression modelling by parents, children construct aggressive "scripts" that serve as guides for how to behave and solve social problems. These scripts can be activated automatically in various situations, leading to quick often unthinking aggressive responses that follow the scripts we have been taught.
86
How does socialization account for gender differences and cultural variation in aggression?
Gender
- Whether or not gender differences in aggressive behaviour originated from innate biological factors, today they are maintained through lessons that are passed on from one generation to the next about acceptability of various kinds and degrees of aggression
- males and females are socialized to fill different roles in society.
- Overt aggression = more acceptable in male roles (highly aggressive boys are often most popular and socially connected children in elementary school)
- indirect aggression = girls who successfully use relational aggression can reap social benefits more easily than a boy
Culture
- Machoism may represent one form of what anthropologists call a culture of honour, which emphasizes honour and social status, particularly for males, and the role of aggression in protecting that honour. A key to the aggression associated with cultures of honour is the fact that individuals in these cultures perceive aggressive responses to honour based threats as the norm among peers (may explain why violence is higher among Latin American men than European American men)
- Culture of honour persists because the individuals believe that most people in their peer group have positive attitudes toward aggression in response to threats to one's honour
87
Is aggression determined by forces of nature, nurture, or a combination of the two? Explain
The effects of learning are not disputed, nor is there any doubt that in aggression, as in all human behaviour, environment and biology interact.
Origins of human aggression represent a profound interaction of innate predispositions and environments and social factors.
Combination of the two.
88
Describe the frustration-aggression hypothesis.
The idea that frustration always elicits the motive to aggress, and that all aggression is caused by frustration.
89
Define displacement
Aggressing against a substitute target because aggressive acts against the source of the frustration are inhibited by fear or lack of access
90
Define catharsis
A reduction in the motive to aggress that is said to result from any imagined, observed, or actual act of aggression.
91
State the original frustration-aggression hypothesis as proposed by Dollard and others. How have the concepts of displacement and catharsis been used to explain aggression against the source of frustration? What were the problems with this hypothesis as identified by other researchers?
Hypothesis: frustration always elicits motive to aggress. Frustration produced by interrupting a person's progress toward an expected goal will always elicit the motive to aggress
Dollard and colleagues claimed that the motive to aggress is a psychological drive that resembles physiological drives like hunger. If we are unable to aggress against the source of frustration, the aggressive drive can seep out in the form of displacement. The inclination to aggress is deflected from the real target to a substitute (ex. yelling at partner when you get home from a bad day). Drawing from the idea of catharsis (aggressive sports, telling violent stories, observing aggression of others), Dollard also believed that displacing aggression in safer ways can be effective and that any aggressive act should reduce the motive to engage in any other aggressive behaviour.
Most researchers agree that catharsis is a myth. It's more counterproductive than effective in reducing aggression --\> imagined or observed aggression is more likely to increase arousal and aggression. Actual aggression can feel good and mokes it more likely that aggression will occur again. Successful aggression = more aggression.
it's actually better to distract with other positive activities like laughter.
Critics state that Dollard overstated their case. The cases are NOT absolute. Frustration doesn't always equal aggression. Aggression is not always caused by frustration.
92
Summarize Berkowitz's reformulation of the frustration-aggression hypothesis.
According to Berkowitz, frustration is but one of many unpleasant experiences that can lead to aggression by crating creating negative, uncomfortable feelings. It is these negative feelings, not the frustration itself that can trigger aggression.
93
How does the process of excitation transfer facilitate aggression?
The process of excitation transfer in which the arousal created by one stimulus can intensify an individual's emotional response to another stimulus. Ex. men who engaged in vigorous exercise were later more attacted to an attractive female than were those who had barely moved.
Research on affect clearly indicates that the type of emotion (positive or negative) influences aggression, The intensity of arousal is important as well.
Scope of excitation transfer is not limited to physical exercise. Noise, violence movies, arousing music, all have been shown to increase aggression. Heat also increases arousal.
94
Describe how the arousal-affect model explains aggression.
The proposal that aggression is influenced by both the intensity of arousal and the type of emotion produced by a stimulus
95
Describe how situational cues can influence aggression.
What is the "weapon effect"?
Weapons effect: the tendency of weapons to increase the likelihood of aggression by their mere presence
ex. the presence of weapons in an experiment. Participants with weapons on table more likely to shock than those with badminton rackets and birdies.
Any object or external characteristic that is associated with successful aggression or the negative affect of pain or unpleasantness can serve as an aggression-enhancing situational cue. Such cues can have very strong effects, increasing people's hostility and likelihood of aggression.
Stimuli that would not serve as aggression-enhancing cues for some people can be aggression-enhancing cues for others. People who tend to be aggressive associate significantly more cues with aggression and hostility than do people who are not as chronically aggressive; thus, they are particularly prone to automatically activating aggression-related thoughts.
96
What is mitigating information?
Information about a person's situation indicating that he or she should not be held fully responsible for aggressive actions
97
What is the hostile attribution bias?
the tendency to perceive hostile intent in others
98
How does mitigating information, hostile attribution bias, and alcohol affect higher-order cognitive processing, which may in turn facilitate or inhibit aggression?
Mitigating Information: Info about a person's situation indicating that he or she should not be held fully responsible for aggressive actions.
Hostile attribution bias: The tendency to perceive hostile intent in others.
Situational cues can trigger associations, but more thoughtful consideration (higher-order cognitive processes) can influence behaviour. For example, choosing to flee rather than fight because the cost of fighting seem too high, or persons who believe that aggression is inappropriate, or whose moral values mandate non-violent behaviour, may realize that better alternatives than aggression exist.
Mitigating information indicating that an individual should not be held responsible for aggressive acts should also diminish perceived intent to harm and decrease aggressive retaliation behaviour. People's thoughts about the intentions of other people can determine whether they are likely to respond aggressively. (ex. being less harsh to someone who has been recently broken up with)
Some people exhibit a hostile attribution bias in that they tend to perceive hostile intent in others. Research has found hostile attribution bias to be associated with both physical and relational aggression.
Alcohol makes it more difficult to engage in the higher order processing that can inhibit aggressive impulses. Alcohol is implicated in the majority of violent crimes, suicides, and auto fatalities. Alcohol consumption often increases aggressive behaviour. How? Alcohol reduces anxiety, which in turn lowers people's inhibitions against aggression. Also, alcohol disrupts the way we process information.Alcohol myopia- alcohol narrows people's focus of attention.
99
Summarize the immediate and long-term effects of exposure to violence in the media on aggression. What are the processes that mediate between exposure to violence and aggression?
Immediate
- boys assigned to play violent/non-violent games. Those in the violent group behaved more aggressively after the game by delivering very loud, aversive blasts of noise against an opponent in a reaction-time task. Aggressive effect stronger among boys who identified strongly with the main character.
- Male participants who had just listened to misogynous song lyrics recalled more negative attributes about women, reported more feelings of vengeance, and behaved more aggressively toward female confederate than those who listened to neutral music.
Long-term
- the extent to which 8 years olds watched violent TV predicts their aggressiveness and criminality as adults and childhood and adolescent preference for violent media significantly predicted later violence and aggression.
- Childhood and adolescent preferences for violent media significantly predicted later violence and aggression.
- 130 research reports concluded that as the amount of time playing violent vids increases, so do aggressive behaviours, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive affect. In addition, more exposure to violent video games was associated with a lack of empathy and prosocial behaviours.
- media effects tend to be especially high in those who are high in train aggressiveness, irritability, or hostility as well as among those who lack empathy
- people are influence by their families, peers, social values, and opportunities for education an employment. Different personalities can heat up or tone down the exposure to aggressive displays.
a) Desensitization: reduction in emotion-related physiological reactivity in response to a stimulus.
b) Cultivation: the process by which the mass media construct a version of social reality for the public.
100
Define desensitization
the reduction in emotion-related physiological reactivity in response to a stimulus
101
Define cultivation
The process by which the mass media construct a version of social reality for the public.
102
Describe the effects of exposure to non-violent and violent pornography on aggression. Explain why exposure to violent pornography can have such strong effect on aggression.
Non-violent:
- elicits pleasant emotional response and low levels of sexual arousal
- unlikely to trigger much aggression
- men who are predisposed to sexually offend are the most likely to be affected by pornography exposure
Violent
- greatly increases possibility of harmful effect
- triple threat: brings together high arousal, negative emotional reactions (shock, alarm, disgust), and aggressive thoughts.
- stronger effect than any other type of program
- specifically male to female aggression
- one of the few situation factors that has been shown to increase aggression even in the absence of provocation. Portrayal of women as willing participants who ENJOY their own victimization.
