E4: Agression Flashcards
Aggression
behavior intended to harm someone else
why were people defensive about findings of Bushman’s study
-they get defensive because they play video games and are presented with this research which causes cognitive dissonance
-third person effect: believe that media impacts other people differently and it does not influence them
-faulty reasoning and anecdotal evidence of them watching and not killing someone
other significant studies
-Bandura’s bobo dolls
-Surgeon Generals report
-national institute of mental health
overall findings in children
consumption of violent media does cause agression
what is violence in children mediated by
-gender: girls are more impacted by violent media because they have more of a noticeable jump to make from their socialization to what they’re seeing
-aggressive children seek out violent media
-whther or not first person shooter- are they identifying with person enacting violence
-ability to distinguish between reality and make believe
what are other problems associated with viewing violent media
-desensitization: violence becomes normal = people’s attitudes towards violence become more accepting in a concerning way
-people interpret the world as a violent place
-people get new ideas on how to act violently
-people began to hesitate less or lose inhibitions on acting violent
what are the different theories behind why humans can be aggressive
-biological or innate theory
-social learning theory
-situational influence theory
biological theory on aggression
-sociobiological/genetic: aggressive people survive and their genes get passed on
-other physiological factors such as chemicals like testosterone and serotonin play a role in
what makes the biological theory on agression faulty
the idea that aggressive people survive and pass on their genes does not make sense because a large proportion of violence is taking place within families so if you’re killing your brother than that’s less of your genes getting passed down
-kind of a circular argument
-the fact that cultural variations exist tell us that agression is not just a fact of the human race but rather something more social
social learning theory (behaviorism) of aggression
direct reinforcement and modeling of aggressive behaviors is what encourages people to act aggressively themselves
situational theory of aggression
it is mainly the situation that someone is in that causes them to act agreesivly
what would be some of the situational factors that would cause someone to act aggressively
-frustration over a goal being blocked, especially if goal is tied to dignity and embarrassment is at stake
-another person intentionally provoking us
-negative affect or bad mood makes us more aggressive
-cognitive associations: the setting you are in may be associated with violence like a hockey game or being around weapons
-limited resources cause competition which makes people aggressive
-social norms
