Exam 3

Question 1

6 Theories of aggression

Answer 1

1. biological
2. evolution
3. biochemistry
4. pain
5. frustration
6. social learning

Question 2

aggression

Answer 2

behavior intended to hurt others psychologically or physically

Question 3

2 types of aggression

Answer 3

hostile- reacting behavior motivated by strong emotions that is intended to harm

instrumental- premeditated behavior because of external motivation / goal

Question 4

displaced aggression

Answer 4

aggression directed towards someone other than the instigator

Question 5

Catharsis theory

Answer 5

“catharsis”- to cleanse or purge
-acting aggressively (or even exposed to aggression) releases anger and aggressive impulses into a harmless outlet
-Freud: people should express bottled-up anger. If repressed, surface as psychological disorders
Aristotle: viewing tragic plays gave people emotional release from negative emotions

Question 6

anger

Answer 6

something that entails bodily states (physiological arousal and mental meanings)

Question 7

theories of aggression

Answer 7

1. pain and discomfort
2. weather and aggression (hotter weather more aggressive)

Question 8

Why can aggression be functional?

Answer 8

Help us survive, pass down genes, and protection

Question 9

Relative Deprivation

Answer 9

deprivation leads to more frustration when other social groups possess it

Ex: living in poor area around rich people

Question 10

Culture of honor and aggression

Answer 10

-Associated with people in the south
-Certain cultures more likely to be more aggressive when reputation is threatened
-Small threats are magnified.
-Reason why it was important to have an appearance of being tough in past cultures
-More murders in south due to “insults” to one’s pride

Question 11

Culture of honor and aggression study

Answer 11

Cohen and 1996= participants (½ from south) were bumped into and called “asshole”
-People from south responded more aggressively to provocation

Question 12

Categorization

Answer 12

sorting objects into groups

Question 13

Social categorizations and the 2 types

Answer 13

Sorting people into groups. We do this quickly like “young person. College student”

-Ingroup- people who belong to the same group we do
-Outgroup- people who belong to a different group we do

Question 14

Outgroup homogeneity effect

Answer 14

people often assume outgroup members are more similar to each other than ingroup members are to each other

Question 15

Stereotypes

Answer 15

-beliefs about the attributes of a group of people
-Beliefs that associate groups of people with a trait

Question 16

Stereotype threat

Answer 16

-increased anxiety due to possibility of confirming negative stereotype
-Steele

Question 17

Why do we use stereotypes

Answer 17

-Generalizations to simplify things ( to keep things simple)
-Heuristics
-Normative vs informational influences

Question 18

2 basic dimensions of stereotyping someone

Answer 18

1. Good vs bad people
2. High vs low competence
3. High vs low warmth

Question 19

Interpersonal consequences of stereotyping

Answer 19

-If people feel judged, anxiety will increase , people’s performance will go down
-Most influenced= the ones that care the most

Question 20

prejudice

Answer 20

-a prejudgement of a group and its members
-A negative attitude toward others based on their group membership
-Exist for survival. Help maintain cognitive consistency

Question 21

Ingroup favoritism

Answer 21

more favorable/ positive attitudes towards people in one’s own group

Question 22

Minimal group effect

Answer 22

even when group is randomly determined, people show favoritism toward ingroup members (quick cohesiveness and loyalty)

Question 23

Why are prejudiced feelings not justified

Answer 23

-judging an individual independent of their actual attributes/actions
-Way too generalized
-A lot of false information in society

Question 24

Sources of prejudice

Answer 24

-Innate prejudices
-Indirect experience (the media)
-Direct experience (what happened to you)

Question 25

Characteristics of an unprejudiced person

Answer 25

1. Optimistic 2. Genuine 3. Forgiving 4. Empathy 5. Humility

Question 26

Evaluation of groups

Answer 26

Praise ingroup Derogate outgroup -> stronger ingroup identity, stronger outgroup prejudice too much ingroup pride can be bad (ex: nazi germany); what you identify as doesn’t matter as much as the extent to which you identify to the group

Question 27

Realistic group conflict

Answer 27

-groups compete for scarce resources -Produces conflict, discrimination, pride Ex: immigrants coming in and “sealing jobs”. The more you internalize it, the bigger a threat it will become to you

Question 28

Robber’s Cave study

Answer 28

Wanted to see how quickly conflict factors could arise Group conflict theory in boy scout camp Boys assigned to a group (rattlers or eagles) Developed cohesiveness and loyalty to group Competitive activities created conflict Competed for awards -> scarce resources (ramps up ingroup pride) Once competition was introduced, quickly started to show ingroup pride and malice towards outgroup

Question 29

Discrimination

Answer 29

-unequal behavior towards or treatment of a group or its members -Often stems from prejudicial attitudes and stereotypical beliefs

Question 30

Racism

Answer 30

prejudiced attitudes toward a particular race -1949 study about how many white ppl are willing to enter relationships with Black people.less than 50% -Automatic racial biases: Tool vs gun task Black face influenced how accurate they were to categorize picture as a gun or tool More likely to indicate an object was a weapon

Question 31

Automatic racial biases

Answer 31

-Tool vs gun task -Black face influenced how accurate they were to categorize picture as a gun or tool -More likely to indicate an object was a weapon

Question 32

modern racism

Answer 32

-Seldom consciously intended -Knee-jerk prejudices

Question 33

4 ways to reduce prejudice

Answer 33

1. Identify with the outgroup 2. Intergroup contact- “contact hypothesis” -> common goals are key Friendships Equal-status contact- contact on an equal basis and should be between people equal in status 3. Conscious control of stereotypes 4. Focus on superordinate categories Not “us” and “them” but “WE” Subordinate vs superordinate subordinate- lower level super- more abstract

Question 34

3 Features of aggression

Answer 34

1, A behavior, you can see it. Not internal response 2. Intentional, not accidental 3. Victim wants to avoid harm

Question 35

Violence

Answer 35

the aggression hat is intended to cause extreme physical harm Major decline happened in 17th century during age of reason Violent images more readily available to us through the media so we are more likely to overestimate amount of violence due to availability heuristics

Question 36

Internal factors affecting aggression

Answer 36

1. age 2. gender 3. personality traits 4. hostile biases

Question 37

age and aggression

Answer 37

1-3 yr olds are most aggressive. Often rely on physical aggression to resolve conflict and get what they want 18-24 yr olds commit most murders in US

Question 38

gender and aggression

Answer 38

-at all ages males tend to be more physically -aggressive than females -In heterosexual partners, women are actually slightly more likely than men to use physical aggression -When men do use physical accretion -> cause serious injuries and even death to partners -When people are strongly provoked, gender differences in aggression shrink -Females more likely to engage in relational aggression -> intentionally harming another person’s social relationships, feelings of acceptance, or inclusion within a group (gossiping, spreading rumors, excluding someone)

Question 39

personality traits and aggression

Answer 39

-Aggressiveness is almost as stable as intelligence over time -“Dark Triad of Personality”- narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism Narcissism- mythical character Narcissus who fell in love w his own reflection Psychopaths- callous individuals who lack empathy for others Machiavellianism- Machiavelli advocated using means necessary for power, including aggression and violence

Question 40

hostile cognitive biases

Answer 40

attribution- interpret behaviors as having hostile intent perception- perceive social interactions in general as being aggressive expectation- expect others will react to conflicts with aggression

Question 41

External factors of aggression

Answer 41

1. frustration-aggression theory 2. weapons 3. violent media 4. alcohol

Question 42

frustration-aggression theory

Answer 42

blocking a goal-directed behavior -> arouses aggression study : 7 & 8 y/o boys showed cool toy. Some watched first (more aggressive) others played first (less aggressive) All unpleasant events cause aggression, not just frustration and automatically trigger a flight-flight response (ex: provocations, social rejections, hot temps)

Question 43

weapon effect

Answer 43

Violent video games may be more harmful than violent TV shows because: 1. Active involvement enhances learning. 2. Players more likely to identify with violent character than watchers 3. Violent games directly reward for violent behavior Violent games increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and aggressive behaviors Decrease empathic feelings and prosocial behaviors Similar effects obtained for males and females, regardless of age and country

Question 44

alcohol and aggression

Answer 44

Deliberately used to promote aggression (increase rather than cause) Theories on how alcohol disrupts cognitive processes 1. Pharmacological theories 2. Expectancy theories that focus on social attitudes about alcohol facilitate aggression Reduces glucose, which provides energy to brain for self-control Alcohol myopia theory- causes people to only focus on obvious features in a situation Behaviors occur under contradictory impulses Alcohol undermines people’s ability to process conflicting responses = more extreme behaviors

Question 45

Ineffective methods for reducing aggression

Answer 45

1. catharsis 2. punishment- inflicting pain or removing pleasure for a misdeed

Question 46

when is punishment most effective>

Answer 46

1. intense 2. prompt 3. applied with consistency and certainty 4. justified 5. possible to replace undesirable behaviors with a desirable alternative behavior Kids who are physically punished by parents at home are more aggressive outside home

Question 47

What do all emotions have?

Answer 47

Bodily states (arousal) and mental meanings

Question 48

Successful interventions

Answer 48

1. changing external causes rather than internal. 2. Aggression problems best treated in early development

Question 49

Blatant biases

Answer 49

conscious beliefs, feelings, and behavior that people are willing to admit, are more hostile, and openly favor their own group if hate one outgroup, also hate many others

Question 50

Social dominance orientation

Answer 50

-a belief that group hierarchies are inevitable and a good idea to maintain order and stability -Preference for inequality as normal and natural

Question 51

Right-Wing authoritarianism

Answer 51

Respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity

Question 52

Subtle/Automatic biases

Answer 52

ambiguous, unintended, unfair and disrespectful Implicit Association Test

Question 53

Implicit association test

Answer 53

picks up how easily people pair ideas with the same evaluation Ougroup disliking stems from ingroup liking Younger people quickly paired young names and good things. own group with good thing and other group with bad things IAT predicts economic discrimination (fewer resources + disliked outgroups) Sometimes our own automatic associations trump our own values

Question 54

Ambiguous Biases

Answer 54

1. Social Identity Theory -> shows favor for ingroup. 2. Self-categorization Theory -> same but emphasizes shelf as member of ingroup 3. Aversive racism- people avoid outgroups and their own prejudices

Question 55

Ambivalent Biases

Answer 55

1. Stereotype Content Model -when new group, people want to know its intentions for good/ ill then competence WARMTH AND COMPETENCE -model minority stereotype- excessive competence but deficient sociability C-> envy C + W -> pride W-> pity

Question 56

Stereotype Discrimination Prejudice

Answer 56

belief behavior attitude

Question 57

Treatment of hysteria

Answer 57

discharge of emotional state associated with trauma.

Question 58

Interpersonal trauma

Answer 58

results obtained through direct aggression

Question 59

Hydraulic model

Answer 59

-basis of cathartic model Frustration turns into anger -> anger builds up inside -> explosion of emotions -Core idea: it's better to get anger out in little bits rather than exploding

Question 60

Hydraulic model experiment

Answer 60

-Hornberger 1959 -Participants received an insulting remark from a confederate -1/2 pounded a nail with a hammer, the other half did not -Result: people who hammered nails were more harsh/hostile when criticizing confederate

Question 61

Cognitive neoassociation theory

Answer 61

ruminating while venting (negativei affects)-> stimulate aggressive tendencies -negative affect automatically stimulates thoughts, memories, expressive motor reactions, and physiological responses associated with both fight and flight tendencies. fight associations -> anger flight associations -> fear Aggressive thoughts are linked together in memory Once aggressive thought is processed or stimulated, activation spreads out among the network links and primes or activates associated thoughts. Thoughts linked along the same sort of associative lines to emotional reactions and action tendencies Activation of aggressive thoughts can cause a complex of associations consisting of aggressive ideas, emotions related to violence, and the motivation for aggressive actions

Question 62

venting

Answer 62

-behaving aggressively against safe, inanimate objects -primes aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavioral tendencies. -keep angry feelings active in the memory and increase the likelihood of aggressive responses

Question 63

Ruminations

Answer 63

“self-focused attention” -directing attention inward on the self, particularly on bad mood. -Any process that serves to aggravate the bad mood. increase anger and aggression

Question 64

Distractions

Answer 64

Any process that serves to distraction attention away from a bad mood should reduce anger and aggression

Question 65

Rumination and Distraction Rusting and Nolen study

Answer 65

College students angered by reading a story abt a prof mistreating a student, then told to imagine themselves in that situation -some students ruminate by writing about emotion-focused and self-focused topics -others were distracted by writing about nonemotional, irrelevant topics. Participants who ruminated reported being angrier

Question 66

Rumination and Distraction insulting study

Answer 66

-Found that aggression towards insulting confederate was decreased by solving distracting math problems -To date: no research has examined the effects of rumination and distraction in the effects of venting activities on anger and subsequent aggression.