Task 4- Aggression

Question 1

Releasers

Answer 1

Specific stimuli in the environment thought by ethologists to trigger aggressive responses

Question 2

fighting instict

Answer 2

innate impulse to aggress

• > humans don’t know when to stop once they started being violent
• > humans resort to weapons for killing

Question 3

Biosocial theories

Answer 3

in context of aggression
-> theory emphasises an innate component, but not the existence of a full-blown existence

-> meaning that there is a biological element as part of a learning & a social context

Question 4

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

Answer 4

all frustration leads to aggression and all aggression leads to frustration

Question 5

Excitation-transfer model

Answer 5

Expression of aggression

= function of learnt behaviour, some excitation from another source & person’s interpretation of the arousal state

Question 6

Learning by experience

Answer 6

acquiring a behaviour because we were rewarded for it

Question 7

Learning by vicarious experience

Answer 7

acquiring a behaviour after observing that another person was rewarded for it

Question 8

Type A personality

Answer 8

overactive and excessively competitive in their encounters with others
and may be more aggressive towards those perceived to be competing with them on an important task

Question 9

Sociocultural theory

Answer 9

Psychological gender differencea

= determined by individuals’ adaptions to restrictions based on their gender in their society

Question 10

Sexual selection theory

Answer 10

Sex differences in behaviour

= determined by rather evolutionary history than society

Question 11

Cathartic hypothesis

Answer 11

notion that acting aggressively/ viewing aggressive material reduces feelings of anger & aggression

Question 12

Disinhibition hypothesis

Answer 12

breakdown in learnt controls against behaving impulsively/ aggresively

-> e.g. alcohol

Question 13

Collective aggression

Answer 13

Unified aggression by group of individuals

(no need to know each other) against another individual/group

Question 14

General aggression model

Answer 14

model that includes

“->” means “leading to”

personal+situational factors
-> activating three kind of internal state
(affective, cognitive, arousal processes)
-> person’s appraisal (bewertung) of situation
(predominantly thoughtful/impulsive)

-> consequences= social encounter

Question 15

Big five

five major personality dimensions

Answer 15

1) Extroversion/surgency
(dringlichkeit/sicherheit)

2) Agreeableness (Verträglichkeit)
3) conscientiousness (gewissenhaft)
4) emotional stability
5) intellect/openness to experience

Question 16

Culture of honor

Answer 16

a culture that endorses male violence as a way of addressing threats to social reputation/economic position

Question 17

Subculture of violence

Answer 17

subgroup of society in which higher level of violence is accepted as norm

Question 18

Machismo

Answer 18

Code in which challenges, abuse & differences of opinions must be met with fists/other weapons

Question 19

Desensitisation

Answer 19

serious reduction in person’s responsiveness to material that usually evokes strong emotional reaction

Question 20

Neo-associationist analysis

Answer 20

mass media may provide images of violence to an audience leading to antisocial acts

Question 21

Weapons effect

Answer 21

mere presence of weapon increases probability that it will be used aggressively

Question 22

Abuse syndrome

Answer 22

factors of proximity, stress and power that are associated with the cycle of abuse in some families

Question 23

Institutionalised aggression

Answer 23

aggression is given formal/informal recognition & social legitimacy by being incorporated into rules and norms

-> e.g. sports like boxing

Question 24

Agentic state

Answer 24

frame of mind to characterize unquestioning obedience, in which people as agents transfer personal responsibility to person that gives orders