Week 11: Aggression Flashcards
What is aggression? What are the two types?
Aggression is physical or verbal behaviour intended to cause harm. This excludes unintentional harm and actions that may involve pain as an unavoidable side effect of helping someone.
The two types of aggression are hostile and instrumental aggression.
What is hostile aggression?
Hostile aggression - comes from anger and aims to injure
e.g. Joe is angry that Bob is trying to steal her girlfriend, so she punches him in the face
What is instrumental aggression?
is committed in the pursuit of another goal, and aims to injure
e.g. Kale spreads rumours about Tom, so she is more likely to be the school’s president
Most terrorism and wars are (BLANK) aggression, while most murders are (BLANK) aggression
instrumental; hostile
What are the 3 main theories of aggression?
biological phenomenon, response to frustration, and learned social behaviour
What does the biological phenomenon theory of aggression?
Uses Instinct theory and evolutionary psychology
Views aggression as an instinctive behaviour. Aggression also has evolutionary benefits for survival (mostly men).
Instinctive behaviour - innate, unlearned behaviour pattern exhibited by all members of a species
What are the two problems with the biological phenomenon theory of aggression?
Doesn’t explain variability in the population.
Uses the nominal fallacy aka explaining by naming fallacy
* e.g. this behaviour is aggressive (doesn’t explain how we know its aggression)
nominal fallacy - logical fallacy in which it is incorrectly assumed that giving something a name is tantamount to explaining it
What is Instinctive behaviour? (Definition)
Instinctive behaviour - innate, unlearned behaviour pattern exhibited by all members of a species
What is nominal fallacy? (Definition)
nominal fallacy - logical fallacy in which it is incorrectly assumed that giving something a name is tantamount to explaining it
What are the neural and genetic influences for aggression?
1 for neural; 2 for genetic
Fall under the biological phenomenon theory of aggression
Neural - underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex increases aggressive behaviours
Genetics (heredity):
* sensitivity to aggression cues
* temperament (how intense and reactive we are)
Sleep deprivation also reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex
What are the biomechial influences for aggression?
there are 4
Fall under the biological phenomenon theory of aggression
- alcohol enhances aggressiveness by reducing people’s self-awareness, by focusing their attention on a provocation, and by people’s mentally associating alcohol with aggression
- testosterone
- poor diet (low omega-3 fatty acids and calcium, high trans fats, high sweetened soda/drinks)
- low serotonin
What is the response to frustration theory of aggression?
Aka what is the Frustration-aggression Theory, and what is frustation
Frustration-aggression Theory - suggests that frustration triggers a readiness to aggress
* frustration - the blocking of a goal-directed behaviour
* Frustration grows when motivation to achieve a goal is very strong, when we expected gratification, and when the blocking is complete
* We often see displacement onto a typically safer or more socially acceptable target
displacement - redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the frustration
What is the revised frustration-aggression theory diagram?
Note the 3 steps
unjustified frustration -> anger
anger + aggression cues -> aggression
Explains why some people will act more aggressive to agression than others
Explain what Relative deprivation is and how it impacts frustration.
Relative deprivation - perception that one is less well off than other to whom one compares oneself
frustration arises from the gap between expectations and attainments
What is the learned social behaviour theory of aggression?
The rewards of aggression (being aggressive can cause us to gain) and observational learned (social learning theory - Albert Bandura (1997)).
Social Learning Theory - We learn social behaviour by observing and imitating and by being rewarded and punished
What is Social Learning Theory?
Social Learning Theory - We learn social behaviour by observing and imitating and by being rewarded and punished
Bandura (1977) “Bobo” doll experiment
IV: Type of aggressive viewing (saw an adult being aggressive vs not see aggression)
Results: children in the aggressive condition showed more aggressive behaviours that kids that did not. They also copied the aggressive behaviours of the adult. Observing aggressive behaviour had both lowered their inhibitions and taught them ways to aggress.
Suggests: we learn to copy behaviours in our enviromnment
How does observational learning impact aggression when considering family and culture?
Family: violence begets violence (cf. likeness begets liking)
Culture: e.g., “culture of honour” in southern United States
What does the Social learning theory of aggression look like?
AE -> EA, RaC -> AC, EA + AC -> A
Aversive experiences -> Emotional arousal
Rewards and costs -> Anticipated consequences
Emotional arousal + Anticipated consequences -> Dependency, Achievement, Withdrawal and resignation, Aggression, Bodily symptoms, Self-anaesthetization with drugs and alcohol, Constructive problem solving
What are the 5 specific influences on aggression?
aversive incidents, arousal, aggression cues, the media, and the group context
What aversive incidents influence aggression and how?
- Pain - Increase pain (physical or psychological) -> increase aggression
- Heat - Increase heat correlates with increased aggression
- Attacks -> hostile aggression
How does arousal impact aggression?
Main Principle: A given state of bodily arousal feeds one emotion or another (arousal fuels emotions)
* Dependent on how person interprets and labels arousal
Describe the elements of aggressive reactions model
Aversive situation: Pain or discomfort, Frustration, Attack or insult, Crowding
Leads to: Hostile thoughts and memories, Angry feeling, arousal
Leads to: aggressive reactions
How does aggression cues impact aggresssion?
As we noted when considering the frustration-aggression hypothesis, violence is more likely when aggressive cues release pent-up anger.
