Week 4: Human Aggression Flashcards
0
Q
What is violence?
A
- Aggression that has extreme harm as it’s goal
- all violence is aggression but not vica versa
1
Q
What is aggression?
A
- “Behavior direct toward another individual that is carried out with the proximate intent to cause harm”
- “the target must e motivated to avoid the behavior”
2
Q
Gender difference in animal aggressive behavior
A
- male animals more aggressive, more likely to attack, more likely to fight
3
Q
Lorenz 1966; the Hyraulic Hypothesis; The energy model - aggression
A
- aggression instinctual
- not caused by the environment - rather it is released in certain circumstances
- needs to be ‘released’ regularly or becomes pent up
- basis for cartharsis model (now disproven)
- lack empirical support both in humans and animals
- dominance behavior - primates (e.g. Learn to both express and inhibit aggression)
4
Q
Clinical Psychology - DSM-IV on aggression
A
- anti-social, narcissistic, borderline personality
- CD
- Addiction
- paranoia, delusions, psychosis
- Sadism, masochism
- intermittent explosive disorder
- adjustment disorder with conduct disturbance
- problems related to abuse or neglect
- conflict management, relationship systems, anger management, counseling for aggression
- interventions for anger and/or aggression
5
Q
Cognitive psychology - neural networks view on aggression
A
- when we experiencing something, a cluster neurons (a node) is set aside to recognize it again,
- when we experience that thing again the node becomes activated
- nodes that are activated together become wired together
- the more often nodes are activated together, the stronger the links become
- because of these links, activating one node will begin to activate linked nodes
- if the same sequence plays out often enough, either in real life or vicariously (media, video game)
- then it becomes like a script that plays out the same way whenever it is triggered
6
Q
Cognitive psychology - Cognitive Neo-Association Theory on aggression
A
- assumes that memories, thoughts and plans for action are linked together in the brain
- when one part of this network is activated, the link parts, also become activated
- the parts that are most strongly activated are the parts that will have the greatest influence on that person’s eventual actions
- unpleasant or threatening situations arouse negative feelings
- these in turn stimulate various thoughts, memories and physiological responses associated with both fight (anger) and flight (fear)
- depending the nature of the situation and the prior experiences and personality of the person, one tendency will come to dominate the other
- if anger/fight tendencies dominate, the types of thoughts, feelings as plans for action that are most strongly activated will usually increase the likelihood of an aggressive response
7
Q
Script theory view on aggression
A
- proposed by Huesmann
- when a situation is very familiar we follow the script
- DV can occur in this way
8
Q
Development psychology view on aggression
A
- develops over lifespan, large longitudinal studies
- constancy of trait aggression across lifespan
- influence of parents, media, environment
- gene-environment interactions
- hostile attributional bias
9
Q
Emotion - aggression
A
- anger, shame, humiliation, jealousy linked with aggression
- frustration-aggression hypothesis
• all instances of aggression can be traced back to frustration
• the link b/w frustration and aggression is always increased anger
• clearly not always true (but often is)
10
Q
Evolutionary psychology - aggression
A
- aggression ‘hard wired’
- links with animal work
- reproductive success
• protect territory and offspring
• sexual jealousy
• status, power and machismo to succeed
11
Q
Health psychology - aggression
A
- particularly concerned with links b/w physical health and psychological health
- type A personality and heart disease
- anger and hypertension
- alcoholism and aggression
- injury, recovery, trauma
12
Q
Learning theories - aggression
A
- underpins other approaches
- explain both the acquisition and the maintenance of aggressive behavior
- aggression is often learned
• classical conditioning
• instrumental learning- reward aggression, punish non-aggression (subtle or obvious)
- can be vicarious
• social learning
- neural networks include learned concepts and are developed through experience
- info processing is about learned patterns of responding
- scripts are learned
- learning shapes development
- genes affect us depending on environment
13
Q
Social learning theories - aggression
A
- people acquire aggressive tendencies through direct experience or through observing -> bobo
- more likely to copy aggressive models
• who are respected, liked, high status
• who are familiar/similar
• who are rewarded for their behaviors
• if we have self-efficacy for aggression - imitation seems to be hard-wired from birth and to continue through the life span
14
Q
Neurological/biological approaches to aggression
A
- genetics
- gene-environment interactions
- 16-17 genes are linked with aggressive behavior
- never direct - usually in conjunction with a particular type of environment or predisposition (e.g. Impulsivity) that enhances the likelihood of aggression
15
Q
Genes linked with aggression
A
- serotonin deficits linked to aggression
- DA levels with ADHD, impulsivity
- Precursor genes - affect rate at which NT 5HT and DA are produced from precursor amino acids
- transmitter genes - linked to receptors for various DA and 5HT receptor types
- metabolite genes - involved in degradation of various NT
- conversion genes - responsible for conversion of one NT into another (DA to norepinephrine)
16
Q
Biological approaches to aggression
A
Different brain structures
- damage to frontal lobes (uninhibited)
- activation of Limbic System (‘old’ part of brain; primitive instincts and survival)
- especially in Amygdala (emotion centre)
17
Q
Hormones and aggression
A
- increased testosterone, decreased estrogen & progesterone
- linked to increased aggression
- women more aggressive at menses (low oestrogen, progesterone) than at mid-luteal phase (higher levels of both hormones)
18
Q
The nervous system - aggression
A
- lower resting hr (even at 3)
- under-arousal of both the CNS and ANS
- lower electro-dermal, CVD and cortical arousal
- low basal cortisol (stress hormone) levels
19
Q
Arousal and excitation transfer - aggression
A
- looks at interplay b/w ppls thoughts and their levels of physiological arousal
- Schachter and Singer injected people with adrenalin, then exposed them to actors either being silly or showing anger
- anger or euphoria response depending on their cognitive appraisal of the cause
- Zillman: excitation transfer: arousal dissipates slowly. If 2 events are separated by a short period of time, arousal from the first event might may be misattributed to the second event.
20
Q
Org psych - aggression
A
- bullying in workplace
- workplace aggression
- indirect aggression
- dominance and status
21
Q
Perception - aggression
A
- role of hat we see, hear, feel
- cues for fight or flight mechanisms, peripheral vision
- noise, heat and aggression
22
Q
Personality approaches - aggression
A
- aggressive drive: Sigmund Freud, Thanatos, more advanced the more inhibition
- every person has innate aggressive and sexual drives
- trait aggression/anger
- aggressive personality types: narcissistic, psychopathic, Machiavellian, shame-prone, borderline/histrionic
- learned material becomes part of our stable
- schemas, scripts, expectancies, beliefs, attitudes
- linked together within neural network, linked to related feelings and memories and action tendencies
23
Q
Relationship - psychology
A
- Indirect aggression and relational aggression
- DV
- child abuse
- power and dominance
- jealousy
- overlap with evolutionary psychology
- relational schemas
24
Social psychology - aggression
- aggression elicited by the situation rather then the personality
- cognitive dissonance theory
- social cognition
• schemas, scripts, knowledge structures
• learned social behaviors
• triggers and cues
• media effects
• automaticity, priming
25
Social interaction theory - aggression
- portrays aggression as a way of achieving desired goals. Very instrumental approach
- these goals may include:
• obtaining something of value
• getting revenge
• putting forward a desired image (such as being tough)
- helped us understand that aggression is often a response to a threat to high self-esteem.
26
General aggression model
- Whether or not someone responds to a situation with aggression depends first on the nature of thoughts, feelings and physiological responses that are aroused, and then on, how much that person thinks through their response
27
GAM person inputs - affective readiness to respond to a situation with aggressiveness
- evolutionary factors and drives
- biological factors; genetic predispositions
- personality (schemas)
- cognitive factors: beliefs, attitudes, scripts, values, long-term goals
- emotional tendencies; temperament ie traits
- gender
- perceptions
28
GAM inputs - situational factors
- aggressive cues
- provocation
- frustration
- pain
- drugs
- triggers
- incentives
29
GAM routes - cognitions
- activation of hostile thoughts, schemas, scripts, beliefs, attributions (e.g. hostile attributional bias)
- learned theory, social learning theory
- script theory
- cognitive Neo-association theory
- social cognition
30
GAM routes - affects
- mood and emotions
• activation of feelings, anger, hostility, shame, humiliation
- expressive motor responses (evolved)
• an automatic physiological reactions that occur in conjunction with specific emotions, usually involving changes to facial expressions
31
GAM routes - arousal
- complicated - some types of arousal reduce HR, sweating, BP, whilst others increase it
- under-researched
- energizes and strengthens the tendency to act
- excitation transfer is arousal elicited by irrelevant source eg exercise
32
GAM outcomes - immediate appraisal
- influenced strongly by present internal state
- automatic, effortless, spontaneous, unaware. May lead to automatic responses (drives, evolution, CNT, emotion, biological, clinical)
- if resources are sufficient (the person has enough time to make a considered response and cognitive capacity is available) AND
- of the immediate appraisal outcome (automatic response) is both important and unsatisfying, then the person will engage in a more effortful set of reappraisals
33
GAM outcomes - re-appraisal
- search for an alternative view of situation
- can involve many cycles of considering past experiences, possible causes for the event, relevant memories, and delving deeper into the features of the current situation
- many alternatives might be considers and discarded
- eventually the cycling process ceases and a course of thoughtful action takes place
34
GAM draws on the use of knowledge structures for perception, interpretation, decision making, and action. Key features include the ideas that knowledge structures;
A) develop out of experience
B) influence perception at multiple levels, from basic visual patterns to complex behavioural sequences
C) can become automated with use
D) can contain affective states, behavioural programs, and beliefs
E) are used to guide ppls interpretations and behavioural responses to their social environment
35
Relevant subtypes of knowledge structures
A) perceptual schemas: used to identify phenomena such as everyday objects eg chair
B) person schemata: include beliefs about a particular person or groups of ppl
C) behavioural scripts: which contain info about how people behave under varying circumstances
36
Other phenomena related to GAM
- opportunity
- overriding inhibitions (can they disengage from morals and dehumanize)
- shared motivations
- role of anger
