Download Social Psychology & Aggression

PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS IN
AGGRESSION
The nature and nurture of aggression
Aggression Defined

Intentional behavior aimed at causing either
physical or psychological harm
 Contrast

aggression and assertiveness
Hostile vs. Instrumental Aggression
 Hostile:
stems from a feeling of anger. Goal is to inflict
pain or injury.
 Instrumental: aggression takes place as a means to
some other goal (e.g., professional assassin)
Is Aggression an Instinct?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

French Philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1712-1778) blames
society, not human
nature, for social evils.
Is Aggression an Instinct?
Thomas Hobbes

English Philosopher
Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679) sees
society’s laws as
necessary to restrain
and control the human
brute.
Is Aggression an Instinct?
Inborn

In the last century,
“brutish” view—that
aggressive drive is
inborn and thus
inevitable—was
argued by Sigmund
Freud and Konrad
Lorenz.
Instinctual


Both agreed that that
aggressive energy is
instinctual (unlearned
and universal)
If not discharged, it
builds up until it
explodes
Is Aggression an Instinct?
Sigmund Freud


Freud speculated that
human aggression
springs from a selfdestructive impulse
It redirects toward
others the energy of a
primitive death urge
(death instinct)
Is Aggression an Instinct?
Konrad Lorenz

An animal behavior
expert, he saw
aggression as
adaptive rather than
self-destructive
Neural
Influences
Genetic
Influences
Blood
Chemistry
Psychological
Influences
Environmental
Influences
Neural Influences



Researchers have found neural systems in both
animals and humans that facilitate aggression
When scientists activate these areas in the brain,
hostility increases; when they deactivated them,
hostility decreases.
The prefrontal cortex acts like an emergency brake
on deeper brain areas involved in aggressive
behavior.
Neural Influences


In one experiment, researchers placed an electrode
in an aggression-inhibiting area of a domineering
monkey’s brain. One small monkey, given the button
that activated the electrode, learned to push it
everytime the tyrant monkey became intimidating.
In human, after a woman receives electrical
stimulation in her amygdala (a part of the brain
core), the woman became enraged and smashed
her guitar against the wall.



Heredity influence the neural system’s sensitivity to
aggressive cues.
Animals can be bred for aggressive purposes, as in
cock fighting or dog fighting (Mike Vick/Pit bulls)
Our temperaments are partly brought with us in the
world, influenced by our sympathetic nervous system.
Utility of Aggression

Method One: Socially aggressive physical activities
(e.g., football)
 Neither
participating or watching these sports
decreases aggressive behavior (in fact, watching
temporarily increases aggression).
Utility of Aggression

Method Two: Fantasy
 Utility
is limited – it reduces some, but not a lot of
aggression

Method Three: Direct Aggression. Does lashing
out help to reduce future aggression
 Apparently
not. Actually seems to increase future
aggression
 Cognitive Dissonance. Blaming the victim.
 Only reduces future aggression if equity has been
restored.





Levels of various substances in the blood can provide
clues to a patient's condition and aggression
When people are provoked, alcohol unleashes
aggression
Violent people are more likely to drink and to become
aggressive when intoxicated
Aggressiveness also correlates with the male sex
hormone, testosterone
Testosterone levels are high among prisoners convicted
of unprovoked violent crimes than of non-violent crimes
Frustration always leads to some form of aggression.
Frustration
Instigation to
aggress
Outward
aggression
Frustration
Other
additional
responses (e.g.,
withdrawal)
Inward
aggression
(e.g., suicide)
Direct or
displaced
The classic frustration-aggression theory (Dollard & others. 1989; Miller, 1941)
•
•
Frustration is anything (such as the malfunctioning vending
machine) that blocks our attaining goal.
It grows when our motivation to achieve a goal is very
strong, when we expected gratification, and when the
blocking is complete.
Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner)


If after performing an aggressive act an animal or
human receives a positive reinforcement (such as
food or a toy), they are likely to repeat the
behavior in order to gain more rewards.
In this way, the aggressive act becomes positively
associated with the reward, which encourages the
further display of aggression.
Social Learning Theory/Observational Learning (Albert Bandura)





Aggression is initially learned from social behavior and
it is maintained by other conditions
Aggressive responses can also be acquired through
social modeling or social reference.
Everyday life exposes us to aggressive models in the
family.
Social environment outside the home provides models.
Bandura contended that aggressive acts are motivated
by a variety of aversive experiences—frustration, pain,
insults.




Pain heightens aggressiveness in individuals.
Leonard Berkowitz and his associates demonstrated
aggressiveness by having students hold one hand in
lukewarm water or painfully cold water.
Those whose hands were submerged in the cold water
reported feeling more irritable and more annoyed, and
they were more willing to blast another person with
unpleasant noise
Berkowitz concluded that aversive stimulation rather
than frustration is the basic trigger of hostile
aggression.


But any aversive event, whether
dashed expectation, a personal
insult, or physical pain, can incite
an emotional outburst
Even the torment of a depressed
state increases the likelihood of
hostile aggressive behavior




An uncomfortable environment heightens aggressive
tendencies.
Offensive odors, cigarette smoke, and air pollution have
all been linked with aggressive behavior (But heat is the
most-studied environmental irritant.
William Griffit (1970) found that compared to students
who answered questionnaires in a room with a normal
temperature, those who did so in an uncomfortable hot
room reported feeling more tired and aggressive, and
experienced more hostility.
Follow-up experiments revealed that heat also triggers
retaliative actions


Being attacked or insulted by another is especially
conducive to aggression.
Experiments confirm that intentional attacks breed
retaliatory attacks.



The subjective feeling of not having enough
space—is stressful
Crammed in the back of the bus, trapped in a slow
moving freeway traffic, or living three to a small
room in a college dorm diminishes one’s sense of
control
The stress experienced by animals allowed to
overpopulate a confirmed environment that
heighten aggressiveness
Effects of Overcrowding

Example #1—Swimming Pool
in China
Effects of Overcrowding

Example #2—California
Department of Corrections
Effects of Overcrowding

Example #3—American
Freeways
Color


Research demonstrates that room color does not
have much of an impact
However, uniform color has been demonstrated to
be related to an increase in penalties received (in
both football and hockey)

Does wearing a color make you more aggressive or
are referees more likely to interpret ambiguous
situations as aggressive?
Social Learning and Media




Idea of learning from aggressive models
TV is full of violent models
High correlation between the amount of TV watched and
viewer’s subsequent aggression – this data is deemed to be
correlational
Psychological research has demonstrated that viewing TV
violence can numb people’s reactions when they are faced with
real-life aggression
Why Does Media Violence Affect Us?
Ideas in psych research has four themes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Seeing others being aggressive weakens our learned
inhibitions against violence.
Learn techniques & imitate.
Primes our anger, more aware of our anger
Desensitization to violence.
Can We Reduce Violence?


Inconclusive as many remedies ineffective.
More Punishment for violent offenders?
 More
effective when applied in the context of a warm
relationship
 Overly restrictive punishments are frustrating, which can
lead to even more aggression/violence
 What does that say about prison? Think about the
Stanford Prison Study (Zimbardo).
 Moderate vs. severe punishment combined with
cognitive dissonance.
Can We Reduce Violence?

Punishment of aggressive models? (public floggings,
death penalty, etc.)
 Death
penalty does not decrease homicide rate in a
country.
 In lab research seeing an aggressive model punished
does not reduce future aggression (seeing them
rewarded does increase aggression however.)

Presence of non-aggressive models?
 Remember,
we often conform to others when we seek
out information on how to act
Soccer
“Not Life and Death Folks”…
Causes of Aggression

Alcohol
 75% of individuals arrested
for crimes of violence were
legally drunk at the time of
their arrests.
 Experimental evidence implies
that alcohol ingestion increases
aggression
 Alcohol is a disinhibitor. Under
the influence of alcohol a
person’s primary tendencies
are revealed
Causes of Aggression

Pain and Discomfort
 An
animal experiences pain and can’t flee, violence
follows
 Research has been done on heat/temperature and the
links to violent behavior.
 Violent crime and aggression increases as temperature
increases (e.g., temperatures above 90° and fighting)
 Conflict is increased during interaction as it gets
warmer
 Lab research suggests that temperature is the key
component
Causes of Aggression

Frustration
 Thwarting
an individuals’ attainment of a goal
increases the probability of an aggressive response
 Frustration becomes greater the closer one gets to a
goal, and if interruption is unexpected or illegitimate
 Key seems to be relative deprivation not just
deprivation
“Revolutions are not begun by people with their faces in
the mud, but people who have recently lifted their faces
out of the mud and have had time to look around”
Controlling/Eliminating Aggression


Introduce incompatible responses—for example
certain emotional response such as empathy and
humor are incompatible with aggression.
Purposely making a joke or showing some sympathy
for the other person’s point of view can greatly
reduce anger and frustration.
What Causes This Behavior?
WHY???
Causes of Aggression

Neurological and Chemical Causes
 Amygdala
(located in the forebrain).
 Testosterone – leads to an increase in aggression, but
also increases during aggression
 If testosterone is linked to aggression, does this mean
that men are more aggressive than women?
 Across cultures, women demonstrate less violence
 During era of women's liberation, non-violent crime rate
relative to male rate has increased, but not violent
crime rate.
How to Reduce Aggression
Catharsis
Social
Learning
• If a person “bottles up his rage, we have to find
an outlet. We have to give him an opportunity of
letting of the steam.” (Fritz Perls, 1973)
• letting out, purging, cleansing
• Anticipated rewards and costs influence
instrumental aggression.
• We should reward cooperative, non-aggressive
behavior
• In experiment, children become less aggressive
when caregivers ignore their aggressive behavior
and reinforce their non-aggressive behavior
(Hamblin & other, 1969)