Understanding Aggression: Causes, Types, and Prevention

1. Chapter 12 Aggression: Why Do We Hurt Other People? Can We Prevent It?

2. What Is Aggression? (1 of 2) • Intentional behavior aimed at causing physical harm or psychological pain to another person

3. What Is Aggression? (2 of 2) • Instrumental aggression • Aggression as a means to some goal other than causing pain • Hostile aggression • Aggression stemming from feelings of anger and aimed at inflicting pain or injury

4. Are All Primates Naturally Aggressive? When people say that aggression is “natural,” they often point to our primate relatives. Chimpanzees (right) are indeed pretty belligerent and aggressive, but bonobos (left) would rather make love than war. Source: Karl Ammann/Nature Picture Library

5. Changes in Aggression Across Time and Cultures (1 of 2) • Changing social conditions can change behavior. • Aggressiveness increases as competition increases • Iroquois competed with Hurons to sell furs to Europeans

6. Changes in Aggression AcrossTime and Culture (2 of 2) • Cultural differences in aggression • Cultures embedded with cooperative, collectivist values lower levels of aggression than Western societies

7. Shootout on Main StreetThe early economies of the American South and West created a “culture of honor” in which a man was literally quick on the trigger if he thought another man was about to smear his reputation—or steal his cattle. Source: Scott Griessel/Fotolia

8. Gender and Aggression (1 of 2) • Physical aggression: • Men more likely to: • be perpetrators of extreme violence in families • inflict more serious injury • No gender difference: • Physical aggression with partners • Less violent aggression

9. Gender and Aggression (2 of 2) • Relational aggression: harming another person through the manipulation of relationships • Women: • more likely to be perpetrators

10. Women and Relational AggressionMales and females can be equally aggressive, when aggression is defined as intending to harm another person. But whereas men are more physically aggressive, women are more likely to indulge in “relational aggression”— backbiting, shunning, or spreading false rumors about their target. Source: Universal Images Group/SuperStock

11. Learning to Behave Aggressively • Social-Cognitive Learning Theory • People learn social behavior through observation and imitation of others • Both positive (e.g., altruism) and negative (e.g., aggression) social behavior

12. Imitation and Aggression: Bandura’s Bobo Doll Studies (3 of 3) • Results • Children imitated the aggressive adults. • Treated the doll in an abusive way • Imitated exact actions of adult • Children in a control condition • Almost never showed aggression

13. Figure 12.2 The Bobo Doll Experiment Children learn aggressive behavior through imitation. In this classic study, the experimenter modeled some rather violent treatment of the doll—and the children imitated her perfectly.

14. Some Physiological Influences • Alcohol increases aggression. • This link is well-documented. • Why? • Reduces anxiety and inhibitions • Disrupts information processing • “Think drink” effect • Expectations about the effects of alcohol influence behavior more than amount of alcohol drunk!

15. Some Physiological Influences (2 of 2) • Pain • Increases aggression • Discomfort • Increases aggression • Heat, humidity, air pollution, and offensive odors

16. Frustration and Aggression (1 of 6) • Frustration-Aggression Theory • The idea that frustration—the perception that you are being prevented from attaining a goal—increases the probability of an aggressive response

17. Frustration and Aggression (2 of 6) Is road rage inevitably caused by frustration with drivers who get in the driver’s way? If so, how come not every driver gets as angry as this person? Source: pathdoc/Fotolia

18. Frustration and Aggression (3 of 6) • Goal proximity • Closer to goal equals more frustration • More frustration equals more aggression • Unexpectedness of frustration • More unexpected equals more aggression

19. Frustration and Aggression (5 of 6) • Frustration–aggression link depends on: • Size and strength of the person responsible for your frustration • Person’s ability to retaliate • Proximity of the person

20. Frustration and Aggression (6 of 6) • Likelihood of aggression is reduced when frustration is: • Understandable • Legitimate • Unintentional

21. Deprivation and Aggression • Relative (not absolute) deprivation is linked to frustration and aggression. • People perceive a discrepancy between what they have and what they think they should have.

22. Putting the Elements Together: The Case of Sexual Assault • Rape: • penetration of any bodily orifice with any part of the body or with any object • Sexual assault: • broader term • lack of consent key criterion

23. The Role of Alcohol in Date Rape Source: Bill Aron/PhotoEdit

24. Ending Rape | Keith Edwards | TEDxPSU

25. Rape • ¼ college aged women report rape or attempted rape. • This is a men’s issue: • Sexual violence is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men • 84% of college aged men who reported committing behaviors defined as “rape” did not think they had done anything legally wrong.

26. Permission ~ Informed Consent • 1). Every step of the way • Consent if required at all levels of intimacy • 2). Affirmative consent • Unclear or ambiguous responses are NOT consent, • 3). Freely given • Not coerced; implying favors will be given or withheld based on granting sexual favors.

27. Violence and the Media 12.3 Does observing violence increase violence?

28. How Does Media Violence Affect Viewers’ Aggression? • “If they can do it, so can I.” • “Oh, so that’s how you do it!” • “Those feelings I am having must be real anger rather than simply a stressful day.” • “Ho-hum, another brutal beating; what’s on the other channel?” • “I had better get him before he gets me!”

29. The Role of First-Person Shooter GamesDoes playing first-person shooter video games make people more violent or are people who have violent tendencies to begin with drawn to such games? Or could it be both? Source: Jochen Tack/Alamy

30. How to Decrease Aggression 12.4 How can aggression be diminished?

31. Ineffective tools to reduce aggresion • Catharsis = doing something aggressive to reduce feelings of aggression. • “Get it out of your system” • Opposite response happens; we get more aggressive with each aggressive act that we watch or engage in.

32. Blaming the Victim • Blaming the victim – when a person who inflicted psychological or physical harm on an innocent person derogates their victims and convinces themselves victim deserved what they got • Makes it easier to do further harm to the victim in the future

33. What Are We Supposed to Do with Our Anger? • Control anger by “actively enabling” it to dissipate • Use simple devices: • Count to 10 • Take deep breaths • Expressing the feelings in a non-hostile or demeaning manner.

34. Countering Dehumanization by Building Empathy • Taking the perspective of the aggressor reduces aggression • Harder to aggress when one feels a personal connection with a person • Empathy is a skill that can be taught

35. Teaching Empathy to ChildrenChildren who are taught to put themselves in others’ shoes often have higher self-esteem, are more generous, and are less aggressive than children who lack skills of empathy. Source: Michael Pole/Comet/Corbis

36. Disrupting the Rejection-Rage Cycle • Social rejection is a significant risk factor for • teenage suicide, despair, and violence • Most teenagers who have committed murders were bullied and rejected by peers • Awareness, empathy training, and bully-reduction programs in schools can reduce bullying