Aggression: Hurting others

1. Aggression: Hurting others Chapter 10

2. Is it aggression? A driver cuts someone off A father spanks his son, who was about to wander into traffic A boy grabs a toy from his brother While cleaning a gun, it accidentally goes off, shooting someone Upset that her (former) friend stole her boyfriend, a girl spreads vicious rumors about her former friend

3. What is aggression? Aggression: �physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone� Hostile aggression: �aggression driven by anger and performed as an end in itself� Instrumental aggression: �aggression that is a means to some other end�

4. Rethinking the examples Is it aggression? If so, which type? A driver cuts someone off A father spanks his son, who was about to wander into traffic A boy grabs a toy from his brother While cleaning a gun, it accidentally goes off, shooting someone Upset that her (former) friend stole her boyfriend, a girl spreads vicious rumors about her former friend

5. Aggression in different contexts Relationship aggression Intimate terrorism Common couple violence

6. Questions about aggression Why are people aggressive? How can we prevent aggression?

7. Why are people aggressive? Levels of explanation: Biological Societal Situational

8. Biological Instinct: �innate, unlearned behavior pattern exhibited by all members of a species� Doesn�t really explain why people engage in aggression Doesn�t explain between-person differences in aggression

9. Biological Neural: Stimulation of the amygdala leads to aggressive behavior Violent people (murderers) tend to have smaller pre-frontal cortex than others

10. Biological Genetics: More aggressive animals can be bred Identical twins have similar levels of aggression However, there are also within-person differences in aggression

11. Biological Chemicals and hormones: Alcohol (adds to feelings of deindividuation) Testosterone Changes in testosterone lead to changes in level of aggression Aggressive cues (e.g., holding a gun) lead to increases in testosterone Serotonin low levels related to aggression

12. Societal Cultural norms: Vandello, Cohen, & Random (2008) Kevin is at a bar one evening. He is sitting at a table eating chicken wings and having a beer. Another guy walks by and spills beer all over Kevin�s shirt and then walks on without apologizing. Kevin gets up and punches him. Where is this seen as more likely? Southernors: think 44.5% of males would do this Northernors: think 38.2% of males would do this Other areas where this might be seen as more or less common?

13. Societal On either a broad scale (covering all of society) or a small scale (covering those in people�s immediate surroundings), aggression may be modeled Social learning theory: �we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded and punished� Reward and punishment may be for our own behavior or may be vicarious Bandura video

14. Societal Acceptable, and expected, aggression? Relationship aggression: Intimate terrorism or common couple violence? From a male or from a female aggressor?

15. Situational Physical and psychological discomfort Physiological arousal Aggressive cue Aggressive context

16. Physical discomfort Pain: People in pain are more likely to engage in aggression against others e.g., rats getting shocked attach each other Heat: More hits by pitcher in high temperature baseball games Riots more likely to happen in summer

17. Psychological discomfort Not getting an expected reward related to higher levels of aggression E.g., hungry pigeons not getting an expected reward Relative depravation related to aggression Coming out behind compared to others

18. Psychological discomfort Frustration: �the blocking of goal-directed behavior� People are more likely to engage in aggression when frustrated

19. Frustration, marital problems, & aggression

20. Physiological arousal Schachter and Singer�s two-factor theory of emotion: arousal and then interpretation Study: Adrenaline or �vitamin shot� In room with euphoric or angry confederate

21. Aggressive cues Berkowitz and LePage (1967) 1. Participants were upset 2. Participants walked past or 3. Participants were given the opportunity to shock someone Who gave the most shock?

22. Aggressive context Television Movies Video games

23. Television and movies or

24. Television and movies How might watching these different types of programs be related to different types of behaviors? But: correlation does not equal causation What else might be responsible for such a pattern of association between type of program and behavior? Results also found with experimental research

25. Why is media related toaggression and beliefs? Desensitization Imitation Priming Social scripts: �culturally provided mental instructions for how to act in various situations�

26. What about video games?

27. Beyond the effects fromother media In video games, people: Identify with a violent character Engage in (through the character) violent behavior Are rewarded for aggression Playing violent video games: Increases arousal Increases aggressive thinking, feeling, and behaviors

28. More aggressive context What if other people around you are doing something like looting? Think back to groups � what might happen? Deindividuation Diffusion of responsibility

29. What to do? How can aggression be minimized? Catharsis? Why might it work? Why is there no evidence for it working? What might work? Would strategies to reduce aggression differ for instrumental versus hostile aggression?