Aggression: Evolutionary and Cultural Perspectives

LO 12.1: Evolutionary, Cultural, and Learning Explanations of Aggression

• Aggression is intentional behavior causing physical or psychological harm.
• Hostile aggression is aimed at causing harm.
• Instrumental aggression is using harm as a means to another end.

Evolutionary Explanations

• Genetic Basis: Aggression aids in defending groups and ensuring genetic survival. Males often aggress due to sexual jealousy or dominance.
• Hormonal Influences: Testosterone is modestly linked to aggression, but the effect depends on the context. A "dual-hormone hypothesis" links aggression to dominance opportunities, while a "challenge hypothesis" links it to mating contexts. Animal behavior shows variability in aggression amongst species, like chimpanzees versus bonobos, with inhibitory mechanisms controlling aggression when necessary.

Cultural Explanations

• Cultural Variability: Cooperative and collectivist cultures generally display lower aggression, while cultures of honor exhibit higher aggression linked to economic and social contexts.
• Trends Over Time: Global violence (war, murder, torture) has declined in general.
• Gender and Cultural Norms: Men are more prone to physical aggression, while women tend toward relational aggression. Societal norms and provocation influence the extent of these gender differences.

Learning Explanations

• Social Cognitive Learning Theory: Aggression can be learned through observation and imitation. Beliefs, perceptions, and situational interpretations influence this learning.

LO 12.2: Situational and Social Causes of Aggression

• Frustration-Aggression Theory: Frustration increases aggression, especially when obstacles are illegitimate or unexpected. Relative deprivation (feeling worse off than others) can exacerbate aggression more than absolute deprivation.
• Provocation and Reciprocation: Aggression is often a response to provocation, and mitigating factors can reduce this response.
• Social Influences: Aggressive cues (like guns) can increase aggression in frustrating contexts; institutional violence (such as dehumanization) can lead to large-scale aggression, while psychological distancing and moral reasoning can lessen personal accountability.

LO 12.3: Effects of Observing Violence

• Media Effects: Watching violence, especially through video games, correlates with increased aggression, particularly in children. Violent video games can decrease empathy. Sexual violence in media can lead to the acceptance of violence, particularly amongst predisposed individuals.
• Long-Term Effects: Greater exposure to media violence in childhood can lead to increased aggression in adulthood. Aggressive individuals may seek violent media to complicate assessing the causal link between media violence and aggression; family and environmental factors also play a significant role

LO 12.4: Reducing Aggression

• Ineffective Strategies: Punishment is often ineffective in reducing aggression, as it can model aggressive behavior rather than deter it; it's best used only when promp and certain.

LO 13.1: The Three Components of Prejudice

• Definition of Prejudice: A hostile or negative attitude toward a group based on membership in that group; this involves cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components.
• Cognitive Component (Stereotypes): Generalizations about a group, ascribing similar traits to all members, regardless of individual differences. Positive stereotypes can still be limiting.
• Affective Component (Emotions): Deep-seated emotions like admiration, envy, and contempt associated with stereotypes; these emotions resist change.
• Behavioral Component (Discrimination): Negative actions towards individuals based on group membership; this includes institutional discrimination (e.g., biased hiring practices) and microaggressions.

LO 13.2: Measuring Hidden Prejudices

• Detecting Suppressed Prejudices: Unobtrusive measures, such as sending identical resumes with varied identifying details.
• Detecting Implicit Prejudices: Techniques like the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which measures association speed between groups and attributes. This is controversial about its true reflection.

LO 13.3: Effects of Prejudice on Victims

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Prejudice and stereotypes can affect behavior and confirm stereotypes.
• Social Identity Threat: Anxiety due to activation of stereotypes about a group can impact performance and well-being.

LO 13.4: Causes of Prejudice

• Conformity to Normative Rules: Societal norms and institutional discrimination can influence prejudice, leading individuals to follow those societal prejudices.
• Social Identity Theory (Us vs. Them): In-group bias (favoring one's own group), out-group homogeneity (seeing all out-group members the same way), and blaming the victim (attributing fault to the victim) can contribute to prejudice formation.
• Realistic Conflict Theory: Limited resources (e.g., jobs, power) can create prejudice, as individuals may target out-groups to displace their frustration.

LO 13.5: Reducing Prejudice

• The Contact Hypothesis: Bringing in-group and out-group members together can reduce prejudice under certain conditions, such as equal status, shared goalsrequiring cooperation, and authority endorsement of interaction. Superordinate goals requiring mutual dependencies are also effective.
• The Jigsaw Classroom: A cooperative learning strategy where diverse backgrounds work together; it improves self-esteem and performance, and increases empathy, reduces intergroup hostility, and promotes intergroup friendships.

SPA 2.1: Defining Stress and Its Effects on Health

• Definition of Stress: Negative feelings and the belief that one's coping mechanisms are insufficient to handle environmental demands.
• Impact on Health: Resilience (ability to recover after stress), negative life events, perceived stress, and perceived control impact health. External locus of control (believing outcomes are outside of one's control) worsens health.

SPA 2.2: Coping with and Recovering from Stress

• Coping Styles: Fight-or-flight, tend-and-befriend; individuals may also use social support.
• Social Support: Support provided by others, either visible or invisible.
• Reframing: Finding meaning in traumatic events through writing or verbal sharing of trauma. This improves long-term health.

SPA 2.3: Applying Social Psychology to Health

• Prevention and Behavior Change: Social psychological techniques can promote healthier behaviors by correcting misconceptions about expected behaviors, and promoting positive health practices.

SPA 3.1: The Accuracy of Eye-Witness Testimony

• Biases in Memory Processes: Encoding (inaccuracies during events), Storage and Retrieval (errors during storage and recollection), and Own-Race Bias (differing facial recognition accuracy for different races), Reconstructive Memory (confusing the source of a memory).
• False Confidence and Identification: Too much confidence does not equate to accuracy. Post-identification feedback from law enforcement can improve confidence but not necessarily accuracy.
• Recovered Memory Debate: Recovered memories may be accurate, but they may also be false. Therapy suggested events may lead to false memories.
• Improving Eyewitness Accuracy: New guidelines for lineups encourage avoidant behavior towards leading or suggestive questions or behaviors. Witnesses should be asked for their confidence shortly after making an identification.

SPA 3.2: How Juries Make Decisions

• The Story Model: Jurors create a coherent narrative from the presented evidence.
• Lawyers and Persuasion: Lawyers who organize evidence into a compelling story are more persuasive because of a coherent narrative.
• Confessions and Interrogations: False confessions can occur from coercive interrogation techniques.
• Group Processes: Group pressure and conformity will generally make juries more likely to accept majority opinions.
• Applications of Social Psychology (to justice systems): BIASES and pressures in jury dynamics can impair fairness, and acknowledging this can be important for jury trials. Methods for improving accuracy include acknowledging biases and employing balanced evidence presentation.

This quiz explores the different explanations of aggression, focusing on evolutionary, cultural, and learning aspects. It discusses the genetic and hormonal factors influencing aggressive behavior, as well as how cultural contexts affect levels of aggression. Engage with the material to deepen your understanding of this complex topic.