Social Psychology: Aggression

Aggression: Hurting Others

• Aggression is physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone
• Auto accidents or sidewalk collisions are examples of unintentional harm, and are thus excluded
• Actions that necessarily involve pain, such as surgery, are also excluded
• Using the word "aggressive" to describe a dynamic salesperson is different than aggression in the field of social psychology

Forms of Aggression

• Physical aggression involves hurting someone's body
• Social aggression involves hurting someone's feelings or threatening their relationships
• Relational aggression and cyberbullying are examples of social aggression
• Microaggressions are excluded from the definition of aggression in social psychology
• Aggression must be intentional

Types of Aggression

• Hostile aggression springs from anger with the goal to injure
• Murders and road rage are both examples of hostile aggression
• Instrumental aggression aims to injure as a means to some other end
• Terrorist attacks, wars, and armed robbery are all examples of instrumental aggression

Theories of Aggression

• Social psychologists focus on biological influences, frustration, and learned behavior to analyze the causes of aggression

Aggression as a Biological Phenomenon

• Evolutionary psychology and instinct theory state instinctual aggressiveness as a product of evolution
• Instinctual aggressiveness is beneficial and allows for population survival & success
• Aggressive behavior stems from a self-destructive impulse and redirects towards others
• Neural factors can influence aggression; electrical stimulation to the brain can cause rage
• Heredity has an affect on the neural system’s sensitivity to aggressive cues
• Alcohol, testosterone, bad diets, and low serotonin can facilitate aggression

Aggression as a Response to Frustration

• Frustration can be increased when it is unexpected, or when nearing a goal
• Frustration-Aggression theories say that frustration triggers a readiness to aggress
• The Classic Version theorizes that frustration causes aggression which gets displaced onto an innocent target if the source of the frustration cannot be challenged
• The Revised Version theorizes that frustration produces anger, an emotional readiness to aggress
• Anger arises when someone who frustrates can choose to react otherwise

Aggression as Learned Social Behavior

• Aggression is not innate but learned through observation and copying
• Positive reinforcement encourages repetition of previously aggressive acts
• Social Learning Theory explains social behavior is learned by observation, imitation, reward, and punishment
• Social modeling is a factor, with the observer more likely to imitate those who are similar and/or in a positive light
• Imitation is more likely for someone with perceived status or power
• The Bobo doll experiment showed children exposed to an adult's aggression became likely to reproduce the aggression

Influences on Aggression

• Aversive experiences increase aggression
• Physical and psychological pain, heat, offensive odors, cigarette smoke and air pollution, attacks, and overcrowding are examples
• A state of bodily arousal feeds emotions depending on how it is interpreted
• Weapons are aggression cues, especially when perceived as instruments of violence

Media Influences

• Pornography and Sexual Violence can increase aggression
• The pornography industry is larger than professional sports in the US
• Viewing fictional scenes of men overpowering women can distort perceptions and increase aggression
• Men viewing sexually violent movies become progressively less bothered by the raping and slashing
• Pornography contributes to men's actual aggression toward women
• Increased availability of pornography has correlated with increased rates of reported rapes
• Sales of sexually explicit magazines correlate with state rape rates
• TV violence
• National Television Violence Study analyzed 10,000 programs from major networks and cable channels, finding 6 in 10 contained violence
• American prime-time violence increased 75% between 1998 and 2006, averaging 4.41 violent events per hour
• TV viewing and behavior: The more violent the content, the more aggressive the child, however, there is a "hidden third factor"
• TV viewing also can increase violence
• Studies show angered college students who viewed a violent film acted more aggressively
• Why does TV affect behavior: produces arousal, disinhibits, and evoke imitation
• TV's affects on thinking: desensitization, altered perception, cognitive priming, and social scripts

Video Games

• Violent video games might have a more toxic effect than watching violent television
• While gaming, players identify with a violent character & actively rehearse violence
• Players are engaged with violence & threats of attack and repeat behaviors while becoming rewarded for it
• Violent video games more than nonviolent causes increased feelings of arousal, aggressive behaviors and thoughts, and decreased prosocial behaviors

Group Influences

• Situations that provoke individual aggression apply to the group
• Groups can amplify reactions by diffusing responsibility
• Through social contagion", groups magnify tendencies
• Social contagion involves is group-fed arousal, disinhibition, and polarization

How Can Aggression Be Reduced?

• Reduce aversive stimulation, reward and model non-aggression, and elicit reactions incompatible with aggression

Catharsis

• The concept of catharsis is credited to Aristotle
• Emotional release is achieved through reliving past events, expressing emotions, and acting
• "Sexual materials provide an outlet for bottled-up impulses"
• Aggressing has led to heightened aggression and expressing more hostility

Social Learning Approach

• Threatened punishment deters aggression under ideal conditions
• Punishment must be strong, prompt, and sure and must be combined with reward for desired behaviors- the recipient must not be angry
• Aversive experiences can predispose hostile aggression
• Immediate prevention is the solution
• Model and reward sensitivity and cooperation from an early age

Key Terms

• Instinctive Behavior: An innate, unlearned behavior pattern exhibited by all members of a species.
• Frustration: The blocking of goal-directed behavior.
• Displacement: The redirection of aggression to a safer target.
• Relative Deprivation: The perception that one is less well off than others with whom one compares oneself.