Aggression

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Aggression
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Definition

• Aggression
• intentional behavior aimed at causing either
  physical or psychological pain that the target
  would prefer to avoid
• not the same as assertiveness
• Hostile Aggression
• stems from anger
• aimed at inflicting pain and injury
• Instrumental Aggression
• used as a means to a goal other than infliction
  of pain

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Historical Views

• Hobbes (1651)
• viewed humans as naturally aggressive
• thought laws were necessary to reduce natural
  aggression
• Rousseau (1762)
• humans as naturally gentle
• viewed human aggression as a result of a
  restrictive society
• Freud (1930)
• Eros - drive toward life
• Thanatos - drive toward death
• aggressive instincts released through other
  means via catharsis

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Aggression Across Culture

• Varies widely by culture and can result from
  sudden social change
• Iroquois Tribe
• peaceful tribe prior to the 17th century
• with the arrival of Europeans, the Iroquois were
  in direct competition with the nearby Huron tribe
  for limited resources
• in a relatively short time period, the Iroquois
  became ferocious warriors
• Southern Culture of Honor
• homicide rates for white southern males are
  significantly higher than their northern
  counterparts

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Neural Chemical Influences

• Amygdala
• neurological center of aggression
• evolutionarily old part of the brain
• Serotonin
• inhibits aggressiveness
• Testosterone
• increases aggressiveness
• Alcohol
• increases aggression by reducing inhibitions

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Situational Causes

• Pain and Discomfort
• if unable to flee, animals in pain often attack
• humans too
• Heat
• Archival data
• heat crime rates, strong positive correlation
• Laboratory settings
• results have been mixed
• Why?

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Situational Causes

• Social Situations
• Frustration
• perception of being prevented from goal
  attainment
• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis (Dollard et
  al., 1932)
• posits that frustration invariably causes an
  aggression
• Reformulated as the Neoassociationistic Model of
  Aggression (Berkowitz)
• Frustration makes aggression more likely
• Direct Provocation Reciprocation
• being the target of aggression makes
  reciprocation more likely

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Situational Causes

• Aggressive Stimuli
• Priming of Guns
• Berkowitz LePage (1967)
• participants insulted at beginning of experiment
• then led to a room with an object laying on the
  table left from another experiment
• experimental condition gun
• control condition badminton racquet
• participants then given the opportunity to
  electrically shock another student in a
  separate experiment)
• Experimental Condition
• more shocks, higher intensity, longer duration

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Situational Causes

• Gun-ownership laws
• Seattle, WA vs. Vancouver, BC
• similar population, climate, demographic make-up,
  economy, overall crime rate
• Canada strictly limits handgun ownership while
  the US does not
• Seattles homicide rate is twice that of
  Vancouvers

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Situational Causes

• Social Learning Theory
• Bobo Doll Study (Bandura, Ross, Ross, 1963)
• children observed an adult interacting with the
  Bobo doll
• Experimental punching, kicking, and yelling
• Control playing nicely
• then allowed to play with the Bobo doll
• experimental group much more aggressive than
  control group

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Situational Causes

• Violent Media
• Disproportionate TV murder rate
• if represenative, it would only take three months
  for the entire US population to die!!
• American children witness an average of 8,000
  murders and over 100,000 other acts of violence
  before finishing elementary school

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Situational Causes

• Media executives claim no relationship between
  violent media and aggression
• public thinks its a controversial issue when
  its not
• General Findings
• correlational evidence
• children who watch violent media are more
  aggressive than those who do not
• experimental evidence
• children watching a violent media clip are more
  likely to aggress against others than those
  watching a nonviolent clip

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Situational Causes

• Violent Media and Adults
• weeks following highly publicized boxing matches
  are marked by an increase in homicides
• when the amount of publicity is taken into
  account, the relationship is even stronger
  (Philips, 1983 1986)
• the corresponding increase in murders was also
  related to the boxers race. If a black boxer
  lost, an increase in the murder of black males
  was observed, etc.
• TV violence numbs peoples reactions when faced
  with the real-life equivalent (Thomas, Horton,
  Lippincott, Drabman, 1977)
• heavy TV watchers more likely to have an
  exaggerated view of the world around them as
  extremely violent (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan,
  Signorielli, 1986, 1994)

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Situational Causes
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Situational Causes
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Situational Causes
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Situational Causes

• Violent Pornography
• when viewed, men show an increase in aggression
  directed at women in completely unrelated
  settings
• also more likely to have a less negative view of
  violence against women after viewing
• findings mixed on whether viewing nonviolent
  pornography increases violence

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Domestic Violence

• Definition
• violence committed by one family member against
  another
• Antecedents to Spousal Abuse (Husbands)
• witnessing parental abuse as a child
• being sexually aggressive towards ones wife
• behaving aggressively towards ones children
• The effects can be severe and long-lasting
• can be learned from generation to generation
• many women stay in relationships because they
  have few alternative options and heavy costs
  associated with leaving (Rusbult Martz, 1995)

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Rape

• Definition
• forced sexual activity without partners consent
• More widespread than perceived
• 20 of women have been sexually assaulted
  sometime in their lives
• 80 of the time, the victim knows the perpetrator
• occurs within marriages as well

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Rape

• Sexual Scripts
• conventional scripts of traditional gender roles
• female role is to resist sexual advances by males
• male role is to persist
• Norms appear to be changing.
• however, the idea that no means yes is still
  prevalent

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Rape

• Large-scale high school survey
• 95 of males and 97 of females said that a man
  should stop sexual advances as soon as a woman
  says no
• but, 49 (both male and female) said a woman
  doesnt necessarily mean it when she says no

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Rape

• Why do men rape?
• attitudes condoning the use of coercion to obtain
  sex
• anger toward women and the need for dominance
  over others
• authoritarian beliefs and conservative gender
  role ideals
• peer influence over the perceived appropriateness
  of using coercion in sex

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Rape

• Victim Recovery
• victim often blamed for rape
• even by themselves
• damage can take years to overcome
• Physical
• STDs, pregnancy, physical trauma
• Psychological
• depression, trauma, fear, anxiety
• myths that surround rape are decreasing but still
  prevalent

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Sexual Harassment

• Definition
• unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual
  activity, anything of a sexual nature that
  creates a hostile work environment
• can be overt or subtle
• more common than perceived
• repercussions can be severe and long-lasting

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Reducing Aggression

• Punishment
• is using aggression to curb aggression rational?
• e.g., Is spanking modeling aggression?
• punishment generally isnt an effective solution
  to behavior modification
• a system of positive reinforcement implemented
  before serious problems appear is much more
  effective
• in cases where punishment is necessary, experts
  recommend using non-aggressive means (e.g.,
  time-out)

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Reducing Aggression

• Using Punishment on Violent Adults
• punishment is often used as a form of
  retribution, but is it effective as a deterrent
  to crime?
• In general, punishment is only effective when it
• occurs soon after the offense
• occurs every time an offense is committed
• is strong enough to offset any rewards gained
  through the offense
• The American justice system isnt set up to
  address most of these concerns
• due process, the lack of a police state, and the
  appropriateness of punishment to crime committed
  make it unlikely that punishment can be used to
  decrease recidivism among violent offenders

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Reducing Aggression

• Capital punishment
• countries with capital punishment do not have
  lower homicide rates than those without it
• US states with capital punishment do not have
  lower homicide rates than those without it
• US states that have abolished the death penalty
  have not seen subsequent increases in homicide
  rates
• consistent and certain punishments are much more
  effective at deterring crime than the threat of
  severe punishments

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Reducing Aggression

• Catharsis (Freud, 1933)
• the idea that blowing off steam relieves
  built-up aggressive energies
• as a result, this is thought to reduce the
  likelihood of further aggression
• Freud maintained that this can be achieved by
• performing an aggressive act,
• watching others engage in aggressive behaviors,
  or
• engaging in a fantasy of aggression

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Reducing Aggression

• little evidence to support this idea
• in fact, this technique usually increases
  aggressive behavior
• e.g., People get more aggressive as they watch
  hockey games (Russell, 1983)
• If catharsis worked, people would get less
  aggressive

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Reducing Aggression

• But, bottling up emotions can lead to physical
  illness (Pennebaker, 1990)
• instead, express your anger in a nonviolent
  manner to the person youre angry with
• make a clear, calm, and simple statement
  indicating your angered state and explain what
  was done to provoke it

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Reducing Aggression

• Defusing anger through apology
• its hard and generally viewed as inappropriate
  to get mad at someone who has
• taken responsibility for their wrongdoing,
• apologized, and
• assured you that it wont happen again

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Reducing Aggression

• Modeling nonaggressive behavior
• parents who show restraint and act in a rational
  manner after being provoked have children who are
  more likely to act the same way

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Reducing Aggression

• Communication and problem-solving skills
  training
• habitually aggressive people often dont know the
  difference between appropriate and inappropriate
  uses of aggression
• e.g., self-defense vs. lashing out in frustration
• learning constructive ways to communicate anger
  can be an effective means of reducing aggression

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Reducing Aggression

• Increasing Empathy
• inflicting pain on another is difficult unless
  that person has been dehumanized (Feshbach
  Feshbach, 1969)
• e.g., the use of demeaning terms for members of
  opposing armies

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Reducing Aggression

• very difficult to reduce aggression in adults
• aggressive scripts are among the most stable and
  difficult to change
• the younger the aggressor, the better the
  treatment