Session 7: Aggression in Groups

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Session 7 Aggression in Groups

• SP603 conflict and cooperation in groups

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Outline

• Presentation
• Definition of Aggression
• Exercise
• Evolutionary perspective
• Social psychological perspective

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Definition

• Social psychology harming a person who does not
  want to be harmed (Brehm Kassin, 2004)
• 2 main forms (Archer Coyne, 2005)
• direct aggression verbal and physical forms of
  aggression aimed at harming someone directly
• indirect aggression behind the back aggression
  via social manipulation through third party
  (reputation)

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Definition

• Biology actions that decrease the fitness of
  the recipient, while increasing the benefits of
  the actor
• Evolutionary psychology Design to harm another
  person to benefit oneself (Buss, 1999 Cosmides
  Tooby, 1992)

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Exercise Is this aggression?

• A lion attacking a zebra
• Insulting someone
• Failing to intervene in a street fight
• A man who intends to slap his wife, but misses
• He slaps his son by accident
• A sadist harming a masochist for fun

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Which aggressive tactics do you know (and use)?
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Theoretical evidence Why aggression may have
evolved as strategy (Aggression as the D-choice
in a Prisoners Dilemma)
Mary
Defect
Cooperate
5
2.50
Cooperate
2.50
0
John
1
0
Defect
5
1
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Social sciences conceptions on aggression

• Aggression is learned through direct experience
  or imitation
• Aggression can be unlearned.
• Biological/evolutionary theories of aggression
  are useless because they are circular (why are
  men more aggressive than women? Because they
  show more aggression
• These theories also fail to account for the
  cultural and contextual variation in aggression
  Most traditional societies are peaceful (Mead,
  1934 Bonta, 1997)

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Evolutionary analysis of aggression

• Aggression is solution to a range of adaptive
  problems i.e., solving these problems would
  have enhanced the survival and reproductive
  benefits of the actor hence, this design would
  have spread through the population

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Which are these adaptive problems? (Buss, 1999,
2005)

• How to get valuable resources that others have
• How to defend oneself against exploitation or
  physical attack
• How to deter others from aggression against you
• How to climb up in the dominance hierarchy of a
  group
• How to inflict costs on intrasexual rivals
• How to deter long-term mates from (sexual)
  infidelity
• How to get access to mates
• For each adaptive goal, think of a movie or book
• For the moment, well ignore intergroup
  aggression (session 8)

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Context specifity of aggression

• Aggression is likely to be highly context
  specific
• it is only elicited in situations that resemble
  adaptive problems faced by ancestors
• Different forms of aggression should be elicited
  in different contexts (e.g., gossip to lower
  someones status in hierarchy stealing to get
  access to their resources)

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So, which adaptive problems make people likely to
show each of these behaviours?

• One man killing another man in a bar fight
• A woman gossiping about the promiscuity of her
  female colleague
• Stealing from a shop keeper
• Killing ones sister who lost her virginity
  before marriage
• Shooting at an enemy soldier
• Wearing a knife to school

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Social psychological evidence for each of these
evolved functions of aggression

• Getting valuable resources that others have
• Childhood aggression about toys and territory
  (Campbell, 1993 Sherif, 1961)
• Boys more than girls (Campbell, 1993)
• Research on Realistic intergroup conflict theory
  (Campbell, 1961)
• Stealing, robbery, fraud, drug killings in every
  society
• Men tend to engage in this more than women, any
  idea why?

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2. Defending oneself against exploitation or
physical attack

• Retaliation in the prisoners dilemma, Playing a
  tit-for-tat strategy (nice but firm)
• (Axelrod, 1984)
• Women and men are equally likely to retaliate
  (Ledyard, 1995)
• Ostracizing or excluding cheaters from groups
  (Kurzban Leary, 2001 Williams work on
  ostracism)

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Punishment of disloyal people (Van Vugt Chang
2006)
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3. Deterring others (rivals) from aggression
against you

• Making a first cooperative choice in the
  Prisoners Dilemma Game (being nice)
• Getting a reputation as someone who carries out a
  threat (Frank, 1988)
• Carrying a knife to the pub
• having an aggressive tattoo
• Others?
• Men probably more than women??

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4. Climbing up in the hierarchy of a group

• Within street gangs and traditional societies,
  men get status as warriors reputations
  important (Campbell, 1993 Chagnon, 1997) how
  many outgroup members have you injured/killed?
  Male soldier hypothesis (Van Vugt et al.)
• Bullying by dominant children in group more
  common among boys (Ahmad Smith, 1994), but do
  girls bully differently?
• But, why in some societies do people get status
  via altruism and in others via aggression?

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5. Inflicting costs on intrasexual rivals

• Male-to-male violence prevalent among young males
  in virtually all societies (Daly Wilson, 1988)
  homicide statistics
• Interest in violent videogames (Bushmans
  research)
• Interest in aggressive movies
• Boys more than girls use direct aggression
• Girls more than boys us indirect aggression
  (behind the back) Archer Coyne, 2005

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6. Deterring long-term mates from infidelity

• Domestic violence
• Male sexual jealousy and female emotional
  jealousy (Buss, 1999 Buunk et al., 1996) how
  strong is the evidence?
• In US, one third of homicide against females is
  by their husband/boyfriend (Daley Wilson, 1999)
• Wife-to-husband violence is also common
• Possibly out of self-defence?? (Archer, 2000)

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7. Aggression to acquire mate

• Theory of rape (Thornhill Gangestad) rape as
  adaptive mating strategy (or simply byproduct of
  aggression?)
• Date rape among college students
• Use of drugs like Rohypnol
• Some mens interest in violent pornography
• Men much more than women
• How do women use aggression to acquire mate?

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Exercise Find ways to reduce aggression in
society by solving these adaptive problems
through non- aggressive means

• Get valuable resources that others have
• Defend oneself against exploitation or physical
  attack
• Deter others from aggression against you
• Climb up in the dominance hierarchy of a group
• Inflict costs on intrasexual rivals
• Deter long-term mates from (sexual) infidelity
• Acquire a mate

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Take-home message

• Aggression involves harming others to benefit
  oneself there are several distinct types of
  aggression
• Evolutionary psychologists assume that aggression
  is an evolved trait in humans to solve particular
  adaptive problems (e.g., getting resources,
  retaining mates)
• The social psychological literature is generally
  consistent with evolutionary hypotheses
• Sex differences require further attention