Title: Aggression
1Aggression
- Are we natural born killers?
- If not, how do we stop the violence?
2Aggression Defined
- Intentional behavior aimed at causing either
physical or psychological harm - Contrast aggression and assertiveness
- Hostile vs. Instrumental Aggression
- Hostile stems from a feeling of anger. Goal is
to inflict pain or injury. - Instrumental aggression takes place as a means
to some other goal (e.g., professional assassin)
3Aggression Statistics
- 16,974 murders in the U.S. in 1998
- 15,533 murders in the U.S. in 1999
- 15,586 murders in the U.S. in 2000
- 15,980 murders in the U.S. in 2001
- Expand definition to violent crime (murder,
non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and
aggravated assault) - 1,533,887 in 1998
- 1,430,693 in 1999
- 1,425,486 in 2000
- 1,436,611 in 2001
4Is Aggression an Instinct?
- Hundreds of years of debate
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau No. We are naturally
gentle - restrictive society makes us hostile - Thomas Hobbes Yes!!! We are brutes and only law
and government can help us - Freud Supports Hobbes. Argued that we had a
powerful death instinct known as Thanatos leads
to aggressive actions
5Freud and Aggression
- Believed that aggressive energy must be released
otherwise it builds up and causes illness. - A hydraulic theory
- Sublimation society regulates this instinct.
Helps people to turn destructive energy into
useful behavior - E.g., danger seeking, competitive person becomes
a race car driver
6Hydraulic Theory
- A fair amount of evidence suggests that for many
species the hydraulic theory is not true - John Paul Scott If an organism can arrange its
life so that there is no outside stimulation to
fight, then it will not experience any
physiological or mental damage as a result of not
expressing aggression. - However, Lorenz has found evidence with cichlids
(Siamese fighting fish) to the contrary
7Evolutionary Arguments
- Lore and Schultz argue that aggression has
survival value. - However, most species seem to have developed
inhibitory mechanisms that allow them to suppress
aggression - Thus, aggression is an optional strategy
- Regional differences in aggression suggest
strategic view of aggression
8Regional Differences in Aggression
- Homicide rates for White southern males are
substantially higher than for White northern
males (especially in rural areas) - However, they do not endorse violence in general,
only as a tool for protection of property and in
response to insults Culture of honor based
upon history as herding society - Nisbett research on southerners reaction to being
bumped and cursed at - More upset (cortisol increase), primed for
aggression (testosterone increase), more likely
to engage in aggression after the incident
9How Useful is Aggression?
- Survival of the fittest?
- Concept of aggression leading to success appears
to have outlived its utility - e.g., MAD Mutual Assured Destruction arms
policy utilized by US and the Soviet Union during
the Cold War. - Peter Kropotkin (1902) argued that cooperative
behavior and mutual aid might have greater
survival value. Altruism. - Kropotkins work has been ignored perhaps it
did not fit with the mindset of the Industrial
Revolution
10Utility of Aggression, Continued
- Catharsis Freudian belief that a release of
energy is necessary. Fits with our everyday
experience of blowing off some steam. - Three methods question is do they work?
- Method One Socially aggressive physical
activities (e.g., football) - Neither participating or watching these sports
decreases aggressive behavior (in fact, watching
temporarily increases aggression).
11Utility of Aggression, Continued
- Method Two Fantasy
- Utility is limited it reduces some, but not a
lot of aggression - Method Three Direct Aggression. Does lashing
out help to reduce future aggression - Apparently not. Actually seems to increase
future aggression - Cognitive Dissonance. Blaming the victim.
- Only reduces future aggression if equity has been
restored.
12Causes of Aggression
- Neurological and Chemical Causes
- Amygdala (located in the forebrain).
- Testosterone leads to an increase in
aggression, but also increases during aggression - If testosterone is linked to aggression, does
this mean that men are more aggressive than
women? - Maccoby and Jacklin research suggests yes.
- Across cultures, women demonstrate less violence
- Further, during era of womens liberation,
non-violent crime rate relative to male rate has
increased, but not violent crime rate.
13Causes of Aggression, Continued
- Alcohol
- 75 of individuals arrested for crimes of
violence were legally drunk at the time of their
arrests. - Experimental evidence implies that alcohol
ingestion increases aggression - Interpretation, alcohol is a disinhibitor. It
seems that under the influence of alcohol a
persons primary tendencies are revealed
14Causes of Aggression, Continued
- Pain and Discomfort
- If an animal experiences pain and cant flee,
violence follows - Most research has been done on heat
- Violent crime and aggression increases as
temperature increases (e.g., baseball above 90) - Confound is increased interaction as it gets
warmer - However, lab research suggests that temperature
is key component
15Causes of Aggression, Continued
- Frustration
- Thwarting an individuals attainment of a goal
increases the probability of an aggressive
response - Frustration becomes greater the closer one gets
to a goal, and if interruption is unexpected or
illegitimate - Key seems to be relative deprivation not just
deprivation - Revolutions are not begun by people with their
faces in the mud, but people who have recently
lifted their faces out of the mud and have had
time to look around
16Color
- Research demonstrates that room color does not
have much of an impact - However, uniform color has been demonstrated to
be related to an increase in penalties received
(in both football and hockey) - Question is Does wearing a color make you more
aggressive or are referees more likely to
interpret ambiguous situations as aggressive?
17Social Learning and Aggression
- We do learn when to not aggress
- For instance, intention of frustrator is
considered. - Excuses have a greater impact if given before
frustrating behavior - On the other hand, certain cues prime us for
aggression (e.g., guns). - Taking responsibility for act decreases violence
why anonymity/deindividuation is so
frightening. - Zimbardo (anonymous shockers) Mullen (lynchings
and mob size)
18Social Learning and Mass Media
- Idea of learning from aggressive models begins
with Bandura - TV, as we have discussed, is full of violent
models - High correlation between the amount of TV watched
and viewers subsequent aggression this data is
correlational - Margaret Thomas demonstrated that viewing TV
violence can numb peoples reactions when they
are faced with real-life aggression
19Why does media violence affect us?
- When we summarize the ideas in the research four
themes arise - Seeing others being aggressive weakens our
learned inhibitions against violence. - Learn techniques, imitate.
- Primes anger. Makes us more aware of anger.
- Desensitization to violence.
20Pornography and Violence Against Women
- Approximately 50 of rapes are committed by
acquaintances - This statistic has led many to theorize that
confusion about sexual scripts is the problem - Male is supposed to persist, the female to resist
- 95 of males, 97 of females believe that sexual
advances should stop when women says no - But 50 of those respondents also believe that
no does not always mean no!!!!
21Pornography and Violence Against Women
- Presidential commission on pornography concluded
that explicit sexual material in and of itself
did not contribute to sexual crimes, violence
against women, or other anti-social acts. - But. Violent pornography has been shown to
increase acceptance of sexual violence (Malamuth
and Donnerstein) - Evidence that slasher movies have the same impact.
22Can we reduce violence?
- Pure reason? No, ineffective.
- Punishment? Overall findings are mixed
- More effective when applied in the context of a
warm relationship - Overly restrictive punishments are frustrating,
which can lead to aggression - What does that say about prison? Remember
Zimbardo prison study. - Moderate vs. severe punishment and cognitive
dissonance.
23Can we reduce violence?
- Punishment of aggressive models? e.g., public
floggings, death penalty - Death penalty institution does not decrease
homicide rate in a country. - In lab, seeing an aggressive model punished does
not reduce future aggression (seeing them
rewarded does increase aggression however.) - Presence of non-aggressive models? Yes.
- Remember, we often conform to others when we seek
out information on how to act
24Can we reduce violence?
- Rewarding alternate behavior patterns?
- Brown and Elliott have demonstrated that ignoring
aggression while rewarding positive behaviors
reduces aggression - Issue is, negative attention is better than no
attention at all for some - Building empathy towards others?
- Feshbachs have demonstrated that increasing
empathy can reduce aggression (difficult to
dehumanize someone you feel for)