Aggression
personal injury, destruction of property, harm to others (who want to avoid the pain)
Nature-nurture controversy
learnt or born with it?
Biological explanations for aggression
- psychodynamic theory (Freud), bodily tension, innate death-instinct
- ethology, innate but triggered by stimuli with survival value
- evolutionary social psychology, adaptive, helps to survive by social and economic advantage
Social and biosocial explanations
- Frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard)
- Excitation-transfer model (Zimmermann)
- social learning theory (Bandura)
Excitation-transfer model (Zimmermann)
function of learnt behavior, excitation from other source and person’s interpretation
Frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard)
all frustration leads to aggression and all aggression comes from frustration (events, situations, …)
Social learning theory (Bandura)
aggression learnt from appropriate models
direct or indirect experience
Personality factors for aggression
- type A personality
- self-esteem
- hormones
- sexual selection
- ability to self-control
- deindividuation
Situational factors for aggression
heat, crowding, stimuli that have personal value or impact, alcohol (disinhibition hypothesis)
General aggression model (Anderson and Bushman)
interplay of situational and personal factors affect cognition and arousal
INPUT - INTERNAL STATE - APPRAISAL - ACTION
Societal influences for aggression
- disadvantaged groups, relative deprivation
- gender
- victim’s age, gender, culture, lifestyle that is not part of norms
- sociocultural variation
- subculture with violence
Role of mass media for aggression
- desensitization, mere exposure
- priming effect
- weapon effect
- erotica
Phelbs 2017 media has influence on shooter bias and racism
