1
Q
What is the key point of aggressive behaviour?
A
Wanting to hurt someone
2
Q
What is aggression?
A
Any behaviour directed toward another individual that is carried out with the immediate intent to cause harm
3
Q
What does aggressive behaviour rule out?
A
Consensual harm
4
Q
What is aggression NOT about?
A
The thoughts and feelings (its about behaviour)
5
Q
What is violence?
A
Aggression that has extreme harm as its goal (all violence is aggression)
6
Q
What are the 5 forms of aggression?
A
- physical
- verbal
- relational
- digital
- direct/indirect
7
Q
What are the 3 functions of aggression?
A
- reactive
- proactive
- automatic
8
Q
What is proactive aggression?
A
a thought-through plan to aggress
9
Q
What is reactive aggression?
A
immediate response to provocation
10
Q
What is automatic aggression?
A
no conscious processing
11
Q
What are the 3 dimensions of aggressive behaviour?
A
- degree to which aggressors goal is to harm victim vs. benefit aggressor
- level of hostile emotion present
- degree to which act was thought-through
12
Q
What are the gender differences in animals?
A
Male animals = more aggressive, more likely to attack, more likely to fight
13
Q
What is the Hydraulic Hypothesis Theory?
A
- aggression is instinctual
- not caused by environment, but released in certain circumstances
- instinctual aggression then ‘comes out’
14
Q
What does Hydraulic Hypothesis Theory say about releasing aggression?
A
- aggression needs to be released regularly or it becomes pent up
- evidence: male doves prevented from courting have excess ‘pent up’ energy that makes them aggressive
15
Q
What is the basis for the catharsis hypothesis?
A
If you are feeling aggressive and you express it, you don’t feel aggressive anymore (lack of empirical support)
16
Q
What happens if you behave aggressively?
A
You are more likely to behave aggressively again
17
Q
Which clinical disorders have aggressive features?
A
- ASPD, Narcissitic, BPD
- Conduct
- Addiction
- Psychosis
- Sadism
- Adjustment disorder
- Abuse/neglect problems
18
Q
How is aggression treated in clinical practise?
A
- conflict management, anger management, counselling for aggression
- therapeutic interventions for aggression and integration of approaches when issues = complex
- focus on neural networks and information processing
19
Q
Who was Len Berkowitz?
A
Greatest of Aggression research
20
Q
What is the cognitive approach to aggression?
A
- when we experience something, part of brain is set aside to recognise again (brain = associative neural network)
- if other things happen at the same time, links = established
- link becomes stronger the more it happens
- the pathway becomes much stronger and activating one thing activates the other = spreading activation
21
Q
What happens when we experience more aggression?
A
- more aggression-related nodes and strength of connection
- a lot of brain is set aside to recognise aggression = becomes important
22
Q
What is Rowell Huesmann’s Script Theory?
A
- a lot of aggression happens because we see the same script over and over so our brain detects patterns and uses it to predict what is going to happen
23
Q
What is the Cognitive Neo-Association Theory of aggression?
A
Aggressive behaviour is triggered by aversive events that create negative feelings, which in turn activate a network of aggressive thoughts, memories, and physiological responses
24
Q
According to the CNT, what happens when anger/fight tendencies dominate in a person?
A
The types of thoughts, feelings and plans for action that are most strongly activated will usually increase the likelihood of an aggressive response i.e., negative thoughts
25
What is a weakness of the CNT?
Aggression is not always associated with a negative emotion, sometimes people are innately aggressive
26
What does development psychology say about aggression?
- develops over lifespan
- peaks in toddler years (2-4)
- declines with age and conflict/relationship strategies
- physical aggression replaced with relational/indirect aggression
- some people = more habitually aggressive than others
27
Is trait aggression consistent across lifespan?
- Yes, may decline with age but usually higher compared to peers
28
What is hostile attribution bias?
Tendency to think people are trying to hurt you when they are not
29
What emotions are linked to aggression?
Anger (most linked)
Shame
Humiliation
Jealousy
Frustration
30
What is the Frustration-Aggression hypothesis?
- proposed during WW2
- built on Freud's idea about frustration in pursuit of pleasure
- when blocked from attaining goal, frustration arises
- all frustration leads to aggression and all aggression can be traced back to frustration
- not ALWAYS true but often is
- dominated thinking for 40 years
31
What does evolutionary psychology say about aggression?
- aggression is a hard-wired instinct
- strong links with animal work
- we aggress for reproductive success and survival of the fittest
32
What does health psychology say about aggression?
- aggressive individuals are at increased risk of poor health, early mortality, mental health problems and lower life satisfaction
33
What does learning theories say about aggression? (hugely influential)
- aggression is learned through classical conditioning, instrumental learning, social learning theory
34
How is aggression learned according to instrumental learning?
-Reward aggression, punish non-aggression
- no punishment = more aggression
- can be vicarious (seen at home or on TV)
35
How is aggression learned based on Social Learning theory?
- Bandura's bobo dolls = child who viewed violent models = more aggressive towards dolls
- learning from others and imitating leads to aggression with conditioning/reinforcement
36
According to SLT, we are more likely to copy aggressive models who:
- are respected/high status
- familiar or similar
- rewarded for behaviours
- self-efficacy in for aggression
37
What is the key point in biological approaches to aggression?
Epigenetics: gene-environment interaction
- genetic susceptibility requires negative life events to express as aggressive behaviour
38
What are the 3 standout genetic markers that predict aggression?
- G allele
- low activity alleles (2R, 3R)
- Long alleles (6R-11R)
39
Which neurotransmitters are linked with aggression?
- serotonin deficits = poor impulse control
- high GABA levels
- dopamine levels = impulsivity
40
Which hormones are linked with aggression?
- high testosterone (w. low cortisol/serotonin)
- low cortisol/oxytocin
- low oestrogen, progesterone
41
What does an activation of the limbic system do?
Causes fight, flight, freeze responses to threat --> rewards, instincts, survival
42
What is the role of the amygdala?
threat detection which triggers fear and anger
43
What is the role of the hypothalamus?
input from amygdala to coordinate threat response (e.g., fight or flight)
44
What is the role of the periaqueductal grey?
Input from hypothalamus to initiate aggressive actions
45
Explain this process: amygdala --> hypothalamus --> periaqueductal gray
Threat detection --> coordinate threat response (fight) --> initiate aggressive action
46
What does damage to the frontal lobes cause?
Poor executive function --> impulse control, emotion management, self control, consideration of consequences
47
What are some structural and functional deficits in the frontal lobe that cause aggression?
- Orbitofrontal cortex
- Anterior Cingulate cortex
- Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
48
Is aggression associated with under or over arousal?
Under arousal
- lower rest HR
- under arousal of CNS, ANS
- lower EEG arousal
- lower stress hormone levels
49
What can you predict from heart rate at age 3?
Aggression at age 21
50
What constitutes aggression in the workplace?
- bullying
- indirect aggression
- dominance and status
51
How does perception relate to aggression?
- provides sensory cues for flight or flight mechanisms
52
What does perception psychology say leads to more aggression?
- noise
- heat
- global warming
53
What is Freud's aggressive drive theory?
- every person has innate aggressive and sexual drives that provide energy to push them forward in life
- thanatos is the aggressive drive (death wish)
- the more advanced the animal - the more able to inhibit aggressive urges
54
What are the callous and unemotional traits?
- Psychopathy
- Machiavellianism
- Narcissism
- Shame proneness
- Rumination
55
What big 6 traits lead to aggression?
- low agreeableness (largest effect)
- low conscientiousness
- high neuroticism
- low extraversion
- low honesty/humility
56
What does social psychology say about aggression?
- aggression is elicited by situation rather than personality
57
What is cognitive dissonance theory?
mental discomfort someone experiences when holding conflicting beliefs
58
how does cognitive dissonance theory relate to aggression?
When an individual acts aggressively but has pro-social beliefs. To reduce the resulting discomfort, the aggressor may increase unfriendliness towards the victim, justify their actions by finding a reason for the aggression, or change their beliefs about the victim to align with their behaviour
59
What does social interaction theory say about aggression?
aggression is a way of achieving desired goals, including obtaining something of value, revenge or putting forward a desired image
60
What are the 3 big theories of aggression?
1. frustration-aggression hypothesis
2. cognitive neo-association theory
3. general aggression model
61
What are the inputs in the GAM?
- person and situation variables
62
Explain the difference between person and situation inputs in GAM
Person: affect our readiness to respond with aggression (gender, perceptions, cognitions etc)
Situation: triggers for aggression (cues, provocation, pain)
63
What are the 3 routes in the GAM?
1. cognitions
2. affects
3. arousal
64
What is the i-cubed model for aggression? What do the i's stand for?
Risk and protective factor model influencing urge to aggress
- instigators (risk)
- impellers (risk)
- inhibition (protect)
65
Examples of each i in the i3 model
instigators = provocation
impellance = trait aggression
inhibitors = intact self-regulation resources, sobriety, control
66
What does aggression depend on in the i3 model?
Net effect of risk factors and protective factors
