Biological explanations aggression
Aggression is an instinct
- Goal directed
- Beneficial
- Shared
But research show that not valid
Frustration-Aggression
hypothesis which proposed that aggression is
always caused by some kind of frustrating event or situation
ex: job loss
–> but research show that not sufficient
Social learning theory
Descirbes how behaviours are
- Acquired: how they are learned
– Instigated: what causes them
– Maintained: what engenders their persistence
How is a behaviour maintained
A behaviour is maintained, if this behaviour is rewarded or not
punished
How do children learn
– Direct experience
– Vicarious experience (imitation of other people nad/or observation if those people are rewarded or not))
Social learning Study
Bandura, 1963
–> test the learning by vicarious experiment hypothesis
An adult behaves aggresively towards a babo doll
Child is left alone to play in the room
Measure: level of aggression
Social learning Conclusion
Aggression depends on
- The person’s previous experiences of aggressive behaviour
– The success of aggressive behaviour in the past
– The likelihood of the aggression being either rewarded or punished
– A combination of cognitive, social and environmental factors
Personality and Agression
- People who are overactive, strive to achieve, excessively competitive
and hostile, may be more aggressive towards others - The tendency to become aggressive develops quite early in life and
becomes a stable behavioural pattern
Gender and Agression
• Men tend to be more aggressive than women
- Men use more physical violence
- Both men and women use verbal violence
- Difference is that boys show aggression directly whereas girls indirectly
cathartic hypothesis
The cathartic hypothesis suggests that acting
aggressively, or even just seeing aggressive material,
reduces feelings of anger and aggression
Stanford Prison Experiment facts
Zimbardo, 1971
- 24 white males psychologically stable
- Randomly assigned the role of prisoners or guards
- setting done to be as similar as possible to a real prison
Stanford Prison Experiment Interpretation
- No personality factors could explain the behaviours
- Situational factors
- Internalisation of the roles
- Deinviduation (conform to group norms, individual identity less than group identity)
Bystander effect
• Diffusion of responsibility
– Tendency to assume that others will take responsibility
• Audience inhibition
– The fear of appearing foolish if you do a mistake
• Social influence
– Imitating the behaviour of others
==> People are morel likely to help when they are alone than in groups.
Bystander effect origin
Kitty Genovese murder in 1964 with 37 witnesses
Prosocial behaviour
Behaviour that has positive social consequences, and contributes to the
physical or psychological well-being of another person. It is voluntary
and has the intention to benefit others
Bandura study Interpretations
- Confirmed that we learn by vicarious experience
- Once established in childhood, an aggressive response is persistent
- By imitation, a behaviour is likely to repeat itself across generations
