Week 4: Human Aggression

Question 0

What is violence?

Answer 0

• Aggression that has extreme harm as it’s goal

- all violence is aggression but not vica versa

Question 1

What is aggression?

Answer 1

• “Behavior direct toward another individual that is carried out with the proximate intent to cause harm”
• “the target must e motivated to avoid the behavior”

Question 2

Gender difference in animal aggressive behavior

Answer 2

• male animals more aggressive, more likely to attack, more likely to fight

Question 3

Lorenz 1966; the Hyraulic Hypothesis; The energy model - aggression

Answer 3

• aggression instinctual
• not caused by the environment - rather it is released in certain circumstances
• needs to be ‘released’ regularly or becomes pent up
• basis for cartharsis model (now disproven)
• lack empirical support both in humans and animals
• dominance behavior - primates (e.g. Learn to both express and inhibit aggression)

Question 4

Clinical Psychology - DSM-IV on aggression

Answer 4

• anti-social, narcissistic, borderline personality
• CD
• Addiction
• paranoia, delusions, psychosis
• Sadism, masochism
• intermittent explosive disorder
• adjustment disorder with conduct disturbance
• problems related to abuse or neglect
• conflict management, relationship systems, anger management, counseling for aggression
• interventions for anger and/or aggression

Question 5

Cognitive psychology - neural networks view on aggression

Answer 5

• when we experiencing something, a cluster neurons (a node) is set aside to recognize it again,
• when we experience that thing again the node becomes activated
• nodes that are activated together become wired together
• the more often nodes are activated together, the stronger the links become
• because of these links, activating one node will begin to activate linked nodes
• if the same sequence plays out often enough, either in real life or vicariously (media, video game)
• then it becomes like a script that plays out the same way whenever it is triggered

Question 6

Cognitive psychology - Cognitive Neo-Association Theory on aggression

Answer 6

• assumes that memories, thoughts and plans for action are linked together in the brain
• when one part of this network is activated, the link parts, also become activated
• the parts that are most strongly activated are the parts that will have the greatest influence on that person’s eventual actions
• unpleasant or threatening situations arouse negative feelings
• these in turn stimulate various thoughts, memories and physiological responses associated with both fight (anger) and flight (fear)
• depending the nature of the situation and the prior experiences and personality of the person, one tendency will come to dominate the other
• if anger/fight tendencies dominate, the types of thoughts, feelings as plans for action that are most strongly activated will usually increase the likelihood of an aggressive response

Question 7

Script theory view on aggression

Answer 7

• proposed by Huesmann
• when a situation is very familiar we follow the script
• DV can occur in this way

Question 8

Development psychology view on aggression

Answer 8

• develops over lifespan, large longitudinal studies
• constancy of trait aggression across lifespan
• influence of parents, media, environment
• gene-environment interactions
• hostile attributional bias

Question 9

Emotion - aggression

Answer 9

• anger, shame, humiliation, jealousy linked with aggression
• frustration-aggression hypothesis
  • all instances of aggression can be traced back to frustration
  • the link b/w frustration and aggression is always increased anger
  • clearly not always true (but often is)

Question 10

Evolutionary psychology - aggression

Answer 10

• aggression ‘hard wired’
• links with animal work
• reproductive success
  • protect territory and offspring
  • sexual jealousy
  • status, power and machismo to succeed

Question 11

Health psychology - aggression

Answer 11

• particularly concerned with links b/w physical health and psychological health
• type A personality and heart disease
• anger and hypertension
• alcoholism and aggression
• injury, recovery, trauma

Question 12

Learning theories - aggression

Answer 12

• underpins other approaches
• explain both the acquisition and the maintenance of aggressive behavior
• aggression is often learned
  • classical conditioning
  • instrumental learning
  
  • reward aggression, punish non-aggression (subtle or obvious)
  • can be vicarious
    • social learning
• neural networks include learned concepts and are developed through experience
• info processing is about learned patterns of responding
• scripts are learned
• learning shapes development
• genes affect us depending on environment

Question 13

Social learning theories - aggression

Answer 13

• people acquire aggressive tendencies through direct experience or through observing -> bobo
• more likely to copy aggressive models
  • who are respected, liked, high status
  • who are familiar/similar
  • who are rewarded for their behaviors
  • if we have self-efficacy for aggression
• imitation seems to be hard-wired from birth and to continue through the life span

Question 14

Neurological/biological approaches to aggression

Answer 14

• genetics
• gene-environment interactions
• 16-17 genes are linked with aggressive behavior
• never direct - usually in conjunction with a particular type of environment or predisposition (e.g. Impulsivity) that enhances the likelihood of aggression

Question 15

Genes linked with aggression

Answer 15

• serotonin deficits linked to aggression
• DA levels with ADHD, impulsivity
• Precursor genes - affect rate at which NT 5HT and DA are produced from precursor amino acids
• transmitter genes - linked to receptors for various DA and 5HT receptor types
• metabolite genes - involved in degradation of various NT
• conversion genes - responsible for conversion of one NT into another (DA to norepinephrine)

Question 16

Biological approaches to aggression

Answer 16

Different brain structures

• damage to frontal lobes (uninhibited)
• activation of Limbic System (‘old’ part of brain; primitive instincts and survival)
• especially in Amygdala (emotion centre)

Question 17

Hormones and aggression

Answer 17

• increased testosterone, decreased estrogen & progesterone
• linked to increased aggression
• women more aggressive at menses (low oestrogen, progesterone) than at mid-luteal phase (higher levels of both hormones)

Question 18

The nervous system - aggression

Answer 18

• lower resting hr (even at 3)
• under-arousal of both the CNS and ANS
• lower electro-dermal, CVD and cortical arousal
• low basal cortisol (stress hormone) levels

Question 19

Arousal and excitation transfer - aggression

Answer 19

• looks at interplay b/w ppls thoughts and their levels of physiological arousal
• Schachter and Singer injected people with adrenalin, then exposed them to actors either being silly or showing anger
• anger or euphoria response depending on their cognitive appraisal of the cause
• Zillman: excitation transfer: arousal dissipates slowly. If 2 events are separated by a short period of time, arousal from the first event might may be misattributed to the second event.

Question 20

Org psych - aggression

Answer 20

• bullying in workplace
• workplace aggression
• indirect aggression
• dominance and status

Question 21

Perception - aggression

Answer 21

• role of hat we see, hear, feel
• cues for fight or flight mechanisms, peripheral vision
• noise, heat and aggression

Question 22

Personality approaches - aggression

Answer 22

• aggressive drive: Sigmund Freud, Thanatos, more advanced the more inhibition
• every person has innate aggressive and sexual drives
• trait aggression/anger
• aggressive personality types: narcissistic, psychopathic, Machiavellian, shame-prone, borderline/histrionic
• learned material becomes part of our stable
• schemas, scripts, expectancies, beliefs, attitudes
• linked together within neural network, linked to related feelings and memories and action tendencies

Question 23

Relationship - psychology

Answer 23

• Indirect aggression and relational aggression
• DV
• child abuse
• power and dominance
• jealousy
• overlap with evolutionary psychology
• relational schemas

Question 24

Social psychology - aggression

Answer 24

- aggression elicited by the situation rather then the personality - cognitive dissonance theory - social cognition • schemas, scripts, knowledge structures • learned social behaviors • triggers and cues • media effects • automaticity, priming

Question 25

Social interaction theory - aggression

Answer 25

- portrays aggression as a way of achieving desired goals. Very instrumental approach - these goals may include: • obtaining something of value • getting revenge • putting forward a desired image (such as being tough) - helped us understand that aggression is often a response to a threat to high self-esteem.

Question 26

General aggression model

Answer 26

- Whether or not someone responds to a situation with aggression depends first on the nature of thoughts, feelings and physiological responses that are aroused, and then on, how much that person thinks through their response

Question 27

GAM person inputs - affective readiness to respond to a situation with aggressiveness

Answer 27

- evolutionary factors and drives - biological factors; genetic predispositions - personality (schemas) - cognitive factors: beliefs, attitudes, scripts, values, long-term goals - emotional tendencies; temperament ie traits - gender - perceptions

Question 28

GAM inputs - situational factors

Answer 28

- aggressive cues - provocation - frustration - pain - drugs - triggers - incentives

Question 29

GAM routes - cognitions

Answer 29

- activation of hostile thoughts, schemas, scripts, beliefs, attributions (e.g. hostile attributional bias) - learned theory, social learning theory - script theory - cognitive Neo-association theory - social cognition

Question 30

GAM routes - affects

Answer 30

- mood and emotions • activation of feelings, anger, hostility, shame, humiliation - expressive motor responses (evolved) • an automatic physiological reactions that occur in conjunction with specific emotions, usually involving changes to facial expressions

Question 31

GAM routes - arousal

Answer 31

- complicated - some types of arousal reduce HR, sweating, BP, whilst others increase it - under-researched - energizes and strengthens the tendency to act - excitation transfer is arousal elicited by irrelevant source eg exercise

Question 32

GAM outcomes - immediate appraisal

Answer 32

- influenced strongly by present internal state - automatic, effortless, spontaneous, unaware. May lead to automatic responses (drives, evolution, CNT, emotion, biological, clinical) - if resources are sufficient (the person has enough time to make a considered response and cognitive capacity is available) AND - of the immediate appraisal outcome (automatic response) is both important and unsatisfying, then the person will engage in a more effortful set of reappraisals

Question 33

GAM outcomes - re-appraisal

Answer 33

- search for an alternative view of situation - can involve many cycles of considering past experiences, possible causes for the event, relevant memories, and delving deeper into the features of the current situation - many alternatives might be considers and discarded - eventually the cycling process ceases and a course of thoughtful action takes place

Question 34

GAM draws on the use of knowledge structures for perception, interpretation, decision making, and action. Key features include the ideas that knowledge structures;

Answer 34

A) develop out of experience B) influence perception at multiple levels, from basic visual patterns to complex behavioural sequences C) can become automated with use D) can contain affective states, behavioural programs, and beliefs E) are used to guide ppls interpretations and behavioural responses to their social environment

Question 35

Relevant subtypes of knowledge structures

Answer 35

A) perceptual schemas: used to identify phenomena such as everyday objects eg chair B) person schemata: include beliefs about a particular person or groups of ppl C) behavioural scripts: which contain info about how people behave under varying circumstances

Question 36

Other phenomena related to GAM

Answer 36

- opportunity - overriding inhibitions (can they disengage from morals and dehumanize) - shared motivations - role of anger