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1 Social Psychology
Aggression: Intending to Hurting others

“…nothing so threatening to humanity as humanity itself.” (Lewis

2 True or False
Thomas 1981)
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3 Aggression
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—Defined
—Theories of aggression
—Influences (causes)
—How it can be reduced
—Reforming a violent culture
4 What Is Aggression?
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—Aggression
—Physical or verbal behavior intended to cause harm
—Hostile Aggression (“social”)
—Aggression that springs from anger; its goal is to injure
—Instrumental Aggression (“silent”)
—Aggression that is a means to some other end
—E.g. terrorism,
—To displace occupiers or get to heaven
—E.g. boxing
—For $$$ reward
—E.g. war
5 Aggression
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7 Defining Aggression
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v Aggression is a behavior directed toward another individual carried
out with the proximate (immediate) intent to cause harm
vThe target is motivated to avoid such behavior
vKey elements:
ØHarm against another
ØIntentional
ØVictim regards harm as aversive and unwanted
ØFocus on intent and not the specific behavior
v

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ØFocus on intent and not the specific behavior

v
—
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9 Aggression in the PH
v Aggression is a foreign word with no exact translation in Filipino or
any other local languages
v
—
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12 2 Main Types of Aggression

1 Hostile/Affective Aggression
2 ØAggression motivated by negative emotions such as anger
ØIntent is to inflict injury because of the anger
ØImpulsive, unplanned
3 Instrumental Aggression
4 ØAggression used to achieve a goal.
ØNot emotional.
13 Other types of Aggression
v Physical aggression – pushing, hitting, biting
v Relational aggression – using relationships to harm each other,
using covert behavior like exclusion, silent treatment and gossip
—
14 Other types of Aggression (cont’d)
v Self-instigated (proactive) – aggression without provocation (such as
bullying)
v Retaliatory (reactive) – attack in reaction to some provocation
v Impulsive – thoughtless & reactive
vPremeditated – thoughtful, deliberate, proactive
v
v
15 What Are Some Theories of Aggression?
—Aggression as a Biological Phenomenon
—Thomas Hobbes – “by nature” (also Freud)
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau – “society causes it”

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—Thomas Hobbes – “by nature” (also Freud)

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau – “society causes it”
—Instinct theory and evolutionary psychology
—Innate, unlearned behavior pattern exhibited by all members of a
species (Lorenz)
—“naming error”
—Its adaptive
—What happened with Charles Barkley?
—Neural influences
—Abnormal brains can contribute to abnormally aggressive behavior
—Genetic Influences
—Heredity influences the neural system’s sensitivity to aggressive
cues
16 What Are Some Theories of Aggression?
—Aggression as a Biological Phenomenon
—Biochemical influences
—Alcohol –
—reduces self-awareness,
—accuracy of social perception
—Testosterone
—Poor diet –eat a lot of omega-3-fatty acids and calcium
—Biology and behavior interact
17 What Are Some Theories of Aggression?
—Aggression as a Response to Frustration
—Frustration
—Blocking of goal-directed behavior
—Frustration-aggression theory (Dollard, .39)
—Theory that frustration triggers a readiness to aggress
—Displacement

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18 What Are Some Theories of Aggression?
—Frustration-Aggression Theory Revised (L. Berkowitz, ’78)
—Original theory overstated the frustration-aggression connection
—Frustration produces anger, an emotional readiness to aggress
Frustration-> Anger> Responses (lots possible)
—Theory is designed to explain hostile aggression, not instrumental

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Frustration-> Anger> Responses (lots possible)

—Theory is designed to explain hostile aggression, not instrumental
aggression
19 What Are Some Theories of Aggression?
—Aggression as a Response to Frustration
—Relative deprivation
—Perception that one is less well off than others with whom one
compares oneself (notice the cognitive component here)
—Explains why happiness tends to be lower and crime rates higher
in communities and nations with large income inequality
—But must consider perceptions of
— “justice” & “perceived equity”
20 What Are Some Theories of Aggression?
—Aggression as Learned Social Behavior
—Rewards of aggression
—Through experience and by observing others, we learn that
aggression often pays
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21 What Are Some Theories of Aggression?
—Observational Learning
—Social learning theory (Bandura)
—We learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being
rewarded and punished
—Bandura’s bobo doll experiment
—Family
—Culture
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—
22 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Aversive Incidents
—Physical pain
—Psychological pain
—Heat
—Attacks
—Includes insults
—Southern vs. northern reactions (Cohen et al., ‘96)
—What are some other “cultures of honor” other than the southern

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—Southern vs. northern reactions (Cohen et al., ‘96)

—What are some other “cultures of honor” other than the southern
U.S.?
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23 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Arousal
—A given state of bodily arousal feeds one emotion or another,
depending on how the person interprets and labels the arousal
—Schachter & Singer, ‘62
—Without a known source of arousal, we look or external sources &
our mood.
24 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Aggression Cues
—Violence is more likely when aggressive cues release pent-up anger
(Berkowitz, ‘68)
—Re: incidence of violence and gun possession rates
—We must look closer
—Cf Maryland and Montana
—Guns are owned and used for different purposes
25 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Pornography and Sexual Violence
—Distorted perceptions of sexual reality
—Studies confirm that exposure to pornography increases
acceptance of the rape myth
26 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Pornography and Sexual Violence
—Distorted perceptions of sexual reality
—Aggression against women
—Studies suggest that the exposure to violent pornography
increase punitive behavior toward women
—Ted Bundy was not “normal” –so he can not speak for others
—“…the most damaging kinds of pornography...involving sexual
violence……you keep craving something [more) …which gives
you a greater sense of excitement..”
Impulse control (e.g. sex and violence) varies among individuals.
“Exposure to violence porn increases punitive behavior toward
women”….for some who are predisposed….not all
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women”….for some who are predisposed….not all

27 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Pornography and Sexual Violence
—Distorted perceptions of sexual reality
—Medial awareness education
—Media awareness training as an alternative to censorship
—Should violent porn be banned?
28 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Television and the Internet
—Television’s effects on behavior
—Correlating TV viewing and behavior
—Frequent result of correlating children’s TV viewing with
aggressiveness is the more violent the content the more
aggressive the child
—Extends to indirect aggression
—Should media violence be banned?
29 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Television and the Internet
—Television’s effects on behavior
—TV viewing experiments
—Ross Parke (1977) and Jacques Leyens (1975)
—Showed institutionalized American and Belgian delinquent boys
a series of either aggressive or nonaggressive commercial films
• Findings: Exposure to more violence led to an increase
in viewer aggression
30 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Television and the Internet
—Television’s effects on behavior
—Why does TV viewing affect behavior?
—The arousal that it produces
—Viewing violence disinhibits
—Media portrayals evoke imitation
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31 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Television and the Internet
—Television’s effects on thinking
—Desensitization

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—Television’s effects on thinking

—Desensitization
—Social scripts
—Culturally provided mental instructions for how to act in various
situations
—Altered perceptions
—Media portrayals shape perceptions of reality
—Cognitive priming
—Media portrayals prime thinking
—Time drain
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32 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Video Games
—The games kids play
—Games are becoming more violent and sometimes include
—Carjacking
—Shooting
—Sex
—Murder
—Games that are rated “M” for mature are often marketed to those
younger
33 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Media Influences: Video Games
—Effects of the games kids play
—Increases aggressive behaviors
—Increases aggressive thoughts
—Increases aggressive feelings
—Decreases helping others
—Decreases empathy for others
—Desensitized to violence
—Should violent video games be banned?
34 What Are Some Influences on Aggression?
—Group Influences
—Can amplify aggressive reactions partly by diffusing responsibility
—Increases with distance and number
—deindividuation
—Social contagion

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—deindividuation
—Social contagion

35 How Can Aggression Be Reduced?

—Catharsis?
—Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis, expressing aggression by
catharsis tends to breed further aggression, not reduce it
36 How Can Aggression Be Reduced?

—A Social Learning Approach

—Controlling aggression by counteracting the factors that provoke it
—Reducing aversive stimulation
—Rewarding nonaggression
—Modeling nonaggression
—Eliciting reactions incompatible with aggression
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37 How Can Aggression Be Reduced?
—Culture Change and World Violence
—Cultures can change