Aggression and Altruism

Aggression Hostile aggression - behavior intended to harm another, either physically or psychologically, and motivated by feelings of anger and hostility Instrumental aggression - behavior intended to harm another in the service of motives other than pure hostility (for example, to attract attention, acquire wealth, and to advance political and ideological causes)

Suicide Attacks Disproportionate share of terrorism casualties Numbers increasing worldwide Effect on society’s morale and the economy Threat of WMD How to prevent suicide terrorism? Individual: Can we profile suicide bombers Group: disrupt organizational structures Society: Drain popular support

Attributional Biases The case of suicide terrorists (cont’d) Personality profile of suicide terrorists in Palestine: young unmarried adult males Not suicidal No evidence of psychopathology Not from poor or uneducated backgrounds To prevent ST, it would not help to profile their personality Instead, focus on 1) Disrupt organizations who recruit them 2) Drain popular support for ST

Aggression 1. Gender and Aggression  Aggression is overwhelmingly a male activity 2. Situational Determinants of Aggression  Media (modeling)  Heat 3. Cultural determinants of aggression

Fig Marriage lowers aggression levels in males

Fig. 13.1

Fig. 13.2

Fig Frustration-Aggression

Aggression 4. Culture and Aggression a. The culture of honor Culture of honor - a culture that is defined by strong concerns about one’s own and others’ reputations, leading to sensitivity to slights and insults and a willingness to use violence to avenge any perceived wrong or insult

Fig. 13.5

Altruism altruism - unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard to the consequences for the self Situational Determinants of Altruism bystander intervention - helping a victim of an emergency by those who have observed what is happening; it is generally reduced as the number of observers increases, as each individual feels that someone else will be likely to help

Altruism Diffusion of responsibility - a reduction of a sense of urgency to help someone involved in an emergency or dangerous situation under the assumption that others who are also observing the situation will help

Altruism Construal Processes and Altruism pluralistic ignorance - a tendency not to respond to a potentially dangerous situation because of a collective uncertainty about what is happening that is reinforced by the fact that no one else seems concerned or is responding

Altruism Evolutionary Approaches to Altruism Kin selection - the tendency for natural selection to favor behaviors that increase the chances of survival of genetic relatives reciprocal altruism - tendency to help other people with the expectation that they will be likely to help in return at some other time Costly signalling – tendency to help other people to communicate a “hard to fake” signal that establish some value (reliability, cooperativeness, mate value)

Leivine, Norenzayan, & Philbrick, 2001