Social Psychology PSY450 Instructor: Briana Harvey Welcome! Social Psychology PSY450 Instructor: Briana Harvey

Aggression and Antisocial Behavior Defining Aggression and Antisocial Behavior Is Aggression Innate or Learned? Inner Causes of Aggression

Is This Aggression? Armin Meiwes Bernd Brandes

Defining Aggression and Antisocial Behavior An intentional behavior Intent is to harm Not accidental harm Not assertiveness or playfulness The victim wants to avoid harm Example of aggression: Shooting someone who is running away from you Not aggression: A doctor gives a painful shot

Intense Aggression Violence Aggression, with the goal of extreme physical harm, such as injury or death All violent acts are aggressive acts, but not all aggressive acts are violent A child pushes another child out of the way Aggression, but not violence A child beats another child severely with a baseball bat Aggression that is also violence

Aggression Can be direct (person is physically present) or indirect (person physically absent) Men = direct aggression hit someone, yell in their face Women = indirect aggression set house on fire, spread rumors

Types of Aggression Passive aggression Active aggression Harming others by withholding a behavior (purposely failing to convey an important message) Active aggression Harming others by performing a behavior (spreading vicious rumors)

Types of Aggression Reactive/Hostile Aggression Hot, impulsive Desire to hurt someone Proactive/Instrumental Aggression Cold, premeditated Motivated by some other goal (money, revenge)

Aggression in Human History Aggression is universal Cultural rules restrain aggression Hand signals, body language… Significant decrease in aggressive acts throughout history Murder rate in England 14th century: 24 per 100,000 people 1960s: 0.6 per 100,000 people

Aggression Rules of conduct for war Geneva Convention Four treaties that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war Negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War

Instinct Theories of Aggression Freud proposed human motivational forces are based on instinct Instinct: an innate tendency to seek a particular goal Water, food, sex According to Freud: Sex/Food – life giving instinct (Eros) Aggression – death instinct (Thanatos)

Social Learning Theory Social learning theory (Observational Learning) People learn from observing the behavior of others, and observing the outcomes of that behavior We acquire attitudes, emotional responses, and behavior patterns

Bandura Bobo Doll Experiments Albert Bandura and his colleagues at Stanford University conducted an experiment in 1965 Observational learning of aggression in children They show preschoolers a short film of a person beating up a bobo doll. Three different endings watched by three different groups of children.

Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment Consequence 1: model-rewarded condition After the person beating up the bobo doll, the person is rewarded with candy. Result: The preschoolers acted violently towards the bobo doll Consequence 2: model-punished condition After the person beating up the bobo doll, the person is scolded and spanked. Result: The preschoolers act non-violently towards the bobo doll

Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment Consequence 3: no-consequences condition Preschoolers didn’t watch any consequence after beating up the bobo doll. Result: The preschoolers acted violently towards the bobo doll. This suggested that a mere exposure to TV violence ,whether or not the violence was visibly rewarded on screen, could spur aggressive responses in young children.

Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment

Social Learning Theory. Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment Modeling of aggressive behavior 2 4 6 8 10 12 model rewarded punished boys girls

Bandura

Nature AND Nurture Cultural socialization and learning can increase or decrease innate aggressive impulses and aggressive behaviors Both learning and instinct are relevant

Question…. Can you remember the last incident of aggression you witnessed in which you knew the aggressor. Was frustration a factor? What happened right before the aggression?

Inner Causes of Aggression Frustration-aggression hypothesis (1939) The occurrence of aggressive behavior always comes before the existence of frustration Frustration always leads to some form of aggression

Not True! Frustration: Blockage or interference of goal You can have aggression without frustration, frustration without aggression But aggression is increased by frustration

Inner Causes of Aggression Unpleasant moods increase aggression Bad mood is not necessary for aggression Excitation transfer may increase aggression

Figure 10.2 Arousal from physical exercise can transfer to a provocation and increase aggression (Zillmann, Katcher, & Milavsky, 1972).

Hostile Cognitive Biases Hostile attribution bias Perceive ambiguous actions by others as aggressive

Hostile Cognitive Biases Hostile expectation bias Assume people will react to potential conflicts with aggression

Hostile Cognitive Biases Aggressive people have inner biases that make them: Expect others to react aggressively View ambiguous acts as aggressive Assume others act purposefully when they hurt or offend them

Age and Aggression 25% of toddler interactions in day-care settings involve physical aggression Even violent teenagers don’t involve 25% of aggressive interactions! BUT it is aggression…NOT violence! Most violent aggression occurs between 15 and 30 years. Average age of murders: 27 years

Aggression Interpersonal Causes of Aggression External Causes of Aggression Self and Culture Other Antisocial Behavior

Selfishness and Influence Aggression Can be a means to resolve social disputes Can be a form of social influence Factors that encourage use of aggression More you want the reward Someone you love in threatened Believe you will be successful Sports game

Domestic and Relationship Violence Domestic violence Occurs within the home between people who have a close relationship Aggression is highest between siblings! In 1984, Surgeon General declared domestic violence the number one health risk in U.S. #1 cause of injuries to women ages 15-44

Domestic and Relationship Violence Children and elderly are at highest risk for abuse Abusive partners also tend to be abusive parents (Ross, 1996) Parents abused as children are more likely to abuse their own children (Cappell & Heiner, 1990) But doesn’t mean they necessarily will Culture is slowly intervening, making it unacceptable and punishable Illegal to spank in 24 countries

External Causes of Aggression Weapons effect Mere presence of weapon increases aggressive behavior Weapons (guns, knifes, swords, etc.) are associated with aggression, and therefore they increase the accessibility of associated aggressive thoughts which in turn facilitate aggressive behavior

Turner et al. (1975)

External Causes of Aggression Mass media Violent media exposure increases aggression Huesmann, et al. (2003) 15 year long study of 329 people who watch violent TV and those who don’t Those who watched violent TV as a kid were 3x more likely to be convicted of criminal behavior They were also more likely to abuse their spouses

Violence in the Media 2001 estimate: by time US child 10 years’ old will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000+ other acts of violence on TV 58% of all TV programs contain violence 40% of violent acts by heroes Controlled experiments find effect of viewing a violent program/playing violent video games on aggressive behavior but only in children who already have aggressive tendencies

Violence in the Media Three reasons to believe that violent video games are worse than TV Video games are active and people learn better when they are actively involved Players of violent video games are more likely to identify with a violent character Ex. First person shooter games Video games reward violent behavior Ex. “Nice shot” and bonus points

External Causes of Aggression Unpleasant Environments Hot temperatures are associated with aggression and violence Loud noises, foul odors, air pollution, and crowding can increase aggression

External Causes of Aggression Studies have found that regions with hotter temperatures have higher violent crime rates Time period studies have found higher violence rates in hot years, hot months and hot days In a study that looked at temperature and crime rates over 45 years Murder and assault higher in hotter years Higher during hotter months Nonviolent crimes were not affected by temperature WHAT ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING. Estimated to increase tempes by 2-8 degrees F

Effects of environmental stressors on aggressive behaviour. Number of players hit during major league baseball games 0.7 0.6 0.5 Players hit per game 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Below 70 70-79 80-89 90 and above temperature A2 PSYCHOLOGY LANA CROSBIE

Effects of environmental stressors on aggressive behaviour Freedman (1977) suggested that physiological arousal of a crowd heighten the mood you are in. In some situations a crowd may be enjoyable e.g. concert, or undesirable in other situations e.g. riot therefore you might feel stressed and behave anti-socially. A2 PSYCHOLOGY LANA CROSBIE

Chemical Influences Chemical Influences Testosterone Male sex hormone Although females have it also A meta-analysis of 54 studies found that testosterone increases aggression Violent male prisoners have higher levels of testosterone

Chemical Influences Serotonin “Feel good” neurotransmitter Low levels linked to aggression Prisoners convicted of impulsive crimes (seeing red!) have lower levels of serotonin than those who commit a premeditated crime

Chemical Influences Alcohol Linked to increased aggression Meta-analysis of 130 studies found a positive correlation between alcohol and criminal and domestic violence Then a meta-analysis of experimental studies came to the same conclusion. That alcohol increases aggression

Alcohol and Aggression How alcohol influences aggression Reduces inhibitions Narrowing effect on attention Decreases self-awareness Disrupts executive function

Class Exercise The text reports that 50% of people that commit a violent crime do so when intoxicated. What are the implications of this? If people commit violent acts while intoxicated should we hold them more responsible because they chose to consume a substance that would allow them to be more aggressive or less responsible since it was the substance that allowed them to do be more aggressive? If we want to reduce aggression should we regulate alcohol to a greater degree or make alcohol more costly so it is more expensive to get intoxicated? Write your answer on a sheet of paper

Food for Thought - Is There a Link Between Diet and Violence? Dr. Bernard Gesch A physiologist of the University of Oxford Nutrition is linked to aggression and violence Junk food can increase violence Vitamin supplements reduces antisocial behavior

Self-Control Poor self-control Is an important cause of crime Is a predictor of violent crimes Most criminals have impulsive personalities 2006 World Cup Final

Wounded Pride Violent individuals Think they are better than other people Have grandiose or inflated opinions of their worth Narcissists Respond with high levels of aggression when they receive a blow to their ego

Culture of Honor Southern U.S. has culture of honor Violent response to threats to one’s honor Higher levels of violence Humiliation Primary cause of violence and aggression in cultures of honor May be an important cause of terrorism

Other Antisocial Behavior Lying Not telling the truth Detecting liars is not that easy Cheating Self-control is important predictor of cheating Stealing People in anonymous state more likely to steal Diener et al. (1976) study of Halloween candy

Figure 10.7 Children were most likely to steal candy when they were not identifiable and when they were in a group Person would ask their name and what street they lived on identified groups versus annymous where he didn’t ask names

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/criminal- minds.html