1. Aggression
Aggression can be any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.
It may be done reactively out of hostility or proactively as a calculated means to an end.
Research shows that aggressive behavior emerges from the interaction of biology and experience.

2. The Biology of Aggression
Three biological influences on aggressive behavior are:
Genetic Influences
Neural Influences
Biochemical Influences
Preview Question 10: What biological factors make us more prone to hurt one another?

3. Influences
Genetic Influences: Animals have been bred for aggressiveness for sport and at times for research. Twin studies show aggression may be genetic. In men, aggression is possibly linked to the Y chromosome.
Neural Influences: Some centers in the brain, especially the limbic system (amygdala) and the frontal lobe, are intimately involved with aggression.

4. Influences
Biochemical Influences: Animals with diminished amounts of testosterone (castration) become docile, and if injected with testosterone aggression increases. Prenatal exposure to testosterone also increases aggression in female hyenas.

5. The Psychology of Aggression
Four psychological factors that influence aggressive behavior are:
dealing with aversive events;
learning aggression is rewarding;
observing models of aggression; and
acquiring social scripts.
Preview Question 11: What psychological factors may trigger aggressive behavior?

6. Aversive Events
Studies in which animals and humans experience unpleasant events reveal that those made miserable often make others miserable.
Jeff Kowalsky/ EPA/ Landov
Ron Artest (Pacers) attack on Detroit Pistons fans.

7. Environment
Even environmental temperature can lead to aggressive acts. Murders and rapes increased with the temperature in Houston.

8. Physical Discomfort & Aggression
Heat
Humidity
Pain
Noxious fumes
Poverty
Crowding

9. Frustration-Aggression Principle
A principle in which frustration (caused by the blocking of an attempt to achieve a desired goal) creates anger, which can generate aggression.

10. Learning that Aggression is Rewarding
When aggression leads to desired outcomes, one learns to be aggressive. This is shown in both animals and humans.
Cultures that favor violence breed violence. Scotch-Irish settlers in the South had more violent tendencies than their Puritan, Quaker, & Dutch counterparts in the Northeast of the US.

11. Observing Models of Aggression
Sexually coercive men are promiscuous and hostile in their relationships with women. This coerciveness has increased due to television viewing of R- and X-rated movies.

12. Acquiring Social Scripts
The media portrays social scripts and generates mental tapes in the minds of the viewers. When confronted with new situations individuals may rely on such social scripts. If social scripts are violent in nature, people may act them out.

13. Do Video Games Teach or Release Violence?
The general consensus on violent video games is that, to some extent, they breed violence. Adolescents view the world as hostile when they get into arguments and receive bad grades after playing such games.

15. Media Violence More TV sets in United States than toilets
Media consumption is #1 pass-time among Americans, particularly youth
60%-70% of all TV programs contain violence
70%-80% show no remorse, criticism, or penalty for the violence
By the time the average American child graduates from elementary school:
More than 8,000 murders
More than 100,000 other acts of violence (e.g., assaults, rape)

16. Media Violence
More recently, video games have become kids’ favorite form of media
90% of kids age 2-17 play regularly
Majority of popular games are violent

17. Grand Theft Auto

18. Media Violence
Since at least 1970, researchers have known of a link between violent media and aggression
Weakened inhibitions against violent behavior
Imitation of specific violent acts
Aggression primed as a response to anger
Desensitization to violence
Overestimation of prevalence of violence in real life

19. Common Responses
1. “That’s all boloney. I play those games and I’ve never killed anyone.”
2. “Maybe there is an effect, but it’s really small and meaningless.”
3. “Actually, my friends and I feel better after blowing off steam playing video games.”

20. Common Responses
1. “Not all who play violent games/watch violent media become killers.”
True. Not all smokers die of lung cancer, either.
The point is NOT whether exposure leads inevitably to criminal mayhem, but that the likelihood of aggression is increased

21. Effects of VVGs (Bushman & Anderson, 2001)
Findings from a meta-analysis
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
Aggression
Helping
Hostile
Thoughts
Affect
Arousal
Correlation with
VVG Exposure

22. Common Responses 2. “Effects are trivially small”
False. Effects are larger than many that we take for granted

23. Common Responses
3. “Playing violent games/watching violence allows people to “vent” feelings of anger”
False. Watching violence or engaging in virtual violence increases aggression
Catharsis doesn’t work!

24. Media Industry Response
1. The media is simply “holding a mirror to society.”
False. Real world is far less violent than the TV/Movie world.
0.2% of crimes are murders; 50% of crimes on TV are murders
Average of 7 characters are killed on TV each night
If applied in reality, this proportion of murder would wipe out U.S. population in 50 days

25. Media Industry Response
2. “We’re simply giving the public what they want.”
Maybe. But viewer interest is only one factor driving programming decisions
Societal violence can be considered a hazardous by-product
Also, most popular shows (Friends, Seinfeld, Bachelor) are not violent

26. Media Industry Response
3. “Violence sells!”
False. TV violence significantly decreases memory for commercial messages
Bushman, 1998
19% of viewers will be less likely to remember an ad if it is embedded in a violent or sexually explicit show

27. Summary