Aggression

Aggression

1. Social Psychological Explanations of Aggression

   • Social Learning Theory
     • Albert Bandura
       • Bobo Doll (1961) - Children aged 3 to 5 observed an adult playing aggressively with a Bobo Doll, the child then enters the room with the same toys and behaves aggressively. When the adult is aggressive, so is the child
         • IDA - Important as TV was becoming widely available and children copy what they see on TV, real or fantasy. Parents may want to control what their children watch
         • Low ecological validity - Conducted in a lab
         • Unethical - Exposing children to aggression
         • Demand characteristics - Children knew what was expected of them
         • Age bias - Only studied children
     • -Children observe role models and imitate their behavior. They learn whether others are rewarded or punished for aggressive behavior through observation (known as vicarious reinforcement). If others are rewarded, more likely to imitate the behavior themselves
     • -Attention -Retention -Motor reproduction -Motivation
     • Explains cultural differences in levels of aggression. In some cultures, adult aggression is hidden so child aggression is lower
     • Vicarious learning explains aggression from a learning perspective without a need for direct reinforcement
     • Can explain individual differences in aggression
     • Age bias - Not much evidence with adults
     • Ethical issues
     • Ethnocentric
     • Ignores brain chemistry
   • Deindividuation
     • Not all aggression is between individuals. When in a large, anonymous group, people often behave in a more aggression way than they would normally
     • Zimbardo (1969)
     • Diener et al (1976) "Trick or Treat". 27 women asked to give out sweets to 1000 trick or treaters. Half the children were asked for addresses and the other half remained anonymous. Some on their own, others in a crowd.
   • Institutional Aggression

2. Biological Explanations of Aggression

   • Neural and Hormonal Explanations
   • Genetic Factors

3. Evolution and Human Aggression

   • Evolutionary Explanations
   • Explanations of Group Display