Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Social Psychological Explanations of Aggression
- Social Learning Theory
- Observation
- Learning takes place
through the
observation of models
- Seeing others reinforced
or punished acts as
vicarious reinforcement
- Mental Representation
- Individual forms mental
representations of events
- Also forms expectations of
possible rewards or punishments
- Production of Behaviour
- Aggression maintained
through direct reinforcement
- Likelihood of aggression increased
if high self-efficacy for production
- Evaluation
- SLT demonstrated in young
children observing aggressive
adult model (Bandura et al, 1961)
- Imitated model, but only if model
was rewarded for their behaviour
(Bandura and Walters, 1963)
- Learning takes place regardless of outcome,
but production linked only to reinforcement
- SLT also applies to aggression in
adults e.g. Phillips, 1986 - homicide
rates and boxing matches
- Strength - can explain aggression
in absence of direct reinforcement
- Can also explain individual
differences and
context-dependent learning
- Problem of demand
characteristics in Bobo doll study
- Ethical issues* -
teaching children
aggressive behaviour
- Cultural differences - absence of
aggressive models among !Kung San
- IDA
- Ethical issues make
SLT explanation difficult
to test scientifically
- Deindividuation
- Nature of Deindividuation
- Reduced self-evaluation;
decreased concern about
evaluation by others
- Leads to an increase
in antisocial behaviour
- More likely when
anonymous, in a large
crowd or drunk
- Process of Deindividuation
- Social norms usually inhibit antisocial behaviour
- Inhibitions removed
when deindividuated
- Conditions that increase anonymity
weaken barriers to antisocial behaviour
- Research on Deindividuation
- Faceless Crowd - lynchings more
savage when large crowds (Mullen,
1986); baiting crowd (Mann, 1981)
- Reduced Private Self-Awareness
- Reduced self-awareness more important than anonymity
- In large crowds, less able to self-regulate behaviour
- Evaluation
- IDA
- Gender bias - males more likely to
become aggressive when
deindividuated (Cannavale et al, 1970)
- Real-world application
- the baiting crowd
- Anonymity - Zimbardo (1969) found
longer shocks when anonymous
- Local group norms - people
respond to normative cues
within the social context
- Meta-analysis (Postmes and
Spears, 1998) - insufficient
support for claims of theory
- Evidence of online aggression when
deindividuated (Francis et al, 2006)
- Deindividuation may increase
prosocial behaviour in some situations
- Cultural difference - cultures
that change appearance more
brutal in war (Watson, 1973)
- Institutional Aggression
- Prison Violence
- Evaluation
- Importation model - support
from studies of US prisons
(Harer and Steffensmeier, 2006)
- DeLisi et al (2004)
challenges the claim that
pre-prison gang membership
predicts violence
- Deprivation model - support from prison
studies but not psychiatric institutions
- Deprivation model explains violence against staff -
importation model explains violence against other
inmates (Jiang and Fisher-Giorlando, 2002)
- Importation Model
- Prisoners 'import' their
violent behaviours into prison
- Gang membership
- Pre-prison gang membership
an important determinant of
prison misconduct
- Deprivation model
- A reaction to stressful
conditions of prison
- Skyes (1958) - specific
deprivations within prison
linked to increase in violence
- Genocide
- Evaluation
- Bystanders - non-intervention
allows killing to continue
- Dehumanization - may explain
violence against immigrants
- Obedience - ignores other
factors (e.g. anti-Semitism)
- Staub (1999) - five
stages of genocide
- Dehumanization -
removal of moral
restraints against killing
other humans (e.g.
Tutsi 'cockroaches')
- Milgram believed situational
pressures could coerce people
into destructive obedience
- IDA
- Real-world application - reversing
conditions of deprivation led to
reduction of violence at HMP
Woodhill (Wilson, 2010)
- Real-world application -
dehumanization can explain
violence towards refugees
though social dominance
orientation (SDO)