Aggression

Aggression

1. Social Psychological

   • Social Learning Theory
     • Explanation:
       • Learning takes place through observation of models
       • Seeing others reinforced or punished acts as vicarious reinforcement
       • Individual forms expectation of event, possible reward or punishment
       • Aggression maintained through direct reinforcement
     • Key Study: Bandura (1986) Bobo Doll
       • Children observe adults demonstrating aggressive behavior towards a doll. The adults are either rewarded or punished for their actions.
       • The children who observed the adults being rewarded were more likely to imitate aggressive behavior towards doll than those who observed the adults being punished.
     • Evaluation:
       • Applicability to adults - Phillips (1986), homicide rates in the US increased in the week following a major boxing match.
       • Ethical issues in SLT research
       • Cultural Differences - !Kung San
   • Deindividuation
     • Explanation:
       • Reduced self-evaluation leads to an increase in anti-social behavior.
       • Social norms inhibit anti-social behavior. Inhibitions removed when deindividuated. Conditions which increase anonymity weaken barriers to antisocial behavior.
     • Key Study: Zimbardo (1969)
       • Groups of four female under-graduates required to deliver electric shocks to another student to 'aid learning'.
       • Half wore lab coats and hoods, sat in separate cubicles and were never referred to by name. Other half wore normal clothes, were given large name tags and were introduced by name.
       • Participants in the deindividuation condition shocked the 'learner' for twice as long.
     • Evaluation:
       • Gender Bias
       • Local group norms - people respond to normative cues within the social context.
       • Evidence of online aggression - Francis et al. (2006)
       • Cultural differences - cultures that change appearance more brutal in war (Watson, 1973)
   • Institutional Aggression
     • Explanation:
       • Importation model - Prisoners 'import' their violent behaviours into prisons.
       • Deprivation model - a reaction to stressful conditions of prison.
     • Key Study: Harer and Steffensmeier (2006) and McCorkle et al. (1995)
       • Collected data from 58 US prisons and found that black inmates had significantly higher rates of violent behavior but lower rates of alchol/drug-related misconduct than white inmates.
       • Overcrowding, lack of privacy and the lack of meaningful activity all significantly influence peer violence.
     • Evaluation:
       • Real-world application - reversing conditions of deprivation led to reduction of violence at HMP Woodhill (Wilson, 2010)
       • Jiang and Fisher-Giorlando (2002), found that the DM best explains violence against staff and the IM best explains violence toward prisoners. The combination best explains Institutional aggression as a whole.

2. Biological

3. Evolution and Human Aggression