Aggression

Aggression

1. Social psychological approaches to explaining aggression

   • Social Learning Theory (SLT)
     • Observation
       • Bandura- learning takes place through the observation of models.
       • Learn consequences of aggressive behavior by watching others being reinforced or punished,
         • Vicarious reinforcement
           • Not learning through direct reinforcement of behavior but through observing someone else being reinforced for that behavior.
         • Learn behaviours (through observation) & learn also learn whether & when such behaviours are worth repeating (through vicarious reinforcement).
     • Mental Representation (MR)
       • Bandura- for social learning to take place, child must form MR of events in their social environment.
       • Must represent rewards & punishments for their aggressive behaviour in term of expectations of future outcomes.
         • In future will display learned behaviour if expectation of rewards is greater than punishment.
     • Production of behaviour
       • maintenance through direct experience
         • If child is rewarded for behaviour, more likely to repeat in future, e.g. bullying
       • Self-efficacy expectancies
         • children alos develop confidence in ability to carry out the aggressive actions.
           • If behaviour was disastrous then have less confidence in their ability.
     • Bandura's study
   • Deindividuation (DI)
     • It is a psychological state. When part of a relatively unknown group, people lose their personal identity and therefore their inhibitions about violence.
     • Nature of deindividuation
       • Psychological state of deindividuation is aroused when people join crowds or large groups.
       • Zimbardo- factors that affect DI: Anonymity (uniform) & alcohol/drugs
         • Also stresses these factors may lead to increased prosocial behaviour (e.g. music festivals).
       • Leads to increase in antisocial behaviour
     • Process of DI
       • Social norms usually inhibit antisocial behaviour.
         • Being anonymous in crowd reduces inner restraints &increases inhibited behaviours.
     • Research on DI
       • Anonymity
       • The faceless crowd
         • Mullen (1986)- meta-analysis of newspaper reports of lynching in America between 1899 & 1946.

2. Biological explanations of Aggression

   • Neural & Hormonal mechanism in aggression
     • Neural
       • Serotonin
       • Dopamine
     • Hormonal
       • Testosterone
       • Cortisol
   • Genetic factors in aggression

3. Institutional Aggression

   • Institutional Aggression within groups: Prisons
   • Institutional Aggression within groups: Genocide

4. Evaluation & Human aggression

   • Evolutionary explanations of human aggression
     • Jealousy
     • Infidelity
   • Group display as an adaptive response
     • Sports
     • Warfare