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COURSE NOTES: Social



	Based on the course PSY/SOC 301, taught at The Sage Colleges by Prof. Susan Cloninger. This class uses the following textbook, which provides the chapter organization that you see on the menu on the left side of this page: Myers, D. (2005). Social Psychology (8th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill.

Chapter 10:

Aggression: Hurting Others

WHAT IS AGGRESSION?

Is this aggression?

killing others because of their ethnicity?
insulting the store clerk who is very slow?
stepping on your partner's toes while dancing?
eating meat?
accidentally bumping into someone while in line?

We can be aggressive in words, as well as deeds.

In fact, verbal aggression can be very subtle. We may fool ourselves into thinking we aren't aggressive.

When we hurt others, it isn't always defined as aggression. Our intentions matter.

AGGRESSION

physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone (Myers, 2005, p. 381)
ex: hitting someone; insulting someone

How are these types of aggression different?

Murdering your spouse in a violent rage?
Killing an enemy soldier on the battlefield?

HOSTILE AGGRESSION

aggression driven by anger and performed as an end in itself (Myers, 2005, p. 381)
ex: hitting or yelling at someone who has made you angry; murdering out of rage

INSTRUMENTAL AGGRESSION

aggression that is a means to some other end (Myers, 2005, p. 381)
ex: killing someone to steal his money
ex: killing as your job (a soldier)
What about "road rage"?

THEORIES OF AGGRESSION

Is aggression inborn?
Is aggression a response to frustration?
Is aggression learned social behavior?

Aggression as biology

Instinct theory and evolutionary psychology
Neural influences
Genetic influences
Biochemical influences

Instinct theory and evolutionary psychology

INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOR

an innate, unlearned behavior pattern exhibited by all members of a species
ex: animals fighting over territories; possibly human "death instinct" (Freud), but that is controversial

Instinct theories of aggression

Freud

Thanatos = "death instinct" directed toward others

Lorenz

"fighting instinct" disperses populations over wide areas, maximizing use of available resources

Sociobiology

aggression as part of the evolutionary process because it was adaptive

Neural influences

electrical stimulation of the amygdala produces rage

Genetic influences

selective breeding of mice and other animals for aggressiveness
sympathetic nervous system activity
temperament
twins are similar

Biochemical influences

alcohol unleashes aggression (in people who are provoked)
high levels of testosterone
low levels of serotonin makes one violence-prone

Men with higher levels of testosterone:

research on 1709 men aged 40 to 70 years (Salvadore, 1997)
are less pleased with life (more sad)
are less optimistic about the future
report getting less emotional support from family and friends
have double the divorce rate of men with low testosterone
are aggressive

Low serotonin levels are associated with

hyperresponsiveness to aversive stimuli

an integrated model (Bernhardt, 199) [graphic presented in lecture]

Aggression as a response to frustration

drive theory: external conditions, such as frustration, give rise to a motive to hurt others

What makes you angry? Many people (such as 1000 Swedish teenagers studied by Torestad, 1990) describe frustrating situations:

Source: Kenrick et al, Social Psychology, p. 360
thwarted plans (e.g., my parents don't allow me to go out in the evening)
environmental frustrations ("I go to see a film listed in the paper, but when I get there it isn't playing.")

FRUSTRATION

anything that blocks our attaining a goal
ex: broken vending machine

Frustration isn't always expressed directly against the person (or thing) that caused the frustration. In fact, it may be dangerous to do so.

DISPLACEMENT

the redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the frustration (generally to a safer or more socially acceptable target)
ex: kicking the dog or yelling at a child instead of at your boss

Frustration-aggression theory revised

reasons for frustration (such as broken hearing aid) reduce aggression
ANGER may be essential

revised frustration-aggression theory (graphic) [frustration leads to anger, which in turn leads to aggression]

In addition, stimuli and the availability of aggressive responses must be considered.

stimuli: sight of weapons (gun) increases aggression
banning handguns reduces murder rate

the "weapons effect"

Weapons (such as guns) enhance aggressive thoughts and feelings. In an experiment by Berkowitz & LePage, Ss made angry and then tested in a room with a 12-gauge shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver, gave longer and stronger shocks to a supposed fellow S w

Is frustration the same as deprivation?

No. The gap between expectations and attainments is crucial.

Does money alleviate frustration

The adaptation-level phenomenon

Adaptation-level Phenomeonon

the tendency to adapt to a given level of stimulation and thus to notice and react to changes from that level
ex: noticing increase or decrease from your current level of income (or gpa, etc.)

Relative deprivation

the perception that one is less well off than others to whom one compares oneself
ex: Air Force members' greater dissatisfaction when more of their fellow officers were promoted; frustration when economy improves and others do better than oneself

Who would you expect would have higher self-esteem: high ability students who attend elite schools, or those attending less elite schools?

Why?
What would the concept of relative deprivation predict?
Marsh & Parker (1984): "Is it better to be a relatively large fish in a small pond even if you don't learn to swim as well?"

social learning theories: aggression is viewed as a learned social behavior that can be altered

Aggression as learned social behavior

The rewards of aggression

children; hockey players; rioting

Observational learning

Bandura's social learning theory

Bobo doll study
the family: physical punishment, absent fathers
the subculture

INFLUENCES ON AGGRESSION

Aversive incidents

Pain

displacement in shocked rats and other species
aversive stimuli lead to aggression

Heat

laboratory studies: more irritation and hostility (e.g., more horn-honking at stalled driver)
real world: more riots and crimes in hot weather (including assaults, wife-beatings, rapes, murders, and urban riots)

Attacks

intentional attacks breed retaliation

Arousal

post-exercise arousal

Schachter and Singer's study

In Ss not told about the physiological effects:

epinephrine + euphoric model produce euphoria
epinephrine + angry model produce anger

Schachter & Singer: Angry Group, HappyGroup [graphic presented in lecture]

Aggression Cues

guns

Media influences: Pornography and sexual violence

Distorted perceptions of sexual reality

Aggression against women

correlates with availability of (violent) pornography
is widespread (22-28%, in some surveys, report rape or attempted rape)
1/3 men might rape if they could get away with it
rape myths

Media awareness education

Items from the Burt Scale (Rape Myths)

"A woman who goes to the home or apartment of a man on their first date implies that she is willing to have sex."
"Any healthy woman can successfully resist a rapist if she really wants to."
"Many rapes are invented by women who have discovered they are pregnant and want to protect their own reputation."

Media influences: Television

Television's effects on behavior

Correlating TV viewing and behavior
TV viewing experiments
Why does TV viewing affect behavior

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

positive, constructive, helpful social behavior (the opposite of antisocial behavior)
ex: helping someoneWhat are the consequences of aggression, and of its alternatives? We've learned aggression because it has been rewarding. We learn to respond to stimuli that trigger aggression. We can learn something else instead.

Television's effects on thinking

Desensitization

Altered perceptions

Cognitive priming

t is estimated that most Americans view 200,000 acts of violence on TV before they finish high school.

That's over 30 per day!

If you take out 8 hours for sleeping, that's an act of violence every 32 minutes!!!! (If the TV were on for 16 hours a day.)

We learn how to behave.

TV doesn't make all who watch it aggressive.

According to one researcher (Wendy Wood), 13% of those exposed to a violent program will become more aggressive than usual.

Media Influences: Video Games

The games kids play

Effects of the games kids play

Group Influences

diffusion of responsibility

social "contagion"

social identity (gangs)

collective mentality leading to genocide

experiments: groups can amplify aggression

REDUCING AGGRESSION

Catharsis?

Would he be less aggressive if he screamed? [graphic presented in lecture]
emotional release
ex: aggressive action or fantasy that reduces the aggressive drive (a controversial proposal!)
catharsis: "letting off steam"

A social learning approach

Change effects of television.

Provide different models.
Tell children that TV is unrealistic. (Inoculate them.)
Provide family models that are not aggressive.

[MYERS'S] PERSONAL POSTSCRIPT: REFORMING A VIOLENT CULTURE

supplementary material presented in lecture:

AN AMERICAN PROBLEM?

The risk of being murdered in the United States is 7 to 10 times that in most European countries. Finland is the closest European competitor, but the American homicide rate is 3 times that of Finland.

The "culture of honor" among southern White males

a study by Cohen et al, 1996, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(5), 945-960
"Insult, Aggression, and the Southern Culture of Honor: An 'Experimental Ethnography'"
"For centuries, the American South has been regarded as more violent than the North ..."
"culture of honor": need to defend self against insults, or else will lose status before family & peers

Method

U. Michigan students who grew up in the North or South; white males only
insulted by a confederate, who bumped into the participant and called him an "asshole"

Results

Northerners were relatively unaffected
Southerners were affected in many ways

Southerners were:

more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened
more upset (rise in cortisol levels, a hormone associated with stress, anxiety, and arousal in humans & animals)
more physiologically primed for aggression (rise in testosterone levels)
more cognitively primed for aggression
more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior (not yielding in narrow hallway; "chicken" game analogy)
more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened

more upset (rise in cortisol levels, a hormone associated with stress, anxiety, and arousal in humans & animals)
more physiologically primed for aggression (rise in testosterone levels)
testosterone levels rose 12% for insulted Southerners (4% for control, not insulted)
rose 6% for insulted Northerners (4% for control)
more cognitively primed for aggression
35% of Northerners, but 85% of Southerners, became angry (according to observers)
65% of Northerners, but only 15% of Southerners, reacted by being amused at the "you asshole" insult
more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior (not yielding in narrow hallway; "chicken" game analogy)

The Seville Statement on Violence

1986, by scientists from 12 nations meeting in Seville, Spain
It is scientifically incorrect to say that we have inherited a tendency to make war from our animal ancestors. Warfare is a peculiarly human phenomenon and does not occur in other animals.
It is scientifically incorrect to say that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our human nature. Except for rare pathologies the genes do not produce individuals necessarily predisposed to violence. Neither do they determine the opposite.
It is scientifically incorrect to say that in the course of human evolution there has been a selection for aggressive behavior more than for other kinds of behavior. In all well-studied species, status within the group is achieved by the ability to cooperate and to fulfill social functions relevant to the structure of that group.
It is scientifically incorrect to say that humans have a "violent brain." While we do have the neural apparatus to act violently, there is nothing in our neurophysiology that compels us to.
It is scientifically incorrect to say that war is caused by an "instinct" or any single motivation. The technology of modern war has exaggerated traits associated with violence both in the training of actual combatants and the preparation of support for war in the general population.

We conclude that biology does not condemn humanity to war, and that humanity can be freed from the bondage of biological pessimism. Violence is neither our evolutionary legacy nor in our genes. The same species that invented war is capable of inventing peace.

There are sex differences in aggression. Males commit the majority of violent crimes. In 1991, males committed about 90% of homicides in the US. Changes in sex role norms over time have not changed this sex difference.

However, women are also aggressive.

Women are as high as men in reporting that they feel angry.
Women also are physically aggressive against their intimate partners. (Some studies suggest they're more physically aggressive against their partners than are men.)
Girls are more likely to use indirect aggression: hurting others through gossiping, spreading vicious rumors, and rejecting people socially.