Aggression

Social Psychology
Lecture 4, Week 4
Aggression
Semester 2, 2008
Lecturer: James Neill

Overview
Definitions
Types
Theories & factors:
What it is good for
Innate or learned?
Inner causes
Interpersonal causes
External / situational causes
Self and culture
Crowd behaviour
Controlling and preventing

Defining Aggression

Definitions
Aggression
An intentional behavior
Intent is to harm
The victim wants to avoid harm
Violence
Aggression, with the goal of extreme physical harm

Aggression =
No consensus
What counts as aggressive behaviour is determined by the social codes & conventions around the behaviour in question .

Aggression =
“ Behaviour that is intended to hurt another person or group” (Carr, p.359)

Aggression =
“ Behaviour that results in personal injury or destruction of property” (Bandura, 1973)

Aggression =
“ Behaviour directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment” (Baron, 1977)

Aggression =
“ The intentional infliction of some form of harm on others”
(Baron & Byrne, 2000)

Aggression =
“ Behaviour directed towards another individual carried out with the proximate (immediate) intent to cause harm”
(Anderson & Huesmann, 2003)

Definitions
Antisocial Behavior
Behavior that either damages interpersonal relationships or is culturally undesirable.
Aggression may be social or antisocial
Behaviours in addition to aggression may be antisocial.

Why aggression?
Aggression is universal
Cultural rules restrain aggression
Aggression aids social animals
Culture offers nonviolent ways of resolving conflicts and problems

Types of Aggression

Types of aggression
Hostile
Instrumental
Passive
Active

Hostile aggression
Hot, impulsive
Intentional use of harmful behaviour ► the goal is to cause injury to the victim.

Instrumental aggression
Cold, premeditated
Intentional use of harmful behaviour ► so that one can achieve some other goal.

Passive aggression
Harming others by withholding a behaviour (e.g., purposely failing to convey an important message).

Active aggression
Harming others by performing a behaviour (e.g., spreading vicious rumors).

Theories of, & Factors Contributing to, Aggression

Aggression: What it is good for. (Lorenz) Lorenz, K. (1963).What aggression is good for. In K. Lorenz (1963). On aggression (Ch 3, pp. 17-39). Norfolk, UK: Cox & Wyman. (E-reserve – Alternative textbook chapters – optional reading.) Evidence from studies of aggression in animals

Ethological perspective
Ethology: the study of animal behaviour in natural settings
Aggression … “the fighting instinct in beast and man which is directed against members of the same species” (Lorenz, 1963, p. ix)

Lorenz – Evolutionary Perspective
Studying animals in their natural habitat or simulated natural habitat
An evolutionary perspective - a natural history of aggression
Evolutionary significance of phylogenesis

Lorenz – Evolutionary Perspective
“Fish are far more aggressive towards their own species than towards any other” (1969, p.13)

“ The loud colours of coral fish call loudly for explanation. What species preserving function could have caused their evolution? I bought the most colourful fishes I could find and , for comparison, a few less colourful and even some really drab species. Then I made an unexpected discovery: in the case of most of the really flamboyant poster-coloured fish, it is quite impossible to keep more than one individual of a species in a small aquarium. If I put several members of the same species into the tank, there were vicious fights and within a short time only the strongest fish were left alive. Later in [the bays of] Florida it impressed me deeply to watch in the sea the same scene that I had always observed in my aquarium after the fatal battles: several fish, but only one of each species, each brightly coloured but flying a different flag, living peaceably together.. In the sea, the principle ‘Like avoids like’ is upheld without bloodshed, owing to the fact that the conquered fish flees from the territory of his conqueror, who does not pursue him far: whereas in the aquarium, where there is no escape, the winner often kills the loser, or at least claims the whole container as his territory and so intimidates the weaker fish with continual attacks that they grow much more slowly than he does; and so his dominance increases till it leads to the fatal conclusion” (1969, pp. 10-11)
Aggression – what it is good for

Answer 1: Aggression in animals has a protective function (prey defending against predator) The phenomena of “mobbing”
Fighting role distinguished from hunter role (the former associated with aggression; the latter not)

Answer 2: Defence of the young. “fighting like a cornered rat” is motivated by an invasion of an animal’s critical distance
Readiness to fight is greatest in the animals’ familiar (home) territory and least furthest from home

Answer 3: Within a species, aggression spaces out animals so that they don’t compete for the same resources (and starve)

“ Unless the special interests of a social organisation demand close aggregation of its members, it is obviously most expedient, to spread the individuals of an animal species as evenly as possible over the available habitat. To use a human analogy: if, in a certain area, a large number of doctors, builders and mechanics want to exist, the representatives of these professions will do well to settle as far away from each other as possible. The danger of too dense a population of an animal species settling in one part of the available biotope and exhausting all the sources of nutrition and so starving can be obviated by a mutual repulsion acting on the animals of the same species, effecting their regular spacing out, in much the same manner as the electrical charges are regularly distributed all over the surface of a spherical container. This, in plain terms, is the most important survival value of intra-specific aggression” (Lorenz, 1963, p.24).

Answer 4: Structuring animal society. Establishing a “pecking order”
Ritualised fighting- fighting fair.

“ In jackdaws, and in many other social birds, ranking order leads directly to protection of the weaker ones. All social animals are ‘status seekers’, hence there is always particularly high tension between individuals who hold immediately adjoining positions in the ranking order: conversely, this tension diminishes the farther apart the two animals are in rank. Since high-ranking jackdaws, particularly males, interfere in every quarrel between two inferiors, this gradation of social tension has the desirable effect that the higher ranking birds always intervene in favour of the losing party” (p.36)

“ In many perch-like fishes…another form of threatening has arisen from the ritualisation of a frontal attack inhibited by fear. Each of the two adversaries swims straight at the other, preparing but not quite daring to deliver a ramming thrust. Their bodies tense and twisted like S-shaped springs, the opponents swim slowly toward each other and come to a standstill head to head, usually spreading the gill covers and blowing out the branchial membrane, thus enlarging the body contours visible to the enemy. Sometimes [they] simultaneously snap at the presented mouth of the other…” (p.95)

Answer 5: Establishing the bond
Complex interplay of aggressive and mating instincts

“… the phylogenetic prototype of the personal bond and of group formation is the attachment between two partners which together tend their young. From such a tie a family can easily arise, but the bond with which we are here concerned is of a much more special kind. We will now describe how this bond comes about in cichlids…”

“… In observing, with a thorough knowledge of all the expression movements, the processes which in cichlids effect the coming together of partners of the opposite sex, it is a nerve-racking experience to see the prospective mates in a state of real fury with each other. Again and again they are close to starting a vicious fight, again and again the ominous flare-up of the aggressive drive is only just inhibited and murder side-stepped by a hairsbreadth. Our apprehension is by no means formed on a false interpretation of the particular expression movements observed in our fish: every fish breeder knows that it is risky to put male and female of a cichlid species together in a tank, and that there is considerable danger of casualty if pair formation is not constantly supervised…”

“… Under natural conditions habituation is largely responsible for preventing hostilities between the prospective mates. WE can best imitate the natural conditions by putting several young, still peaceable fish in a large aquarium and letting them grow up together. Pair formation then takes place in the following way: on reaching sexual maturity a certain fish, usually a male, takes possession of a territory and drives out all the others. Later when the female is willing to pair, she approaches the territory owner cautiously and, if she acknowledges the superior rank of the male, responds to his attacks which, at first, are quite seriously meant… with the …’coyness behaviour’, consisting…of behaviour elements arising partly from mating, and partly from escape drives. If, despite the clearly aggression-inhibiting intentions of these gestures, the male attacks, the female may leave the territory for a short time, but sooner of later she returns. This is repeated over a varying period until each of the two animals is so accustomed to the presence of the other that the aggression-eliciting stimuli inevitably proceeding from the male lose their effect” (pp.142-143)

Lorenz - conclusion
Evolutionary perspective on the social life of animals
Much more could be said, but this taster from Lorenz hopefully provides a sense of an evolutionary natural science perspective on social life in animals.
This is suggestive of some important lines of inquiry for social psychological work on aggression.

Criticisms
Can animal research be generalised to humans?
Instincts – descriptive rather than explanatory, circular reasoning, little proof.
Ethological/sociobiological - can’t explain cross-cultural differences (some cultures are more aggressive than others), domestic violence
Negative view - if aggression is innate, this implies it can’t be reduced or changed?
Ignores social factors - role of cultural, historical, economic, political factors in aggression.

Instinct Theories of Aggression
Freud proposed human motivational forces are based on instinct:
Sex – life giving instinct – Eros
Aggression – death instinct - Thanatos

Learning Theories of Aggression
Aggression is a learned behavior
Modeling
Bandura and colleagues (1961, 1963)
Children who watched the aggressive model had the highest level of aggression
If a model acts aggressively, inhibitions against aggression can be overcome

Nature & Nurture
Cultural socialisation and learning can increase or decrease innate aggressive impulses and aggressive behaviors
Both learning and instinct are relevant

Inner Causes of Aggression

Inner causes
Drive theory & frustration-aggression hypothesis
Relative deprivation theory
Personality
Excitation-transfer
Unpleasant moods
Anger
Cognitive

Frustration-aggression hypothesis (1939)
Drive theory
The occurrence of aggressive behavior always presupposes the existence of frustration
Existence of frustration always leads to some form of aggression
Frustration creates anger which creates aggression

Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Criticisms
Does frustration always lead to aggression?
Is aggression always caused by frustration?
Revised models argue that frustration (plus other factors) lead to negative affect which leads to the inclination to aggress.

Sense of deprivation is relative rather than absolute.
Sense of having less than one is entitled to.
Related to the idea of frustration/aggression.
Perceived relative deprivation leads to feelings of frustration -> social unrest & possibly violence.

Egoistic relative deprivation - compare self to other individuals.
Fraternal relative deprivation - compare ingroup to outgroups.

Personality determinants of aggression
Type-A personality
‘Big 5’ - agreeableness & emotional stability related to aggression
Hostile attribution bias - tendency to perceive others actions as stemming from hostile intent

Excitation-transfer
Zillmann, 1988, 1994
Arousal in one situation may be transferred to another situation
Misattribution of arousal ► aggression

Excitation-transfer Applying the excitation-transfer model of aggression Student works out at gymnasium
High level of excitation:
heart rate
blood pressure
muscle tremor
Motorist takes last parking space Aggression (Continuing effect)

Unpleasant moods
Increase aggression
Bad mood is not necessary for aggression

Anger
Does not directly or inevitably cause aggression
If one believes aggression will dissipate anger, will behave more aggressively

Cognitive Theories of Aggression

Cognitive theories
Scripts for how to behave in certain situations – e.g., what do you do if someone pushes you? These scripts are learnt from parents, media, experience.
Attributions regarding reasons for aggression – e.g., why did the person push you?

Hostile Cognitive Biases
Hostile attribution bias
Perceive ambiguous actions by others as aggressive,
– e.g., someone bumps into you, you attribute their behaviour to a desire to hurt you rather than an accident.

Hostile perception bias
Perceive social interactions as being aggressive
Hostile expectation bias
Assume people will react to potential conflicts with aggression

Aggressive people have inner biases that make them
Expect others to react aggressively
View ambiguous acts as aggressive
Assume others act purposefully when they hurt or offend them

Age & Aggression
25% of toddler interactions in day-care settings involve physical aggression
Limited alternatives for solving conflict

Gender & Aggression
When under stress
Males – fight or flight syndrome
Females – tend and befriend syndrome
In all known societies – men just over age of puberty commit most violent crimes and acts
Females exhibit more relational aggression

Other Inner Causes of Aggression

Hormones - testosterone
Genetic make-up - XYY chromosome
Gender differences
Other inner causes of aggression

males more likely to engage in physical aggression which causes physical injury.
no differences in verbal aggression or expressing anger.
females more likely to engage in indirect aggression
female aggression more hostile, male more instrumental
Other inner causes: Gender

Direct provocation - reciprocity norm, lead to upward spiral of aggression
Alcohol - +ve relationship between aggression & alcohol consumption
Disinhibition & ‘learned’ disinhibition
Other inner causes of aggression

Interpersonal Causes of Aggression

Bandura, Social Learning, Aggression, & the Bobo Doll Experiment

Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura
Aggression not innate
Learning via vicarious experience
Modelling or observational learning
Children imitate aggressive model especially if model’s behaviour is reinforced

Bandura & colleagues (1963)
4-5 year olds watched adults ‘play’ with a Bobo doll
1. Live
2. Videotape
3. Cartoon
4. Control

Social Learning Theory Learning aggression through mere observation: the effects on children of watching a violent model Condition Number of aggressive acts 0 5 10 15 20 25 Live Videotape Cartoon Control

Children more likely to imitate same-sex models.
More likely to imitate if model was rewarded (reinforced).
Common models - family, sub-culture, media.
Bandura & colleagues (1963)

How is aggression measured?
Can findings be extended to ‘real life’ situations? (external validity)
Validity of experimentation on aggression
Criticisms of Bandura's studies

Selfishness & Influence
Aggression
Can be a means to resolve social disputes
Can be a form of social influence
Factors that encourage use of aggression
More you want the reward
Believe you will be successful
Unconcerned with morality or risk

Domestic & Relationship Violence
Domestic violence
Occurs within the home, between people who have a close relationship
Aggression is highest between siblings
Surgeon General declared domestic violence the number one health risk in US (1984)

Domestic & Relationship Violence
Domestic violence occurs all over the world
It is leading cause of injuries to women 15-44
Women attack relationship partners slightly more than men do, but without as much harm
Physically weaker family members are at greatest risk

Displaced aggression
Displaced aggression
Kicking the dog effect
Triggered displaced aggression
Minor triggering event increases aggression in angered participants

Environmental or Situational Contributors to Aggression

Relative deprivation
Feel disadvantaged relative to other reference groups, little hope of improving conditions legitimately ► aggression.
Little hope of improving conditions legitimately ► aggression.

Aggressive ‘cues’ ► trigger aggression (Berkowitz) e.g., guns, knives, the colour black.
Weapons effect
Mere presence of weapon increases aggressive behavior
Aggressive ‘cues’

Mass media
Strongly debated, but in general…
Violent media exposure tends to be associated with increased aggression

Aggression & the media
Children in USA watch > 30 hrs TV per week & witness more than 10,000 violent acts per year.
Eron & Huesmann (1986) - longitudinal study linking TV violence & aggression
experimental evidence - e.g., Black & Bevan (1992)

Aggression & the media Film-goers’ aggression scores before and after watching a non-violent or a violent film (Black & Bevan, 1992) Film Before viewing After viewing Aggression score 0 3 6 9 12 15 Non-violent Violent

Why does viewing media violence contribute to aggression?
Desensitisation, disinhibition
Excitation-transfer
Modelling - role of reinforcement
Acquire new aggressive responses/ priming aggressive scripts
Berkowitz (1984) - neo-associationist analysis - priming of images -> anti-social acts

Aggression & erotica/pornography
Does arousal lead to aggression? - excitation-transfer
U-shaped relationship between sexual arousal & aggression
Mild arousal associated with positive affect & less aggression (erotica)
High arousal associated with negative affect & more aggression (pornography)

Unpleasant Environments
Hot temperatures are associated with aggression and violence
Effects of global warming?
Loud noises, foul odors, air pollution, and crowding can increase aggression
Crowding - disinhibition, deinviduation, dehumanisation

Chemical Influences
Testosterone
Linked to increased aggression
Serotonin
Low levels linked to aggression
Alcohol
Linked to increased aggression
Nutrition
Junk food can increase violence
Vitamin supplements reduces antisocial behavior

Alcohol & Aggression
How alcohol influences aggression
Reduces inhibitions
Narrowing effect on attention
Decreases self-awareness
Disrupts executive function

Self and Culture

Norms and Values
Running amok and aggression
Influence of culture
Cultures can promote violence
People may believe aggression is uncontrollable, but they may be mistaken

Self-Control
Poor self-control
Is an important cause of crime
Is a predictor of violent crimes

Wounded Pride
Violent individuals
Think they are better than other people
Have grandiose or inflated opinions of their worth

Wounded Pride
Violent individuals typically have the trait of narcissism
Thinking oneself special
Feeling entitled to preferential treatment
Willing to exploit others
Low empathy
Grandiose fantasies

Wounded Pride
Narcissistic Personality Inventory
High scores + blow to ego = aggression
Most aggression is the result of some type of provocation
Other factors increase or decrease effect of wounded pride

Culture of Honor
Southern US has culture of honor
Violent response to threats to one’s honor
Higher levels of violence
Humiliation
Primary cause of violence and aggression in cultures of honor
May be an important cause of terrorism

Other Antisocial Behavior
Cheating
Self-control is important predictor of cheating
Stealing
People in deindividuated state more likely to steal
Diener et al. (1976)

Other Antisocial Behavior
Littering
When it seems everybody else is littering, people are more likely to litter too
Males litter more than females
Young people litter more than older people

Norms
Injunctive norms
Specify what most approve or disapprove of
Can be effective in reducing litter
Descriptive norms
Specify what most people do
Have not been effective in reducing litter

What Makes Us Human?
In some ways humans are more aggressive than other animals
Only humans kill for ideas
Human cultures unique in attempts to restrain aggression
Culture creates new opportunities for antisocial behavior

Crowd Behaviour

Deindividuation (Zimbardo, 1969) - lowered personal responsibility & self-awareness.
Crowd provides anonymity & diffusion of responsibility
Deindividuation leads to disinhibited, anti-social behaviour
e.g., Zimbardo (1970)
Role of norms - deindividuation doesn’t necessarily lead to anti-social behaviour (e.g., Johnson & Dowling, 1979)
Crowd Behaviour

Emergent norm theory (Turner, 1974)
No clear norms for behaviour in crowds
Attend to distinctive behaviours - often anti-social behaviours.
e.g., look to others behaviour in a crowd to decide the most appropriate way to act.
More likely to notice the anti-social behaviours e.g., people throwing bottles at a cricket match.

Social Identity Theory
Reicher (1984, 1987) - individuals don’t lose identity in crowds.
Take on different identities (social identities).
Crowd behaviour is an example of intergroup behaviour, e.g., rioters versus police.

Controlling & Preventing Aggression

Learning theories
Positive role models at home & in the media
Does punishment decrease aggression?
Effective punishment must be - prompt, certain, strong, justified
Violent punishment may be modelled ► cycle of violence

Catharsis
Express aggressive impulses in safe ways - release aggressive energy (e.g., playing sport)
Effects appear to be temporary
Aggression may be increased by ‘safe’ aggressive activities

Cognitive Interventions
Changing attributions/appraisals
Relearning scripts

Interpersonal interventions
Contact hypothesis
Social skills training e.g., anger management
Exposure to non-aggressive models
Incompatible responses e.g., Baron (1976)

Co-operation between groups
Superordinate goals
Recategorisation

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Aggression

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