PART 5 AGGRESSION

LG: 1. What is aggression?

2. What are the causes?
3. How does violent media influences aggression?
4. Does venting work?

WHAT IS AGGRESSION?
definition depends on theoretical perspective & methods used.

Most direct form: physical acts. We can only collect evidence of physical behavior
More indirect form: e.g. subtle feature of language: what people say and maybe
how they say it
Compromised definition: physical / verbal behavior intended to cause harm
-excludes unintentional harm & actions involving pain as unavoidable side effect
of helping
-not all aggression is intentional! (individuals causing harm cannot be held
responsible for action)
Types of aggression:

Motives:

Aggressio
n

Aggressi
on
Direct
Aggressi
on

Indirect
Aggressi
on

Hostile
Aggressio
n

Instrumen
tal
Aggressio
n

Relationa
l
Aggressi
on

THEORIES OF AGGRESSION
(1) AGGRESSION AS A BIOLOGICAL PHENOMENON
- Instinct Theory and Evolutionary Psychology (Freud) (Ethological
Perspective)
Aggressive energy is instinctual (unlearned &universal) causes
instinctive behavior
explaining-by-naming
doesnt account for variations depending on persons, cultures, time
& space
steam boiler model (Lorenz)
- Genetic Influences
- heredity influences neural systems sensitivity to aggressive cues (e.g.
breeding animals for aggressiveness)
- our temperaments are partly brought with us into world, influenced by
our sympathetic nervous systems reactivity. Usually endures our life.
Genes alone dont explain aggressive behavior!
Nature and nurture interact. 40% genes 60% environment
- Biochemical Influences
Blood chemistry influences neural sensitivity to aggressive stimulation
- Alcohol

unleashes aggression when people provoked (laboratory

experiments & police data)
susceptibility hypothesis
when features of someones environment make him more
susceptible to
particular kinds of behavior as a consequence
people who are already engaging in antisocial behavior are more
susceptible to
abuse alcohol
-enhances aggressiveness by lowering peoples self-awareness &
thresholds for
antisocial behavior due to reduced control from social &
cultural norms
reducing ability to consider consequences & peoples mentally
associating alcohol
with aggression
- Testosterone
correlates to some extent with aggressiveness (prone to
delinquency, hard drug use,
aggressive responses to provocation) but
correlation does not mean causation!
- Serotonin
low levels of serotonin linked to heightened aggression
- Neural Influences
-Reactive aggression defines a response to being provoked. I Theory
(Denson) instigation (being provoked)
impellance (dispositional & situational factors which
prepare you for an aggressive response) inhibition (self control)
- Instrumental aggression defines behavior that is aggressive in order to
acquire a desired award

(2) AGGRESSION AS A RESPONSE TO FRUSTRATION

- Frustration-Aggression Theory (Brown)
frustration triggers a readiness to aggress
frustration: blocking of goal-directed behavior
availability of frustrator:
- Displacement
redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the
frustration. generally, the new target is a safer or more socially
acceptable target.
-Aggressive cues weapon effect
- Frustration-Aggression Theory Revised
unjustified
frustration

Anger
+
Aggression cues

Aggression

- Relative Deprivation
perception that one is less well off than others with whom one compares
oneself
-Cognitive neoassociation model

Unpleasant Affect

Negative Affect
Primative Associational
Reaction:
Fight or Flight
Escape - related
associations

Aggresion-related
Associations

Rudimentary Anger

Irritation, Annoyance
or Anger

more
elaborate
thinking

Rudimentary Fear

Fear

-Excitation Transfer model

when a state of physiological arousal is transferred from one situation to
another, resulting in heightened expressive behaviour

Unpleasant Affect

Physiological
arousal from
unrelated source

Negative Affect

Primative Associational Reaction:

Fight or Flight

Escape - related
associations

Aggresion-related
Associations

Rudimentary Fear

Rudimentary Anger

Irritation, Annoyance
or Anger

more
elaborate
thinking

Fear

(3) AGGRESSION AS LEARNED SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

- The Rewards of Aggression
by experience &observing other we learn that aggression often pays.
(aggressive hockey player score more goals; terrorist acts)
- Observational Learning
Social learning theory of aggression (Bandura)
we learn aggression not only by experiencing its rewards but also
by observing
others. as with other social behaviors, we acquire
aggression by watching others act
and noting the consequences.
- The Family
- The culture
- Subculture
- Media
modeling

- GENERAL AGGRESSION MODEL

INFLUENCES ON AGGRESSION

AVERSIVE INCIDENTS
Pain
-can incite emotional outburst; increases aggression
Heat
- temporary climate variations can affect behavior
-correlations between hot temperature and aggression
Attacks
being attacked/insulted is conducive to aggression
reciprocity principle
we tend to react to a direct attack, which can lead to an
escalation of violence

DISINHIBITION
deindividuation, dehumanization

social status, gender, social identity, culture

INTERPRETING AROUSAL
we can experience an aroused bodily state in different ways
given state of bodily arousal feeds one emotion or another, depending
on how the person interprets and labels the arousal
- being physically stirred up does intensify any emotion
- frustrating/hot/insulting situation heightens arousal. Arousal, combined
with hostile thoughts & feelings, may form a recipe for aggressive behavior

AGGRESSION CUES: THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

violence is more likely when aggressive cues in the environment release
pent-up anger

e.g. sight of a weapon

MEDIA INFLUENCES: PORNOGRAPHY AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE

mass media is an influential model for aggressive behavior: we may take
cues from it in interpreting states of arousal, and express our behavior in a
way that seems appropriate.
- Disorted Perceptions of Sexual Reality
-Aggression against Women
MEDIA INFLUENCES: TELEVISION
Televisions effects on behavior
the more violent the content of childs television viewing, the more
aggressive the child.
indirect aggression (e.g. gossiping, manipulating, social exclusion)
Televisions effects on thinking
-Desensitization
- Social Scripts (culturally provided mental instructions for how
to act in
various situations)
- Altered Perceptions
- Cognitive Priming

MEDIA INFLUENCES: VIDEO GAMES

-identify with, and play the role of, a violent character
- actively rehearse violence, not just passively watch it
engage in the whole sequence of enacting violence selecting victims,
acquiring weapons & ammunition, stalking the victim, aiming the weapon,
pulling the trigger
- are engaged with continual violence and threats of attack
-repeat violent behaviors over and over
-are rewarded for effective aggression
Playing violent video games
- increases arousal
- increases aggressive thinking
- increases aggressive feelings
-increases aggressive behaviors
-decreases prosocial behaviors
the more violent the games played, the bigger the effects.

GENDER AND AGGRESSION

males more physically aggressive; females more verbally

CAN AGGRESSION BE REDUCED?

CATHARSIS?
Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis, expressing aggression by catharsis
tends to breed further aggression, not reduce it.

THE SOCIAL LEARNING APPROACH

controlling aggression by counteracting the factors that provoke it:
by reducing aversive stimulation
by rewarding and modeling non-aggression
by eliciting reactions incompatible with aggression

PUNISHMENT

Like a Magnet: Catharsis Beliefs Attract Angry People to Violent Video

Games
(Brad J. Bushman; Jodi L. Whitaker)
-most recent form of violent entertainment: video games
What attracts players? Claim in surveys games help them to get anger
out
catharsis to cleanse or purge
Catharsis theory:
acting aggressively/even viewing aggression purges angry feelings and
aggressive impulses into harmless channels
research: playing violent video games increases aggression!
-Hypothesis: belief in catharsis increases attraction to violent games, especially
among people who want to get rid of their anger
-Experiment 1: Participants were told study concerned impression formation.
After giving consent, participants were randomly assigned to read bogus
newspaper article - refuting catharsis,
- supporting catharsis,
- unrelated to catharsis
Participants rated how credible, authoritative, believable, persuasive, interesting
article was (1-10) .Next, randomly assigned to angered and nonangered
conditions.
Participants in angered condition essay about time when they were very
angry. Afterwards very negative rating on their essay from ostensible
partner
Participants in nonangered condition received positive ratings
anger manipulation

After receiving their partners evaluation, participants completed an interest

survey included descriptions of 8 fictitious video games (4 violent, 4 nonviolent).
Participants rated how much they wanted to play each game (1-10). Also listed
their 3 favorite video games.
Results:
Participants desire to play violent video games was analyzed using a 3
(procatharsis, anticatharsis, or control article) 2 (angered or not angered) 2
(participants sex) analysis of variance.
significant interaction between type of article and whether they
were angered
angered participants who read the procatharsis article wanted to play violent
games more than the others
participants in the angered condition who read either the anticatharsis article/
control article wanted to play the violent games less than other participants
men wanted to play violent games more than women
-Experiment 2: like in Experiment 1, but instead of manipulating belief in
catharsis by bogus articles, measuring belief in catharsis using an 8-item AngerOut subscale
Results:
- significant interaction between belief in catharsis and provocation
- significant positive relationship between belief in catharsis and desire to play
violent video games in angered people but not in nonangered
- people with stronger catharsis beliefs had a stronger desire to play violent video
games overall
- men wanted to play violent games more than women did
Belief in catharsis, whether manipulated or measured, increases
attraction to violent games in angry people.

Are You Insulting Me? Exposure to Alcohol Primes Increases Aggression

Following Ambiguous Provocation
(William C. Pedersen, Eduardo A. Vasquez, Bruce D. Bartholow,
Marianne Grosvenor, Ana Truong)
Experiment 1: exposure to alcohol primes increased aggressive retaliation, but
only when an initial
provocation was ambiguous; unambiguous provocation elicited highly aggressive
responses regardless of prime exposure.
Experiment 2: alcohol prime exposure effects are relatively short-lived and that
perceptions of the provocateurs hostility mediated effects of prime exposure on
aggression.
Experiment 1: designed to assess moderating effect of provocation ambiguity
on alcohol-primed physical aggression.
Participants were primed with either alcohol or neutral words followed by an
ambiguous provocation, an unambiguous provocation, or no provocation and
then were given an opportunity to aggress against an ostensible other.
We predicted an interaction between prime content and prime ambiguity on
subsequent aggressive behavior such that alcohol priming would significantly
augment aggression only when paired with an ambiguous provocation.
Results:
Provocation ambiguity manipulation check. participants perceived the
ambiguous evaluation (viz., I dont even know where to begin) as more

ambiguous than the unambiguous evaluation (viz., This is one of the worst
essays I have ever read)
Aggression. Participants decisions concerning the length of time their
counterparts should submerge their hands in ice water were submitted to a 2
(prime content: alcohol/neutral) 3 (provocation content:
ambiguous/unambiguous/no provocation control) between-subjects ANOVA.
Neither the main effect of Prime content, nor the main effect of Provocation
content was significant. However, a significant Prime content Provocation
interaction was found.
Simple effect analyses indicated that alcohol priming significantly augmented
aggression for participants in the ambiguous provocation condition, but not for
those in either unambiguous provocation condition, or the control condition
Experiment 2: extends findings of Experiment 1 in two important ways.
1. This experiment investigates a possible mediator of the effect of alcohol
priming on the subsequent aggression, namely, perceptions of target hostility.
Perceptions of a targets hostility can explain differences in levels of aggression
displayed toward that target.
2. Experiment 2 assesses the temporal duration of the priming effects observed
in Experiment 1. Srull and Wyer (1979) showed that the ability of priming to
impact perceptions of behavior diminishes over time. In contrast, other work
suggests that priming effects can be sustained over relatively long durations if
primin activates goals that influence how people think or behave in accordance
with their motivations.
By manipulating the temporal delay between the provocation manipulation and
the opportunity to engage in aggressive action, design of Experiment 2 permits
determining the extent to which the effects of alcohol prime exposure on
aggression reflect relatively short-lived accessibility of associations versus more
sustained goal priming.
The initial part of the procedure was identical to Experiment 1. Specifically,
participants were told that there was another (bogus) participant and that the
two of them would be writing essays on abortion and then exchanging them for
evaluation. After ostensibly exchanging essays, participants then engaged in the
same priming task used in Experiment 1

Results:
Aggression. Time delay is continuous variable participants decisions
concerning the length of time their counterparts should submerge their hands in
ice water (i.e., aggression) were submitted to a multiple regression analysis in
which aggression was regressed on prime content (alcohol, neutral), time delay
(0 min, 7 min, 15 min) and their interaction. The time delay variable was meancentered prior to creation of the cross-product (Prime Time delay) term.
Hostile perception as a mediator. To test our hypothesis that alcohol priming
influences aggression by affecting the extent to which others actions are viewed
as hostile, we examined whether prime content (alcohol vs. neutral) indirectly
affected subsequent aggressive behavior via perceptions of
target hostility. To test this idea, we first modeled the effect of priming condition
(alcohol or neutral) on hostile perceptions;
this effect was significant, indicating that, across delay conditions, participants
exposed to the alcohol prime perceived the target as more hostile than
participants exposed to the nonalcohol

prime.
Next, we tested whether hostility ratings were associated with aggression and
found this association to be significant and positive
Finally, we tested the indirect effect of prime condition on aggression via hostility
ratings using the Monte Carlo based bootstrapping procedure (see MacKinnon,
Lockwood, & Williams, 2004) developed by Selig and Preacher (2008; also see
Preacher & Hayes, 2004) with 10,000 bootstrapping
resamples.
This analysis indicated that the predicted indirect effect was significant
Incidental exposure to alcohol-related primes, accomplished here via very brief
presentation of words referring to alcohol, can influence social behavior in ways
consistent with effects of alcohol consumption. Findings go beyond previous
demonstrations by showing that alcohol prime exposure effects operate in a
similar manner to other priming effects, that is, by biasing
perception in prime-congruent ways, leading to predictable changes in behavior
Beyond these theoretical contributions, the current research has implications for
understanding behavior in numerous situations and contexts where alcohol is
typically present, such as parties, bars, and sporting events: Patrons do not have
to drink to experience or be subject to the aggressionenhancing effects of
alcohol, a fact that would seem to suggest caution in all such environments.