Social Psych - Aggression & Prosocial behavior final

What is aggression?

• Behavior intended to injure another person who does not want to be injured

What are two types of aggression and what is an example of each?

• Instrumental aggression: aggression in order to obtain something of value

• Hostile aggression: aggression solely to harm another person

Identify and describe the three pieces of evidence that argue aggression is innate.

• Intrinsic theory: aggression is an instinct at birth

• Evolutionary explanation: being aggressive leads to greater dominance - offspring, who are more aggressive, survival of the fittest

• Biological accounts

  • amygdala - area in the brain associated with aggressive behaviors, activation can lead to violence

  • testosterone - sex hormone; positively correlated with aggression

Identify and describe three pieces of evidence that argue aggression is a learned response.

• socialization - gender

  • males and females are rewarded and punished differently for aggression, males and females tend to be aggressive in different ways

• aggression as a learned response

  • social learning theory - we learn behavior by watching others and observing the consequences (Bobo-doll study)

• situational influences

  • frustration-aggression hypothesis - when we are frustrated in the effort to achieve a goal, this leads to aggression

What is culture of honor?

Emphasis is placed on honor and status - aggression is used to protect honor

Describe the Cohen et al. research that has found differences in aggression due to culture of honor.

• participants were Northern and Southern males

• IV: participants are insulted by a confederate (or not)

• results: when insulted, southern males

  • feel angrier

  • produce more testosterone and cortisol

  • will be more behaviorally aggressive

What is social learning theory? According to experimental data, what are the effects of media violence on aggressive behavior?

We learn behavior by watching others and observing the consequences. This even works with observation of aggressive models and is related to the effect of media violence which is that Media violence can prime aggressive behavior (MAYBE IM NOT SURE)

Describe the Bushman & Anderson research about the impact of video game violence and aggression.

• IV: participants played violent or nonviolent video games

• DV: participants completed an ambiguous story stem where a character could become aggressive

• result: participants who played violent video games had the character doing, thinking and feeling more aggressive things

What is the frustration aggression hypothesis?

When we are frustrated in the effort to achieve a goal, this leads to aggression

Describe two findings that demonstrates the frustration aggression hypothesis.

• Kids who wait before playing with new toys subsequently play much more destructively

• When confederates cut into lines, participants get more upset when they are near the front

How does negative affect explain aggression? According to this approach, what are three things that might cause aggression?

Anything that causes negative affect leads to aggressions. This could be frustration or other causes like pain, bad odors, or loud noises

Describe the Griffit & Vetch research bout how heat can impact aggression.

• IV: manipulated temperature of a room while participants were taking a test

• DV: self-report of aggression and rating of their hostility towards a stranger

• Results: individuals reported feeling more aggressive and acted more aggressive when in a hot room

How can cognitions affect aggression? How does this process change when people are drinking alcohol? Give two explanations for the effect that alcohol has on people.

• Cognition determines the kind and amount of aggression

• Alcohol impairs self-control

  • lowers inhibitions and limits cognitive control

What is venting? Is it helpful or harmful? Why?

It is the idea that aggressive impulses build pressure that must be released, like punching a pillow. It is harmful because research shows that acting aggressively creates more subsequent aggressive thoughts and behaviors.

What are two ways we can try to deal with aggression before we have encountered something that makes us aggressive?

You can avoid aggressive stimuli like avoiding aggressive media and avoiding aggression-provoking situations

What are two ways we can try to deal with aggression after encountering something that makes us aggressive?

You can use cognitive restructuring by looking at things in a humorous way or focusing on more productive responses

What are two ways we can try to deal with aggression after we already feel aggressive?

• You can exercise (engaging in non-aggressive activity)

• You can take a “time-out”

What is prosocial behavior?

An act performed with the goal of benefiting another person.

What is altruism?

An act that benefits another person, but does not benefit the helper in any way.

How are kin selection, reciprocity, and in-group bias related to helping behavior?

• Kin selection: individuals who helped close relatives would have passed on more total genes

  • evolution probably provided a general helping drive

  • when post-family groups, the drive to help persisted

• reciprocity norm: a general helping drive would have quickly evolved into “help people who are likely to help you back”

  • requiring reciprocal helping helps address “free riders”

• in-group bias: in earlier times, your group was probably comprised of family

  • today, the general drive to help the groups your belong to still exists

What is social exchange theory of helping and what are three benefits that those theorists argue people always get from helping?

The theory assumed that people will be motivated to help only when the benefits outweigh the costs

• increased change of being helped in the future

• increased social approval

• increased self-esteem or mood

What is the empathy-altruism hypothesis?

It says that pure altruism only exists when we feel empathy

What does the research literature show about decisions about helping when empathy is high and low?

When empathy is high, altruism motivates helping and when empathy is low, cost/benefit analyses motivate helping

How are personality and role models related to helping behavior?

Altruistic personality - helping tends to be consistent across situations

• twin studies suggest a genetic component

Helping role models: kids who see an adult help are likely to engage in helping behavior

How does mood affect helping behavior?

I DONT HAVE NOTES HELP

Describe the Isen & Levine study that demonstrates the effect of positive moods on helping.

• People in a mall made a phone call

• They found a dime in the coin return or not

• Then a confederate walks by and drops some papers

• results: if there was a dime in the coin return, more than 80% of the participants helped the confederate, if there was not a dime, less than 10% helped

Are people more likely to get help in rural or urban settings? Why?

• People are more likely to get help in rural settings

  • people in rural areas have internalized the importance of helping

  • urban overload: people become overwhelmed with stimulation from the environment in urban settings

Identify and briefly describe the 5 stages of Darley & Latane’s model of helping behavior.

• Stage 1: noticing

  • to help you must notice that something happened

• Stage 2: interpretation

  • people must interpret an event as an emergency in which helping is needed

• Stage 3: assuming responsibility

  • if a situation calls for help, you decide whether you are responsible for providing it

• Stage 4: knowing how to help

  • if you assume responsibility, you will only provide help if you know what to do and you can do the helping behavior

• Stage 5: deciding to implement help

  • if you know what to do, you still need to decide if you will help

• FAILURE AT ANY STEP RESULTS IN NO HELPING BEHAVIOR

Describe the Darley & Watson research about the importance of noticing that someone needs help.

• Seminary students giving a lecture on the good samaritan or another parable

• students had the election they were late, on time, or early

• they pass a man in distress moaning in a doorway

• there was no effect of parable type

• those who did not help typically said they were in such a hurry that they did not even notice the man

What is pluralistic ignorance?

Assuming others’ public behavior reflects their feelings, which knowing ours does not

How can pluralistic ignorance prevent us from thinking the situation is an emergency?

We stay calm in emergencies to see others’ reactions and others do the same, so we can incorrectly think there is not an emergency

Describe the Darley & Latin (1970) study that demonstrates pluralistic ignorance.

• Participants sat in a room (with 2 other confederates or alone)

• smoke starts pouring into the room through a vent

• the confederates are trained not to respond

• when alone, more than 70% leave the room

• when in a group, about 10% leave the room

What is the bystander effect?

The more people present, the less likely we are to provide help because the responsibility seems drawn upon many rather than one person (diffusion of responsibility)

Describe the Darley & Latin (1968) study that demonstrates the bystander effect.

• Participants were a part of a group conversation over intercoms

• Participants were told that there were 2, 3, or 6 other people (the intercoms functioned like walkie talkies and only one person could talk at a time)

• One “participant” discloses they are prone to seizures

• participants talk for a few minutes minutes

• then, they hear the participant have a medical emergency

• results

  • when only 2 people are present, more than 80% tried to help and responded rather quickly

  • when 3 people are present, about 60% tried to help and it took about a 1 minute to help

  • when 6 people are present, only about 30% helped and it took more than 2 minutes to help

Based on the Darley & Latane stages, what are three things you could do to increase the likelihood of getting help in an emergency?

Single out people to perform specific tasks, approach people who do not seem to be in a hurry, i don’t freaking know (i have nothing written down for this so I have no idea..)