Lecture 10 Aggression and Altruism / Peers and Friendships

Aggression

behavior aimed at physically or emotionally harming or injuring others

How has aggression been traditionally viewed? 

Aggression has been traditionally viewed as something that goes wrong, a maladaptive behavior that people engage in because something is screwed up with their development.

what are the functional benefits to having aggression for those who use it?

From an evolutionary perspective, aggression in mammals often serves to determine access to females

The aggressive display itself can signal quality (elks antlers)

Aggression is used to fight for dominance

Delinquent Behavior

refers to antisocial actions and risking behavior by minors, which can include acts like theft, vandalism, and substance use.

Who shows more Delinquent Behavior?

Anywhere where you see risky behavior, you're going to see disproportionately more young men.

A significant proportion of delinquent behavior is thought to be caused by

adolescents

What does Moffitt suggests about delinquency?

he suggests that delinquency may be the result of late teens trying to enter the world of adults by committing adult acts.

Meaning they are trying to prove they are mature by doing things for adults.

What does Harris suggests about delinquency?

Well since we don't see adults performing the same delinquent behavior that kids do, he suggests that kids are trying to distance themselves from adults and say we're not like our parents' generation.

And so that delinquency is the result of trying to establish an identity unique from mainstream adult society

YMS or Young Male Syndrome

refers to the tendency of young men to participate in risky and violent competitive interactions.

So it's the idea that young men compete with each other to gain status

Daly & Wilson believe that it is YMS:

could be a cause of delinquent behavior in adolescents

Why is status important to men?

Status allows men to get more/better mates

It's about where you rank in that dominance hierarchy, and by taking risks, you can show off your prowess and or get resources to move up that dominance hierarchy.

is there a strong link between poverty and violence?

yes

higher poverty is associated with higher homicide rates.

poverty and violence: life expectancy

Poverty is measured using life expectancy, with shorter life expectancy linked to increased violence.

Why are men in impoverished environments more likely to engage in violent risk-taking?

Because they expect a shorter future. If life expectancy is low, high-risk behaviors to gain resources or status "now" become a more logical (adaptive) strategy than waiting for the future.

When can "extreme aggression" be considered adaptive?

In harsh environments, where it helps men gain status, resources, and mating opportunities that they otherwise wouldn't have access to.

are women attracted to violence?

No. They are attracted to dominance and physical competitiveness, particularly in dangerous contexts where those traits offer protection or resources.

What is the relationship between income inequality and homicide rates?

There is a strong linear relationship; as income inequality increases, homicide rates increase predictably across different regions.

when does aggression overall peak?

• in the early preschool/JK years

  • but this is because they haven't learned how to properly socialize and control their behavior.

As children get older, physical aggression decreases compared to other forms, however what happens when kids transition from middle school towards high school?

•  there is an increase of aggression when we see the transition from middle school towards high school, and this seems to be related both to a change in the venue, as well as the advent of puberty, which entails new kinds of competitions

How does the Social Information Processing (SIP) view of aggression differ from older, "maladaptive" views?

Older views saw aggression as "development gone wrong" (broken behavior).

The SIP view sees it as a result of how a child processes social cues; better processing skills lead to easier conflict resolution.

What is the structure of Dodge’s Social Information Processing model?

It is a seven-step sequential model, and for a social interaction to be successful, a child must move through each step in order.

According to Dodge, what happens if a child skips a step in the seven-step model?

It results in maladaptive social behavior (such as inappropriate aggression or misunderstanding a peer's intent).

What is the correlation between SIP skills and social behavior in early childhood (K-2)?

Better social information processing is positively correlated with better social skills. Children who process social cues accurately are more successful in their interactions.

Dodge’s Social Information Processing Model

• The seven-step sequential model is made up of:

1. Encode the social cues

2. interpret social cues

3. Formulate social goals

4. Generate problem solving strategies

5. Evaluate the likely effectiveness of the strategies and select a response 

6. Enacting the response

7. Peer evaluation and response 

The Cafeteria Example for Social Information Processing Model

Step	What the brain does	The Cafeteria Example
1. Encoding	Notice cues.	Did they smile? Are peers laughing?
2. Interpretation	Assign meaning.	"They smiled; they are trying to make me look like a fool."
3. Goal Setting	Choose an objective.	"I need to make the laughing stop immediately."
4. Strategy Search	Brainstorm options.	"I could cry, stay calm, or hit them."
5. Evaluation	Pick the 'best' one.	"Hitting them will show them there is a cost to laughing."
6. Enactment	Do it.	You hit them in the face.

according to Coy and Dodge, aggressive children are more likely to?

• encode aggressive cues

In the s.p. model, compared to non-aggressive children, aggressive children are:

• Less likely to encode social cues; more likely to encode aggressive cues

• More likely to interpret ambiguous cues as having aggressive intent & respond with socially inappropriate responses

• Difficulty inhibiting aggressive responses

Social Processing & Aggression (overall idea)

• So the idea is that children in general go through the same strategic process, but children who are more aggressive than others, A. start off with a more aggressive interpretation, B. have more aggressive goals, and C. use more aggressive strategies.

what is Bullying?

•  “as a goal-directed harmful act aimed at a weaker individual”

  • If its an accident its not bullying 

• Goal-directed, harmful, power imbalance

  • It's about having more power than others. 

when does bullying peak?

Bullying is found throughout all age groups but it tends to peak during the transition to high school. 

Bullying In Canada

• We know that bullying in Canada has unfortunately remained relatively stable.

• There's been a slight drop in the number of children who admit that they've bullied others, whether that's because fewer children admit they're bullying or because there's fewer bullies, we don't know. 

• The critical factor is that the number of children who say that they've been victimized has stayed the same, and of course that's really the problem.

Signs of Being a Bully in children

• Little concern for others’ feelings

• Does not recognize impact of his/her behaviour on others

• Aggressive with siblings, parents, teachers, friends, and animals

• Bossy and manipulative to get own way

• Possessing unexplained objects and/or extra money

• Secretive about possessions, activities, and whereabouts

• Holds a positive attitude towards aggression

• Easily frustrated and quick to anger

bullies & hexaco

• So bullies tend to be very low in honesty, humility, agreeableness, sometimes low in conscientiousness and being impulsive.

• Rarely are they low in emotionality, so it's not a lack of empathy, it's a desire to put one's own needs above those of others.

Bullying Myths

• Bullies are not stereotypically lonely, dumb, cowardly, or from broken homes

• Bully-victims are; pure bullies are average or higher on: social skills, intelligence, physical size and health, mental health, and feelings of high self-esteem

most acts of bullying come from…

• the captain of the football team and high school cheerleading squad, as these individuals have average or better social skills, intelligence, physical size and health, mental health and well-being, and feelings of self-esteem. 

• Again, these aren't individuals who are broken, these are individuals who have made a choice to use their power to get what they want at the expense of others. It's a selfish choice, but it's not a broken choice, it's a decision about priorities.

Why Bully?

• it comes down to 3 good reason

1. To get stuff

2. To get dates

3. To get popularity

Does bullying work?

Yes and no

Does bullying work? (yes)

• Bullies do get access to more resources

• They also date more often and start dating at a younger age, have more sex

• Bullies are rated as significantly more popular than average children

Does bullying work? (no)

• Bullies tend to get into significantly more trouble (inside and outside of school)

• Bullies' relationships tend to be more violent (less satisfactory?)

• Bullies are significantly less liked than average children

Bullying is a trade-off between?

• In essence, it’s a trade-off between a coercive versus cooperative strategy

  • coercive strategy where you're forcing others to get them to do what you want, versus a cooperative strategy where you were trying to get people to do things that benefit you because they benefit them as well.

  • So bullies certainly fall towards the coercive end of dealing with other individuals.

How Can We Stop Bullies?

• Increased monitoring

• Increased punishment

• Increase bystander involvement

• Increase incentives for not using bullying (e.g., teaching them prosocial skills that work as well or better)

• Zero-tolerance policies

  • Since most Western countries have implemented zero tolerance policies for bullying 15 to 20 years ago, very little has happened with bullying prevalence rates, you need to actively take steps to address each of these in order to have a chance of reducing bullying.

why doesnt Zero-tolerance policies work?

because they don't catch the bullies and when they do, they rarely punish them

why doesnt Bully and victim mediation work?

It works in reducing bullying for several weeks, and then it makes it worse. 

why doesnt Peer mediation work?

Doesn't work, as if they were able to stop the bullying and wanted to stop the bullying, they would have stopped the bullying. 

why doesnt Short-term policies work?

work in the short term, but they quickly go back to regular levels of bullying.

why doesnt Localizing policies work?

Local policies that just involve a single class or even a single school tend to have a limited impact, you need to have a broader social impact so that kids aren't simply seeing no bullying at school, but then they're seeing bullying on TV. 

why doesnt Relying on victims to fight back work?

• well its actual the best way to stop bullying and the worst way to stop bullying,

• as it has the highest chance of preventing bullying, as you're increasing the cost substantially if you can show the bully that this is not a victim who's powerless and won't fight back, but in fact a victim who can mount a defense.

• The problem is, if you do that to a bully who's determined, they double down, and so you managed to beat up the bully, good for you, the next day, the bully brings their 5 friends.

Signs of Victimization (get the top 4)

• Not wanting to go to school or participate in extra-curricular activities

• Exhibits low self-esteem and makes negative comments about him/herself

• Headaches and stomach aches without obvious cause

• Expresses threats to hurt himself/herself or others

• Anxious, fearful, over-reactive

• Lower interest and performance in school

• Loses things, needs money, reports being hungry after school

• Injuries, bruising, damaged clothing, broken things

• Unhappy, irritable, little interest in activities

• Trouble sleeping, nightmares, bedwetting

Victimization

• Only benefit is sometimes remaining as part of a group

• Otherwise victimization is associated with a long list of risk factors

• These risks are more severe for children at risk, cases of severe bullying, and children without social support

• Negative attention is better than no attention so kids will put themselves in situations where they become victims but not intentionally 

Victimization Risks

• Poorer school attendance, enjoyment, and performance (i.e., grades)

• Fewer friendships

• Poorer physical health

• Poorer mental health (depression and anxiety); victimization can alter how the brain reads its DNA/instructions

The Ultimate Price of Bullying

Kids kill themselfs

How Can We Help Victims of Bullying? (4)

• Try to keep a perspective of time

• Do your best to ensure that the bullying is appropriately addressed

• Help children develop self-esteem and social skills

• Help children develop and maintain friendships

what two sources does Altruism stems from?

1. kin selection (caring for copies of your genes in another body)

2. reciprocity (you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours)

• The two combined are universals of human social behavior

• (e.g., an eye for an eye for reciprocity and blood is thicker than water for kin selection)

Altruism

is the selfless act of helping others at a cost or risk to oneself, driven by genuine concern for their well-being rather than personal gain, manifesting as charity, volunteering, or even small acts like holding a door.

It's rooted in empathy, promoting social bonds, and can range from giving money to risking one's life, often activated by compassion and a sense of duty. 

Children began displaying empathy as ______, begin sharing behavior at around ______

infants

18 months

If you act sad in front of kids they will…

try to make you feel happy due to Altruism

Altruism does not appear to naturally develop along kinship lines without?

exposure to kin, often reinforced by teachings

Altruism becomes more complex with?

theory of mind and increasing memory capacity

Are Infants Moral?

Evidence suggests that yes, babies might be born with a limited but salient capacity to judge, reward, and punish others

what 2 things are critical for promoting altruistic and compassionate behavior over selfish or aggressive tendencies?

Socialization and education

Individuals taught economic competence (focus on finances) are more likely to

remain bystanders in emergencies.

Individuals taught fairness show

mixed responses (about equally likely to help or not).

Teaching universal fairness and universal caring is most effective for

fostering real-world altruistic behavior

what is a Peer

• Peers are two or more people who are social equals and operating at similar levels of behavioral complexity

Peer contact

• increases over the course of childhood while adult contact decreases

Peer Benefits

• Peers increase sociability, the willingness to interact with others and seek their attention/approval

• Development of sociability begins slowly, then increases during the early years of development

what are the stages in which Sociability develops in the preschool years?

1. Nonsocial activity

   • infants playing in proximity to each other. 

2. Onlooker play

   • They will watch what each other are doing so there not just in proximity but there looing

3. Parallel play

   • where they're kind of playing in synchrony, where if one of them picks up a car and starts playing with it, another will pick up a similar toy or engage in a similar kind of play. 

4. Associative play

   • Then you have associative play where there's a limited degree of interaction between them.

5. Cooperative play

   • once you get theory of mind, you can have fully cooperative play, where you're taking turns and trying to meet the interests and demands of both individuals in the relationship. 

• Parental influence on peer contacts

1. Neighbourhood of residence

2. Daycare, playmate choices

3. Direct vs. indirect supervision of preschoolers

4. Authoritative vs. authoritarian practices

Peer acceptance measured using sociometric techniques

1. Self-report survey

2. Nominations of liked, disliked peers

3. Usually correspond to teacher assessments

Children can be classified based on nominations

1. 2/3 can be classified as either

   1. Popular

   2. Rejected

   3. Neglected

   4. Controversial

2. 1/3 are average-status children

Neglected children

• less sociable and less disruptive than average children

• more likely to back away from interactions that involve aggression

• receive less support from peers

• not anxious about social interactions

• neglected simply because they are unnoticed

• display few behaviours that are different from those of many other children

Controversial Children

• tend to have characteristics of both popular and rejected children

• aggressive disruptive and prone to anger

• BUT also cooperative, sociable, good at sports, and humorous

• tend to be group leaders

• tend to be viewed by peers as arrogant and snobbish

Factors influencing peer nominations (acceptance)

1. Parenting style

2. Temperament

3. Cognitive skills

4. Facial attractiveness

5. Social Behaviour

   1. Rejected-aggressive

   2. Rejected-withdrawn

How to improve the social skills of unpopular children?

1. Reinforcement and modeling therapies

2. Cognitive social skills training

   1. Coaching

3. Academic skills training

How is friendship defined?

Close relationship between two people characterized by loyalty and mutual affection

Advantages to having friends are

• Security and social support

• Practice resolving conflicts

• Preparation for adult love relationships