03/30 - Aggression

Prosocial

helping other ppl

Asocial

not being social with others, being alone (ppl colloquially call this antisocial)

Antisocial

aggression, violence, hurtful destructive behaviour

Aggression

Any behaviour intended to harm another person who does not wish to be harmed

Violence

Agression with the goal of causing extreme harm, physical injury or death

Anger

•  an emotional state response to emotional or physical injury, not behaviour 

  • Not a necessary component of aggression 

Physical aggression

Direct infliction of pain or injury

Relational aggression

nonphysical aggression, meant to inflict social or emotional damage

Reactive aggression

Impulsive, goal is to harm

Instrumental aggression

Means to an end, goal is personal gain

Gender and aggression

• men tend to be more physically agression

• Women tend to be more relationally agressive (but still a smaller effect)

Sexuality and aggression

• straight men tend to be more physically aggressive then gay men

  • Simaler levels of relational aggression

What age group is most likely to engage in violent crime

Teens and YA

Which is more common, intergroup or intergroup violence?

Intragroup

Neuroanatomy and aggression

• Brain injuries can cause aggression

• Finesse Gague example

Parts of the brain associated with aggression

• amgydala - fear processing

• Dorsal and ventral pre-frontal context - inhibiton and planning

• Hippocampus - memory

Taylor Aggression Paradigm

Participants are told they are competing in a reaction time game and if they win they can hurt the person who loses

• aggression is measured by length and intensity of sound played

Alcohol and Disinhitbion

• Drunk men tend to be more aggressive even when not provoked 

• When drunk women are provoked, they become as aggressive as sober men

• Inhibitory parts of brain shut off 

(Percieved) social rejection and aggression

Ppl become aggressive to those who give them negative feedback

• mass shooters

Recommendations to avoid copycat shoorinsg

• Report on victinms, not shooter 

• Dont show shooters name of shooter 

• Keep details sparse 

• Dont disseminate manifestos

Evolutionary Perspective on agression (sex difs)

• violence as a way to attain resources

• Male violence should reflect desire to pass on genes

• Female vioelnce should be more defensive 

  • Mothers get aggressive when non-father male approaches

Cinderella effect

Men more likely to abuse or murder step children then biological child

Social learning theory

aggression is a learned behaviour that is reinforced through rewards and observation

Types of punishment

Positive punishment = adding an undesirable stimulus

Negative punishment = removes desired stimulus

Types of reinforcement

Negative reinforcement = rewarding by removing aversive stimulus 

Positive reinforcement = reward by adding good stimulus

Three components to learning aggressive behaviour from others

• Learning specific behaviours from others

• Developing positive behelifs about aggression

• Buildings scripts around acceptability of aggression to resolve interpersonal conflict

Bobo dole xperiment findings

Kids imitate violence exhibited by adults

Conditions for punishment to lead to a decrease in aggression

• immediately follows aggressive behaviour

• Is strong enough to deter aggressor

• Is consistently applied and percieved as fair and legitimate by aggressor

  • Mots important factor

Can rewards increase aggression

Yes

Corporal Punishment

using physical pain to punish

• Associated with anti social behaviour

• Externalizing problems = aggression

• Internalizing problems = like depression 

Lead-Aggression Hypothesis

• Lead exposure affects brain development, hormonal systems, especially in young children 

• Childhood lead exposure associated with crime and violent behaviour later in life

• When we stopped using lead, violent crime rates decrease

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

• when goals are blocked, we become frustrated

• Agression is a response to that frustration

• ALL aggression stems from frustration

  • This aspect has been critcicized

displacement of arousal

If we cant aggress to source of frustrauon, we agress against another target

Catharsis (FAH)

• violence as a way to release aggression 

  • Evidence does not support idea of catharsis 

  • Leads to more aggression over time

Over a scale of centuries, has violence increased or decreased

Decreased

Cultures of honour (and relationship to aggression)

• strong emphasis on concept on honour for men

• Agression as accepted or encouraged response to retain honour in face of slights

  • Associated with more violence overall, including domestic violence in cases of sexual jealousy

Proposed mechanisms through which exposure to violent media could increase violence

• Decreases sensitivity to violence 

• Normalizes vioelnce as something to imitate 

• Increases arousal 

Issue of directionality

we dont know if media encourages violence or if violent ppl just like violent media 

Video games and violence

Does seem to be some sort of effect where people who play violent video games tend to be more aggressive in lab settings (questionable if this aggression extends to real world)

• Mixed evidence

• Crime doesnt increase with violent video game popularity

Pornography and violence

• violent porn consumption associated with sexual aggression

• Little/conflicting evidence for effect of non violent porn

Extremism

an ideological movement, contrary to democratic and ethical values of a society, often uses violence to achieve goals

• what is considered extreme depends on cultural context

  • Not inherently bad

Terrorism

use or threatened use of violence that targets civilians and is ideologically motivated 

• More complex than extremism, legal term

Radicalization

process by which individuals are introduced to an overtly ideological belief system that encourages movement from moderate beliefs to extreme ones

• Encouragemnet of violence as a way to promote extremism

Two elements to radicalization

• Attitudes = someone can believe society needs to be radically changed, does not necessarily translate to violent actions

• Behaviours = ppl can act violent and not believe extreme ideas (terrorism as a job)

  • Can exist on an individual and group level 

  • Any combo of 2 can exist 

Traditional theories of extremism (3)

• strategic model = paramilitary action as most effective way to attain political goals

  • Proved wrong bc this doesn’t usually work

• true fanaticism model = extremismtss are irrationally blinded by ideological or religious beliefs

  • Proved wrong bc extremists are usually bad at explaining their ideology

• Extremists are driven to violence due to a oppression or poverty

  • Poor ppl are not overly represented in extremist groups

Social ties and extremism

most effective way ppl get radiclaized is if a close friend/family member is in the group

• tends to happen on a group level rather than an individual level

Why are people who feel socially isolated more at risk of extremism

• Provide social support and belonging 

• Isolates alternative social opportunities

• Stigma outside the group 

Push factors

act as external pressures that might make violence more appealing

• ie percieved injustices

Pull factors

Internal/personal/individualistic factors that might make violence more appealing

• desire to belong, financial motives etc

Significance Quest Theory

ppl are motivated to satisfy a need for significance

• matter, have respect

• Extremism stems from motivational imbalance where this desire overrides other needs

3 most important psychological needs in terms of extremism

• Autonomy = feeling like you are living in line with self concept, others can't tell you what to do 

• Relatedness = feeling connected to others

• Competance = capable of doing what you want/need to do 

Examples of risk factors

• Being male 

• Having beliefs of social dominance

• Deviant peers

• Threat perception 

• Anti-democratic attitudes 

• Thrill seeking 

Protective factors

• Religiosity 

• Institutional trust 

• Outgrouo friends 

• Being married

• Parental involvement