Social Psych EXAM 4

aggression

Intentional behavior aimed at causing physical harm or psychological pain to another person

instrumental aggression

aggression as a means to some goal other than causing pain

Hostile aggression

aggression stemming from feelings of anger and aimed at inflicting pain or injury

Physical aggression with partners and less violent aggression are linked to what gender?

no gender difference

Extreme violence in families and infliction of more serious injury is linked to what gender?

Male

relational aggression

harming another person through the manipulation of relationships; women are more likely to be the perpetrators

Social-Cognitive Learning Theory

People learn social behavior, positive and negative, through

observation and imitation of others

Bandura's Bobo Doll Study

Children who observed an adult model attack a Bobo doll displayed nearly twice as much aggressive behavior as children who watched a nonaggressive model or no model at all

Why does alcohol increase aggression?

1. Reduces anxiety and inhibitions

2. Disrupts information processing

3. "Think drink" effect

▪Expectations about the effects of alcohol influence

behavior more than amount of alcohol drunk!

frustration-aggression theory

The idea that frustration—the perception that you are being prevented from attaining a goal—increases the probability of an aggressive response

Factors that increase aggression

Pain, discomfort

Factors of increased frustration

Goal proximity, unexpectedness of frustration

Frustration in relation to aggression

-Does not always lead to aggression

-Increases anger

-Increases readiness to aggression

Frustration-aggression link depends on

-Size and strength of the person responsible

for your frustration

-Person's ability to retaliate

-Proximity of the person

Likelihood of aggression is reduced when frustration is

understandable, legitimate, unintentional

Relative (not absolute) deprivation is link to frustration and aggression

People perceive a discrepancy between what they have and what they think they should

have

When will provoked with aggression, when will it NOT be reciprocated?

Provocation was unintentional

Mitigating circumstances

Must be known at the time of the provocation

weapons effect

the increase in aggression that can occur because of the mere presence of a gun or other weapon

rape

penetration of any bodily orifice with any part of the body or with any object

Sexual assault

any intentional sexual attack against another person

motivation for rape

Some men commit rape to dominate,

humiliate or punish others

-Men can be sexually assaulted by women,

too

•85% of all rapes or attempted rapes are

acquaintance rape

•May occur as a result of physical force or

incapacitation

Games that directly promote violence increase

hostility, aggressive thoughts, aggressive acts

What are the consequences of being exposed to violence via the media?

•Numbs people to difficult, violent, and unpleasant

events

•Increases indifferences to real victims of violence

•Repeated dehumanizes the "enemy" in games

can affect how players regard real people

Watching more TV violence in childhood

Associated with more violent behavior in adolescence

and adulthood

What are the effects of aggressive acts as punishment?

Punishers model aggressive behavior, which might induce the person to imitate their action

Threat of mild punishment

Powerful enough to get the child to stop the undesired behavior activity

Child must then justify his or her restraint, leading to

attitude change

Harsh punishment on adults

-Can act as a deterrent

▪Must be swift and certain

Catharsis

the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

Does aggressive behavior reduce the need for further aggression?

No, competitive games increase aggression

Does direct aggression against the source of your anger reduce further aggression?

No

Participants who inflicted psychological or physical harm on an innocent person

-Derogated their victims

-Convinced themselves victim deserved what

they got

-Makes it easier to do further harm to the

victim in the futur

If close friend or spouse makes you angry, expressing anger may allow you to

Gain insight into yourself and dynamics of the relationship

Apologies only work if the following conditions are met

•Being genuinely sorry

•Providing reassures that it won't happen

again

•Avoiding explaining your behavior at the

moment of the apology

Social rejection is a significant risk factor for

teenage suicide, despair, and violence

•Most teenagers who have committed murders were bullied and rejected by peers

Prejudice

A hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group based solely on their membership in that group

Bases of discrimination

Nationality, Racial and ethnic identity, Gender, Sexual orientation, Religion, Appearance, Physical state, Weight (any group can be subject to discrimination)

Three components of prejudice

Cognitive: Stereotypes

Affective: Emotions

Behavioral: Discrimination

stereotype

A cognitive generalization process about a group of people; Certain traits are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual variation among the members

What do stereotypes do?

Make sense of our social world by grouping people together

cognitive misers

The idea that people look for ways to conserve cognitive energy; they do that by attempting to adopt strategies that simplify complex problems (stereotyping)

What is the effect on stereotypes on memory?

Better memory for information consistent with stereotypes

Adaptive stereotypes

when accurately identifies attributes of a group well

Maladaptive Stereotypes

blinds us to individual differences

What's Wrong with Positive Stereotypes?

denies individuality of person

hostile sexism

Stereotypical views of women that suggest that women are inferior to men

benevolent sexism

Stereotypical, positive views of women

Discrimination

An unjustified negative or harmful action toward the members of a group simply because of their membership in that group

Discrimination in hiring

-Overweight -- hired and promoted less often

-Perceptions of appropriateness

-Race

War on drugs discrimination

African Americans disproportionately arrested, convicted and incarcerated for drug charges

Microaggressions

everyday uses of subtle verbal and nonverbal communications that convey denigrating or dismissive messages to members of certain social groups

Example: White professor compliments Asian

student for his "excellent English"

Social Distance

-A person's reluctance to get "too close" to

another group

-Unwilling to work with, marry, or live next to

members of a particular group

-Example: Straight student not wanting to sit

next to gay student

What increases aggression toward stereotyped targets?

Stress, anger, suffering a blow to self-esteem, not in control of conscious intentions

Detecting Hidden Prejudices

•People hide prejudice.

-When situation becomes "safe," their

prejudice will be revealed.

▪Example: Questioning President Obama's

Americanism, not his race per se

What are the two reasons prejudice is suppressed?

-Sincere motivation to become less prejudiced

-Avoid being labeled a sexist, racist, etc.

Bogus pipeline

a phony lie-detector device that is sometimes used to get respondents to give truthful answers to sensitive questions

More likely to express racist attitudes

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Measures the speed of positive and negative reactions

to target groups

It measures a cultural bias or stereotype, not

a personally held bias

self-fulfilling prophecy

the tendency for people to behave as they are expected to behave

Social identity threat (or stereotype threat)

People feel evaluated as a member of a group, rather than as an individual

May be evaluated on the basis of a negative

stereotype

How can the effects of stereotype threat be reversed?

Alternative mindset, self-affirmation

Causes of prejudice

Pressures to Conform, Social Identity, Realistic Conflict, passed on through generations

institutional discrimination

Practices that discriminate, legally or illegally, against a minority group by virtue of its ethnicity, gender, culture, age, sexual orientation, or other target of societal or company prejudice

Normative conformity

The strong tendency to go along with the group in order to fulfill the group's expectations and gain acceptance

Social identity

Part of our identity that stems from our membership in groups

Ethnocentrism

The belief that your own culture, nation, or religion is superior to all others

in-group bias

The tendency to favor members of one's own group and give them special preference over people who belong to other groups; the group can be temporary and trivial as well as significant

What is the major underlying motive for in-group bias?

self-esteem

-Individuals enhance self-esteem by identifying

with specific social groups.

-Self-esteem is enhanced only if the individual

sees these groups as superior to other

groups.

minimal groups

Strangers are formed into groups using the most trivial criteria

-Favor in-group over out-group

-Allocate more rewards for in-group members

What happens when times are tough and resources are scarce?

1. In-group members will feel more threatened

by the out-group.

2. Incidents of prejudice, discrimination, and

violence toward out-group members will

increase.

Two ways to reduce prejudice

-Contact hypothesis

-Cooperation and Interdependence

Realistic Conflict Theory

Limited resources leads to conflict among groups, which leads to prejudice and discrimination

Prejudice increases when times are tense

and conflict exists over mutually exclusive

goals