ch. 10 Aggression and Antisocial behavior

Yamato is typically a responsible and circumspect individual who would never deliberately harm someone else. He is also a safe driver with a history of not even a speeding ticket. One night, however, he was anxious to get home to celebrate a family event, sped up to get through an intersection before the light turned red, and hit another car, injuring the driver seriously. Based on his driving, would a social psychologist classify Yamoto as aggressive?

Yes, because a reasonable person would know that harm might result

Maybe, but only if he had a history of causing such incidents

No, because there is no evidence that Yamato intended to cause harm

Yes, because he deliberately sped up to make it through the light

No, because there is no evidence that Yamato intended to cause harm

Social psychologists typically define aggression as behavior that is intended to cause harm that victims want to avoid. Because there is no evidence that Yamato intended to cause harm to the occupants of the other vehicle, his behavior does not fit the social psychological definition of aggression.

A key part of the social psychological definition of aggression is that it must be intended to cause harm. Accidental behavior, even when arguably reckless from a legal point of view, does not meet the social psychological definition of aggression. Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

Consider the social psychological definition of aggression and identify the accurate statement.

Aggression refers to any behavior that is intended to harm a person who does not want to be harmed.

Aggression is an emotion that is similar to anger.

Aggression is sometimes accidental.

Aggression involves rehearsing an action multiple times before finally perpetrating it successfully.

Aggression refers to any behavior that is intended to harm a person who does not want to be harmed.

Social psychologists typically define aggression as any behavior that is intended to cause harm that victims want to avoid.

Social psychologists regard aggression as any behavior intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid the harm. Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

Cal and his friends intensely dislike Mr. Jasper who frequently yells at them for making noise. When Mr. Jasper and his partner go away on vacation, Cal and the others take advantage of the situation and vandalize the Jasper home. This behavior is an example of _____.

direct aggression

relational aggression

indirect aggression

displaced aggression

indirect aggression

Indirect aggression is any behavior that intentionally harms another person who is physically absent.

Indirect aggression involves harming someone who is not physically present and, as such, may involve some degree of calculation. It is exemplified in acts such as vandalizing the home of someone who is disliked. Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

Aggression that involves "cold," premeditated, and calculated behavior is best known as _____.

direct aggression

hostile aggression

proactive aggression

reactive aggression

proactive aggression

Proactive aggression is "cold," premeditated, calculated behavior that is motivated by some goal other than harm.

Proactive aggression, also sometimes called instrumental aggression, is motivated by factors other than causing harm and is premeditated and calculated. For example, someone who feels they have been wronged in some way, such as by being unjustly treated, may plan out a way to harm the individual who has treated them unjustly. Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

What is the purpose of bullying, as social psychologists view it?

Causing as much psychological harm as possible

Harming groups of people with retaliatory aggression

Venting rage to avoid physical violence

Establishing a power relationship over the victim

Establishing a power relationship over the victim

Bullying is intended to establish a power relationship over the victim.

Bullying refers to persistent aggression by a perpetrator against a victim for the purpose of establishing a power relationship over the victim. The key feature of bullying over other acts of aggression is its persistent nature—the bully repeatedly picks on the victim. Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

Which of the following best describes the patterns of global violence during the 20th and early 21st century?

While violence against civilians is increasing, wars are decreasing.

Both wars and violence against civilians are increasing.

Both wars and violence against civilians are decreasing.

While wars are increasing, violence against civilians is decreasing.

Both wars and violence against civilians are decreasing.

Global violence has been falling steadily since the middle of the 20th century. The number of wars and the number of individuals killed in those wars, both military and civilian, has decreased. Other rates of violence, including murders, has also decreased.

In today's digital age, we certainly are more informed about wars and other acts of violence than in past ages. "If it bleeds, it leads" seems to be the rule used to determine what news stories to focus on. Because violent images are more available to us now than ever before, we might assume that violence levels are also higher. However, that perception might be due to the availability heuristic. In reality, over time this planet is actually becoming a more peaceful place to live. Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

Bill has a problem with his temper and believes that venting is the best approach. He expresses his anger before it gets to the point that he explodes. Bill is espousing the approach of _____.

Neal Miller

Albert Bandura

Sigmund Freud

Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz proposed an instinct theory of aggression that posited a buildup of aggressive urges that, if not released through some other activity, would inevitably lead to aggression.

Konrad Lorenz proposed an instinct theory of aggression in which a buildup of aggressive urges (like hydraulic pressure inside a closed environment) that, if not released through some other activity, would inevitably lead to aggression. The theory that aggression results from the buildup of an internal drive or tension that must be released still has a profound influence on popular approaches for managing anger such as venting or expressing it, even though numerous studies have found no evidence supporting the hydraulic model. Refer to the reading Is Aggression Innate or Learned?

Often children from homes in which domestic violence occurs engage in aggressive behavior themselves. Children seem to learn aggression by watching others engage in it. This behavior is consistent with which theorist?

Konrad Lorenz

Neal Miller

Sigmund Freud

Albert Bandura

Albert Bandura

According to social learning theorists like Albert Bandura, people learn aggressive behaviors the same way they learn other social behaviors-by direct experience and observation of others.

According to Bandura's social learning theory, people observe and copy or imitate the behavior of others—called modeling. Modeling can weaken or strengthen aggressive responding, depending on whether the model is rewarded or punished for behaving aggressively. Refer to the reading Is Aggression Innate or Learned?

What is the position of most psychologists regarding aggression and culture?

People are inherently pacifists.

Culture helps prevent aggression.

Most rules about aggression are ineffective.

Aggression is inevitable.

Culture helps prevent aggression.

Social psychologists recognize that violence is common, but also note that cultural rules regarding aggression can and do help reduce aggression.

The impulse to lash out against someone who hurts or threatens or humiliates you may be natural and universal (nature says go), but the rules governing action or restraint depend heavily on culture (culture says stop). Some anthropologists and others believe that without cultural encouragement, there would be no aggression, but most social scientists disagree, partly because aggression has been found almost everywhere. The nonviolent human being, not the violent one, is the product of culture. Refer to the reading Is Aggression Innate or Learned?

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020 by police officers who were later convicted, numerous protests, some of which became violent, occurred. Which theorist would be most likely to conceptualize the violence as resulting from long-standing frustration over inequities?

Neal Miller

Albert Bandura

Stanley Milgram

Konrad Lorenz

Neal Miller

Neal Miller is associated with the frustration-aggression hypothesis.

Neal Miller, one of the original authors of Frustration and Aggression, proposed that aggression is always preceded by frustration and that frustration produces instigations to a number of different types of response, one of which is an instigation to some form of aggression. Refer to the reading External Causes of Aggression.

Leslie often has difficulty getting alone with others, who she often views as having some sort of aggressive intent, even when their intentions are ambiguous. This is most consistent with which of the following?

Retribution

Hostile attribution bias

Immediacy of threat

Hostile perception

Hostile attribution bias

The hostile attribution bias is the tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as aggressive. The hostile perception bias is the tendency to perceive social interactions in general as being aggressive.

The hostile attribution bias is the tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as indicating aggressive intent. For example, if someone bumps into you, a hostile attribution would be that the person did it on purpose to harm or annoy you. Refer to the reading Individual Differences in Aggressiveness.

Considering what you know about aggressive behavior, which group is most likely to be aggressive?

Youth gang members

Toddlers

Organized crime gangs

Adolescent males

Toddlers

About 25 percent of toddlers' interactions involve some kind of physical aggression.

Children do not commit many violent crimes, especially as compared to young adult men. Yet Richard Tremblay has provided evidence that very young children are in fact the most aggressive human beings on earth. His research team observed toddlers in daycare settings and recorded that about 25 percent of interactions involve physical aggression (e.g., a child pushes another child out of the way and takes their toy). No adult group, not even violent youth gangs or hardened criminals, resorts to physical aggression 25 percent of the time. Refer to the reading Individual Differences in Aggressiveness.

Men who are sexually coercive _____.

rarely have other sex partners

may devalue women

have less sex than noncoercive men

would prefer to be in committed relationships

may devalue women

A sexually coercive man often devalues women and has little empathy for them.

Sexually coercive men generally have other sex partners and indeed may have more sex than noncoercive men. A sexually coercive man generally does not hate women, but he may devalue them, may have little empathy for their concerns or suffering, and is likely to feel that women have hurt or betrayed him in the past. He has high sexual motivation and enjoys impersonal, uncommitted sex. Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

Which statement about domestic violence is most accurate?

People who were abused as children will inevitably become abusers in adulthood.

Abuse is not a significant public health issue in the United States.

Older adults are rarely the victims of domestic violence.

The effects of domestic abuse are wide ranging.

The effects of domestic abuse are wide ranging.

Domestic abuse does not just cause physical harm, it causes a wide range of psychological and social harms.

The U.S. Surgeon General declared domestic violence to be the number one health risk in the United States. Physically weaker family members, such as children, older parents, and women are especially at risk of being seriously injured because they are less able to fight back. Domestic violence not only immediately harms victims, but it can also produce long-term harmful consequences (e.g., depression, anxiety, insomnia, loneliness, social dysfunction, somatic symptoms). Refer to the reading Defining Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior.

Research on the "weapons effect" suggests that when people openly display their weapon(s) in public settings such as stores and restaurants, these public displays will most likely_____.

increase the risk of aggressive behavior