Aggression and Its Reduction

Anti-Social Psychology 2025: Aggression and Its Reduction

Week 10: Aggression (Part 1)

Lecture Outline and Learning Objectives

• Introduction

• Aggression and violence today

• Defining aggression and violence

• Subtypes of aggression

• Theories of aggression

• Risk factors and aggression

Defining Aggression

• Violence is a form of aggression that is more physical (assault, murder, etc.).

• All violent behaviors are aggressive, but not all aggressive behaviors are violent.

• WHO (2024) states that injuries and violence result in 4.4 million deaths globally each year.

• Definitions:

  • Behavior initiated to physically and/or psychologically harm another individual, where the target is motivated to avoid it (Barling, Dupre & Kelloway, 2009).

  • Behavior intended to inflict harm toward a victim who is motivated to avoid the harm (Densen, DeWall & Finkel, 2012).

  • Any attempt to harm another person who does not want to be harmed (Allen & Anderson, 2017).

Sub-types of Aggression

• Direct physical aggression: bullying, hitting, kicking, and/or punching

• Direct verbal aggression: name-calling

• Indirect or relational aggression: gossiping, social exclusion, and ostracism; indirect aggression is as harmful as physical aggression (Brengen et al., 2008).

• Reactive aggression: a defensive response to provocation with anger

• Proactive aggression: a goal-directed, intentional, and cold-blooded action which is unprovoked

• Victims are found to be only reactively aggressive, whereas perpetrators show both reactive and proactive aggression (Crick & Dodge, 1999).

Theories of Aggression

• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis (Dollard et al., 1939): external forces interfering with goal-directed behavior trigger aggression.

• Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1987): aggressive behaviors are modeled from others’ behaviors via vicarious or observational learning.

• Social Information Processing Model (Crick and Dodge, 1994) and Script Model (Huesmann, 1998): developmental models proposing that children acquire aggressive cognitive scripts through early experiences and socialization.

General Aggression Model (GAM)

• The GAM is a metatheory that subsumes other models.

• Aggressive behavior results from a combination of personal and situational factors leading to heightened aggressive thoughts, feelings, and physiological arousal which, in turn, increases the likelihood of aggression (Kersten & Greitmeyer, 2023).

  • Personal factors: gender, age, race, IQ, genetic predispositions, hormones, personality traits (e.g., trait aggression), attitudes, beliefs, values, mood

  • Situational factors: violent media exposure, weapons, provocation, frustration, alcohol, drugs, poverty, hot temperatures, crowding, aggressive peers

• Aggression is not due to single factors but an interplay of situation and person factors mediated by internal state and cognitive appraisals.

Risk Factors and Aggression

• Genetics and Brain Structures

  • Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, also known as the WARRIOR/VIOLENCE gene: codes for an enzyme that breaks down serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is low in antisocial individuals.

  • Males with a common polymorphism in the MAOA gene have an 8% reduction in the volume of the amygdala, anterior cingulate, and prefrontal cortex (Meyer-Lindenberg et al., 2006).

  • Caspi et al. (2002) found that adults with the genetic variant associated with low levels of MAOA gene expression exhibited higher levels of ASB, but only if they had also been exposed to childhood maltreatment (Gene x Environment interaction).

Genes and Aggression

• Vassos et al. (2014) meta-analysis: no significant association between any genetic polymorphism and aggression.

• Pappa et al. (2016) study of aggression in children (N = 18,988; age 4–12 years old): no individual genetic variant significantly associated with child aggression.

• Ip et al. (2021) study of children and adolescents (N = 87,485; age 3–18 years old): no genome-wide significant associations with youth aggression.

Personality and Aggression

• Individuals high in trait aggressiveness and trait irritability behave more aggressively under both neutral and provoking conditions (Bettencourt et al., 2006).

• High scores in trait aggressiveness/irritability suggest a capacity to engage in a cold-blooded style of aggressive behavior, directing high levels of aggression towards others even in relatively neutral situations.

The Environment - Violent Video Games

• Wishfully identifying with violent characters in video games can influence adolescents to behave more aggressively in the real world (Konijin, Bijvank, and Bushman, 2007).

• Anderson et al.’s (2010) meta-analysis:

  • Included 130 studies, 380 effect sizes and N = 130,296.

  • Exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior.

Effect Sizes (Anderson et al, 2010)

• Experimental studies: average effect sizes of $r+ = .210$

• Cross-sectional studies: average effect sizes of $r+ = .262$ and $.171$

• Longitudinal studies: average effect sizes of $r + = .203$ and $.075$

Conclusion

• Aggression and violence are associated with biological (genetic polymorphisms neurotransmitters and neurological structures), personality, and environmental risk factors.

• Social psychologists need to adopt a multifaceted approach to reduce aggression and violence to foster a more civil society.

Week 10: Strategies to Reduce Aggression (Part 2)

Lecture Outline and Learning Objectives

• Introduction

• Reduction strategies:

  • Experimental (Biological versus Self-control training strategies)

  • Family: Exposure strategies

  • School-based education strategies

  • Government policies

• Conclusion

The Research Challenge

• Aggression and violence are multiply determined (biology, personality, environment, cognitions).

• Effective reduction strategies will be a considerable challenge due to interacting risk factors.

• The first step is to target known risk factors.

Experimental Research: Biological Strategies

• Establishing a genetic association with aggression remains tenuous despite neuro-scientific advances.

• More elaborated delineation between the neuro-circuitry implicated in the regulation of aggression and fear conditioning and affective control is still needed (Siever, 2008).

• Greater regional specificity is required regarding serotonin modulation of prefrontal activity.

• Genetic information is not considered the sole target variable in the prevention and treatment of antisocial behavior given the current limited knowledge about genetic variants.

• Merely possessing genetic variants associated with ASB does not guarantee the expression of ASB.

• Interventions targeting early risk factors linked to poor developmental and academic trajectories (difficulties in self-regulation) could help reduce the likelihood that genetic influences on antisocial behavior will manifest (Van Goozen et al. 2022).

Experimental Research: Self-Control Training (SCT) Strategies

• Research by Denson et al. (2011) shows that self-control training over a 2-week period can decrease anger and aggression in response to provocation.

Design of Denson et al. Study (2011)

• Pre-test measures

• SCT for 2 weeks or control condition

• Provocation – negative feedback

• Retaliation via white noise blast using Taylor Paradigm (1967)

• Post-test measures

• Results: SCT reduced aggression among individuals high in trait aggression.

• Participants receiving training reported less anger than controls.

• Limitation: self-reported anger; expression not experience of anger.

Chester (2023)

• Other than the Denson study, self-control training interventions have not proven effective in reducing anger or aggression.

• Aggression's relationship with self-control is more nuanced than the literature suggests.

• Self-control failure can cause aggression, as can successful/too much self-control (i.e., OCD, eating disorders).

Family: Exposure to Pro-Social Video Games

• Global video game industry revenue is substantial.

• Rehearsing aggressive and violent thoughts and actions in video games leads to antisocial effects (Anderson et al. 2010).

• Social cognitive processes should also yield prosocial effects when video game content is primarily prosocial.

• Greitmeyer et al., (2012) tested this proposition.

  • Provocation with negative feedback

  • Played either prosocial, neutral, or violent VG for 15 minutes

  • Completed arousal and mood scales

  • Retaliation via white noise blast

  • Results: Prosocial gamers behaved less aggressively than the neutral gamers

Benefits of Playing Video Games (Granic, Lobel, & Engels, 2014)

• Cognitive: Shooter games improve spatial skills and more accurate attention allocation.

• Motivational: Certain types of games will foster healthy motivational styles (persistence in the face of failure), while others may not.

• Social: Some video games promote social skills such as cooperation, support, and helping behaviors.

Improved Parental Regulation of Exposure to (Social) Media Violence

• Three negative effects of media violence (Goldstein, 1999):

  • Increased aggression and violence

  • Desensitization to violence

  • Increased fear of becoming a victim of violence

Parental Strategies (Goldstein, 1999)

• Limiting exposure to media violence

• Talking to children about media violence and its effects

• Encouraging children to develop critical thinking skills about media messages

• Promoting prosocial behavior

• Monitoring media use has become more complicated as access to media increases.

• Media violence exposure is positively associated with physical aggression, even after controlling for various child- and family-related factors, including child gender and mental health symptoms, and home and community violence (Coker et al’s., 2015).

Government Policy

• Australia has legislated that people under 16 will not be able to sign up for social media platforms.

• The ban was introduced due to concerns about the negative impact of social media on young people, in particular, on their mental health and wellbeing.

School-Based Education Strategies

• Programs delivered by teachers are more effective than those delivered by research staff.

• Programs targeting primary school were more effective than those targeting high schools.

• Programs intervening in the whole school environment were more effective than those targeting the classroom solely.

Social-Cognitive Programming (Boxer & Dubow, 2002)

• Best practice for school-based programs (improved social problem-solving or reframing of hostile attributions).

Vienna Social Competence Training Program (Gollwitzer et al., 2007)

• A 13-week classroom-based program that focuses on increasing the salience and cognitive accessibility of ‘socially competent,’ non-aggressive behavioral response options in conflict situations.

• Results: no short-term differences in aggression between the control and training classes, however, at the 4 months follow-up, there was an increase in aggressiveness among the control classes, but not the trained classes.

Creating a Safe School (CASS) Program (Nixon and Werner, 2010)

• Amongst 405 sixth-grade students over 10-12 classroom sessions.

  • a) raising awareness and increasing knowledge of relational aggression (RA)

  • b) building empathy

  • c) challenging beliefs endorsing or tolerating RA

• Results: The CASS intervention was only effective for students who were high in RA at pre-test.

Pathways to Aggression (Boxer and Dubow, 2002)

• Aggression follows a reliable pathway from initial onset of minor aggression (teasing, being mean, hitting someone to hurt) to physical fighting (getting involved in physical fights), and finally to violence (physically attacking people, using weapons etc).

• Tolan et al. (2000) found that among violent male youths aged 15 years of age, 94% had progressed through this pathway.

• Males comprised 92% of the total Australian prison population while females comprised 8% (ABS, 2023).

Conclusion: Early and Sustained Intervention 34%

• Early intervention is essential to prevent these pathways to aggression and violence from developing.

• Long-term, sustained, multilevel interventions are needed.

• Theory-driven and experimentally designed programs are necessary.

• Awareness of reduction and prevention strategies needs to be communicated to family and friends.