Notes on Aggression and Prosocial Behavior
Explanations for Aggression
Instinct and Evolution Explanations
Freud's Psychodynamic View: Aggression is a basic human instinct, related to Thanatos or the death instinct.
Most psychodynamic psychologists today don't fully accept this theory but view aggression as a behavioral potential that is innate.
It's usually activated by frustration and anger.
Parenting Task: Teaching young children to control aggressive impulses (e.g., toddlers biting, kicking, tantrums) is a fundamental parenting task.
As children age, overt aggression decreases, suggesting societal inhibition of aggressive responses.
Evolutionary Theorists: View aggression as adaptive for survival and reproductive value.
Aggression, including intraspecies killing, is observed in all animals.
Male Aggression: Typically directed at other males to gain access to females and defend territory.
Female Aggression: Largely elicited by attacks on their young.
Humans, like other animals, are believed to have evolved aggressive mechanisms activated when circumstances threaten survival or kin reproductive success.
Biological Explanations
Genetics:
Research shows that highly aggressive animals (mice, rats, rabbits) can be selectively bred for aggression.
Certain dog breeds have been selectively bred over generations for aggression.
Twin and adoption studies comparing monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins suggest aggression is heritable up to approximately the mark.
Nervous System:
The limbic system and hypothalamus are involved in emotional reactions and drive states.
The prefrontal cortex is crucial for decision-making and organization.
Damage or developmental delays in the prefrontal cortex can lead to increased aggression.
Endocrine System (Hormones):
Hormones play a significant role in aggressive tendencies.
Males often assert social dominance and become aggressive if that status is threatened.
Studies indicate participants with higher testosterone levels tend to be more impatient and irritable.
Bidirectional Correlation: Testosterone may increase aggression, but behaving aggressively can also increase testosterone levels (a two-way influence).
Environmental Explanations
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis (Dollard et al., 1939):
Aggression results from the failure to achieve a goal.
Example: Not finding keys leads to frustration, which in turn leads to aggressive responses (e.g., short, aggressive replies).
Scapegoating/Displacement: If direct challenge to frustration is not possible, aggressive behavior may be diverted onto another target.
Example: Flat phone battery causes frustration; instead of damaging the phone, one might push a chair or slam a door.
Limitations: Researchers later realized that not all aggression stems from frustration, and not all frustration leads to aggression. Other responses to frustration can include depression or increased motivation.
Cognitive Neo-association Theory (Berkowitz):
Extends the frustration-aggression hypothesis, suggesting frustration breeds aggression to the extent that it elicits an unpleasant emotion.
Mechanism: Unpleasant situations (e.g., non-smoker near a smoker in a confined space) lead to negative affect and arousal (bad mood, physiological response like disgust or headache).
The collision of negative affect and arousal can lead to aggression.
Aversive Situations: Besides noxious odors (smoking), other aversive situations include:
Heat: Research shows that as temperatures rise, so do tempers. There's a strong correlation between hot weather and riots, and aggressive criminal behavior (assault, rape, murder) increases in warmer months.
Hostility: Hostility from others (e.g., road rage) can lead to aggression.
Insults: Being insulted can also trigger aggression.
Memory Activation: No matter the source of arousal (heat, insults, odors), negative emotions activate similar cognitions stored in memory, making negative emotions difficult to overcome.
Environmental Cues (Weapons Effect):
The mere presence of weapons in the environment can increase aggressive behaviors.
Aggressive Scripts: Throughout life, weapons are primarily associated with aggression, not pleasant behavior. Seeing a gun immediately triggers associations with violence, developing