Social Relations: Social Relations: AggressionAggression

Chapter 16, Lecture 4Chapter 16, Lecture 4

“Asking what causes violence is…like askingwhat causes cancer.”

- David Myers

Aggression

Aggression can be any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.

It may be done reactively out of hostility or proactively as a calculated means to an

end.Research shows that aggressive behavior emerges from the interaction of biology

and experience.

First, look at Handout 16-11First, look at Handout 16-11in groups of 2 to 3…in groups of 2 to 3…

The Biology of Aggression

Three biological influences on aggressive behavior are:

1. Genetic Influences2. Neural Influences3. Biochemical

Influences

Influences

Genetic Influences: Animals have been bred for aggressiveness for sport and at times for

research. Twin studies show aggression may be genetic. In men, aggression is possibly linked

to the Y chromosome.

Neural Influences: Some centers in the brain, especially the limbic system (amygdala) and the frontal lobe, are intimately involved

with aggression.

InfluencesBiochemical Influences: Animals with

diminished amounts of testosterone (castration) become docile, and if injected with testosterone aggression increases. Prenatal exposure to testosterone also increases aggression in female hyenas.

The Psychology of Aggression

Four psychological factors that influence aggressive behavior are:

1. dealing with aversive events;2. learning aggression is

rewarding;3. observing models of

aggression; and4. acquiring social scripts.

Aversive EventsStudies in which animals and humans

experience unpleasant events reveal that those made miserable often make others

miserable.

Ron Artest (Pacers) attack on Detroit Pistons fans.

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EnvironmentEven environmental temperature can lead

to aggressive acts. Murders and rapes increased with the temperature in

Houston.

Frustration-Aggression Principle

A principle in which frustration (caused by the blocking of an attempt

to achieve a desired goal) creates anger, which can generate

aggression.

Learning that Aggression is Rewarding

When aggression leads to desired outcomes, one learns to be aggressive.

This is shown in both animals and humans.

Cultures that favor violence breed violence. Scotch-Irish settlers in the South

had more violent tendencies than their Puritan, Quaker, & Dutch counterparts in

the Northeast of the US.

Observing Models of Aggression

Sexually coercive men are promiscuous and

hostile in their relationships with

women. This coerciveness has increased due to

television viewing of R- and X-rated movies.

Acquiring Social Scripts

The media portrays social scripts and generates mental tapes in the minds of the

viewers. When confronted with new situations individuals may rely on such social scripts. If social scripts are violent in nature,

people may act them out.

Do Video Games Teach or Release Violence?

The general consensus on violent video games is that, to some extent, they breed violence. Adolescents view the world as

hostile when they get into arguments and receive bad grades after playing such

games.

Recently, Sarah Coyne and her colleagues examined the impact of observing relational violence on viewers. Relational violence can take different forms ranging from spreading rumors about another to threatening social exclusion. Do filmed portrayals of relational violence make viewers relationally and even physically aggressive?In their study, the researchers asked 53 college women to watch one of three video clips, featuring either physical aggression (a knife fight from Kill Bill), relational aggression (a montage from Mean Girls), or no aggression (a séance from the horror movie What Lies Beneath). After the participants completed a brief survey, they were allowed to leave.

Immediately outside the laboratory room was another researcher who asked if they would like to participate in a second study involving reaction times. When they agreed, the researcher acted rudely by telling them to hurry, and then, when the participants hesitated, she said, “Great! This is really going to screw things up!”After the researcher left the room, the participants took two tests that are often used to assess aggression. One enabled them to deliver a sharp noise to the researcher by pushing a button (physical aggression); the other asked them to complete an evaluation that supposedly was going to be used to decide whether the researcher should be hired (relational aggression).

The results indicated that those who viewed clips from Kill Bill and Mean Girls reacted in similarly aggressive ways. They turned up the sharp noise delivered to the researcher louder than the control group. They also gave the researcher lower scores on the evaluation form than the control group did. Coyne and her colleagues concluded that their findings provide evidence for a generalization or cross-over effect of viewing media violence. Viewing one form of violence can influence the manifestation of other forms.

Coyne suggests that parents pay greater attention to relational violence and perhaps even push to make it part of movie and TV ratings. She concluded, “Everyone’s concerned about violence in the media, as they should be, but we’re missing out on lots of violence out there. We need to look at these other types of aggression because we know they’re having an effect of aggression.”Coyne is now studying reality TV shows that are filled with instances of relational violence. She worries that young children in particular are vulnerable. It’s “almost always portrayed as justified, almost always portrayed as rewarded,” she says.

Summary

“Why do we kill people who kill people toshow that killing people is wrong?” - National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

HomeworkRead p.705-712