Supplemental Content 24: Aggression

Aronson Social Psychology, 5/e Copyright © 2005 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Aggression: Why Do We Hurt Other People?

Can We Prevent it?


What Is Aggression?

An aggressive action is intentional behavior aimed at causing either physical or psychological pain.


What Is Aggression?

Hostile aggression is an act of aggression stemming from feelings of anger and aimed at inflicting pain.


What Is Aggression?

Instrumental aggression is aggression that serves as a means to some goal other than causing pain.


What Is Aggression?

• Is Aggression Inborn, or Learned?

Scientists do not agree on whether aggression is innate or learned. The debate has been raging for centuries.


What Is Aggression?

• Is Aggression Inborn, or Learned?

Freud postulated that humans have innate instincts toward life, Eros, and towards death and aggression, Thanatos.


What Is Aggression?

• Is Aggression Instinctual? Situational? Optional?

Even in the most aggression-prone species, aggression is an optional strategy and is determined by the organism’s previous social experiences and by the specific social context in which the organism finds itself.


What Is Aggression?

• Aggressiveness and Culture

Berkowitz (1993) suggests that humans seem to have an inborn tendency to respond to certain provocative stimuli by striking out against the perpetrator.


What Is Aggression?


Whether or not this aggressive action is expressed depends on the interaction of these innate propensities with learned inhibitory responses and the nature of the social situation.


What Is Aggression?


In humans, innate patterns of behavior are infinitely malleable; thus, cultures vary widely in the degree of aggressiveness.


What Is Aggression?


The evidence is inconclusive on whether or not aggression has an instinctual component, but it is clear that aggression can be modified by situational factors. Two examples of this are aggression among the Iroquois and the regional differences in aggressive behavior in the United States.


Chapter Outline

II. Neural and Chemical Influences on Aggression


Neural and Chemical Influences on Aggression

The amygdala is an area in the core of the brain associated with aggressive behavior. But even if the amygdala is directly stimulated, whether or not the organism will aggress depends on situational factors.



Serotonin and TestosteroneSerotonin is a chemical in the brain that may inhibit aggressive impulses.

Testosterone is a male sex hormone associated with aggression. A wide variety of studies have shown that men are more aggressive than women are. However, the research on gender differences is complex and results depend on situational and cultural factors.



• Alcohol and Aggression

Alcohol serves as a disinhibitor and leads people to be more likely to commit actions frowned upon by society; thus alcohol can foster aggression when people are provoked.



• Pain, Discomfort, and Aggression

Both animal and human studies show that pain will increase the probability that an organism will aggress.

Other forms of bodily discomfort (heat, humidity, air pollution, offensive odors) may also act to lower the threshold for aggressive behaviors.


Chapter Outline

III. Social Situations and Aggression


Social Situations and Aggression

• Frustration and Aggression

Frustration-aggression theory says that frustration, the perception that you are being prevented from obtaining a goal, will increase the probability of an aggressive response.




The closer someone is to a goal, the greater the frustration when one is thwarted and the higher the probability that the person will act aggressively.




Aggression also increases when frustration is unexpected. The perception of relative deprivation, feeling that one has less than one deserves or has been led to expect or has less than similar people, can increase aggressive behavior.



• Aggressive Objects as Cues



• Imitation and Aggression

A major cause of aggression is social learning. Bandura and associates (1961) demonstrated social learning theory, the theory that we learn social behavior (for example, aggression) by observing others and imitating them.



• Violence in the Media: TV, Movies, and Video Games

A number of long-term studies indicate that the more violence individuals watch on TV as children, the more violence they exhibit years later as teens and adults.



• Violence in the Media: TV, Movies, and Video Games


How To Reduce Aggression

• Catharsis and Aggression

The common belief that one can “blow off steam” and “get it out of your system” is an oversimplification of Freud’s psychoanalytic notion of catharsis.




According to this idea, performing an aggressive act relieves built-up aggressive energies and hence reduces the likelihood of further aggressive behavior.




However, controlled studies suggest that attempting to reduce one’s anger by acting violently increases, rather than decreases, subsequent aggression and hostility.




Research has found that when people are allowed to express their aggression, they later feel greater dislike and hostility toward their victims.



• What Are We Supposed to Do with Our Anger?

Building empathy, for example by teaching empathy in school, not only reduces aggressiveness but also can increase self-esteem, generosity, and positive attitudes.


Chapter Outline

V. Could the Columbine Massacre Have Been Prevented?


Could the Columbine Massacre Have Been Prevented?

Aronson (2000) suggests that although the violent acts of the Columbine massacre were pathological, it would be a mistake to dismiss them as just the result of individual pathology.


Could the Columbine Massacre Have Been Prevented?

What is necessary to acknowledge is the social situation that children and adolescents face in schools. Thus, making our schools safer by changing the negative, exclusionary social atmosphere may help reduce the frequency of violence in schools.


Study Questions

What factors other than instinct determine if an animal will behave aggressively?


Study Questions

What are cultural and regional differences in human aggressive behavior that have been documented throughout history? What do these findings tell us about the importance of instinct in driving human aggression?


Study Questions

What roles do the amygdala and testosterone play in aggressive behavior? What effect does serotonin have on aggressive behavior? What research findings support the influence of testosterone on aggressive behavior?


Study Questions

What is the relationship between gender, culture, and aggressive behavior?


Study Questions

Under what conditions is the consumption of alcohol related to aggressive behavior?


Study Questions

How are pain and heat related to aggressive behavior?


Study Questions

How does the frustration-aggression theory explain aggressive behavior? What situations produce frustration?


Study Questions

How do aggressive stimuli increase the probability of aggressive behavior? What are data that support the relationship between aggressive stimuli and aggressive behavior?


Study Questions

How does social learning theory explain aggressive behavior? What is evidence that supports the explanations provided by this theory?


Study Questions

What are the assumptions of the catharsis hypothesis? Does engaging in aggressive or physical behavior reduce future aggressive behavior?


Study Questions

What are the advantages of teaching empathy in school? What effects could empathy training have on the prevention of school violence?

Supplemental Content 24: Aggression

Documents

aggression inborn

aggression instinctual

hostile aggression

social situations

alcoholcan foster aggression

aggressionprone species

e copyright

specific social context