PART 5 AGGRESSIONLG:1. What is aggression?2. What are the causes?3. How does violent media influences aggression?4. Does venting work?

WHAT IS AGGRESSION? definition depends on theoretical perspective & methods used.

Most direct form: physical acts. We can only collect evidence of physical behaviorMore indirect form: e.g. subtle feature of language: what people say and maybe how they say it

Compromised definition: physical / verbal behavior intended to cause harm-excludes unintentional harm & actions involving pain as unavoidable side effect of helping -not all aggression is intentional! (individuals causing harm cannot be held responsible for action)Types of aggression:Motives:

THEORIES OF AGGRESSION(1) AGGRESSION AS A BIOLOGICAL PHENOMENON

- Instinct Theory and Evolutionary Psychology (Freud) (Ethological Perspective)Aggressive energy is instinctual (unlearned &universal) causes instinctive behaviorexplaining-by-namingdoesnt account for variations depending on persons, cultures, time & spacesteam boiler model (Lorenz)

- Genetic Influences- heredity influences neural systems sensitivity to aggressive cues (e.g. breeding animals for aggressiveness)- our temperaments are partly brought with us into world, influenced by our sympathetic nervous systems reactivity. Usually endures our life.Genes alone dont explain aggressive behavior! Nature and nurture interact. 40% genes 60% environment

- Biochemical InfluencesBlood chemistry influences neural sensitivity to aggressive stimulation - Alcoholunleashes aggression when people provoked (laboratory experiments & police data)susceptibility hypothesis when features of someones environment make him more susceptible to particular kinds of behavior as a consequencepeople who are already engaging in antisocial behavior are more susceptible to abuse alcohol-enhances aggressiveness by lowering peoples self-awareness & thresholds for antisocial behavior due to reduced control from social & cultural norms reducing ability to consider consequences & peoples mentally associating alcohol with aggression

- Testosteronecorrelates to some extent with aggressiveness (prone to delinquency, hard drug use, aggressive responses to provocation) but correlation does not mean causation!

- Serotoninlow levels of serotonin linked to heightened aggression- Neural Influences -Reactive aggression defines a response to being provoked. I Theory (Denson) instigation (being provoked) impellance (dispositional & situational factors which prepare you for an aggressive response) inhibition (self control)- Instrumental aggression defines behavior that is aggressive in order to acquire a desired award

(2) AGGRESSION AS A RESPONSE TO FRUSTRATION

- Frustration-Aggression Theory (Brown) frustration triggers a readiness to aggress frustration: blocking of goal-directed behavioravailability of frustrator:- Displacement redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the frustration. generally, the new target is a safer or more socially acceptable target.

-Aggressive cues weapon effect

- Frustration-Aggression Theory Revised

unjustified frustrationeAnger+Aggression cues

Aggression

- Relative Deprivation perception that one is less well off than others with whom one compares oneself-Cognitive neoassociation model

more elaborate thinking

-Excitation Transfer model when a state of physiological arousal is transferred from one situation to another, resulting in heightened expressive behaviour

more elaborate thinking

(3) AGGRESSION AS LEARNED SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

- The Rewards of Aggression by experience &observing other we learn that aggression often pays.(aggressive hockey player score more goals; terrorist acts)

- Observational LearningSocial learning theory of aggression (Bandura) we learn aggression not only by experiencing its rewards but also by observing others. as with other social behaviors, we acquire aggression by watching others act and noting the consequences.- The Family- The culture- Subculture- Mediamodeling

- GENERAL AGGRESSION MODEL

INFLUENCES ON AGGRESSION AVERSIVE INCIDENTSPain-can incite emotional outburst; increases aggressionHeat- temporary climate variations can affect behavior-correlations between hot temperature and aggressionAttacksbeing attacked/insulted is conducive to aggressionreciprocity principle we tend to react to a direct attack, which can lead to an escalation of violence

DISINHIBITIONdeindividuation, dehumanization

social status, gender, social identity, culture

INTERPRETING AROUSALwe can experience an aroused bodily state in different ways given state of bodily arousal feeds one emotion or another, depending on how the person interprets and labels the arousal - being physically stirred up does intensify any emotion- frustrating/hot/insulting situation heightens arousal. Arousal, combined with hostile thoughts & feelings, may form a recipe for aggressive behavior

AGGRESSION CUES: THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT violence is more likely when aggressive cues in the environment release pent-up angere.g. sight of a weapon

MEDIA INFLUENCES: PORNOGRAPHY AND SEXUAL VIOLENCEmass media is an influential model for aggressive behavior: we may take cues from it in interpreting states of arousal, and express our behavior in a way that seems appropriate.- Disorted Perceptions of Sexual Reality-Aggression against Women MEDIA INFLUENCES: TELEVISIONTelevisions effects on behaviorthe more violent the content of childs television viewing, the more aggressive the child. indirect aggression (e.g. gossiping, manipulating, social exclusion)

Televisions effects on thinking-Desensitization- Social Scripts (culturally provided mental instructions for how to act in various situations)- Altered Perceptions- Cognitive Priming

MEDIA INFLUENCES: VIDEO GAMES -identify with, and play the role of, a violent character- actively rehearse violence, not just passively watch itengage in the whole sequence of enacting violence selecting victims, acquiring weapons & ammunition, stalking the victim, aiming the weapon, pulling the trigger- are engaged with continual violence and threats of attack-repeat violent behaviors over and over-are rewarded for effective aggression

Playing violent video games- increases arousal- increases aggressive thinking- increases aggressive feelings-increases aggressive behaviors-decreases prosocial behaviors

the more violent the games played, the bigger the effects.

GENDER AND AGGRESSIONmales more physically aggressive; females more verbally

CAN AGGRESSION BE REDUCED? CATHARSIS?Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis, expressing aggression by catharsis tends to breed further aggression, not reduce it.

THE SOCIAL LEARNING APPROACHcontrolling aggression by counteracting the factors that provoke it:by reducing aversive stimulationby rewarding and modeling non-aggressionby eliciting reactions incompatible with aggression

PUNISHMENT

Like a Magnet: Catharsis Beliefs Attract Angry People to Violent Video Games (Brad J. Bushman; Jodi L. Whitaker)

-most recent form of violent entertainment: video gamesWhat attracts players? Claim in surveys games help them to get anger out catharsis to cleanse or purgeCatharsis theory:acting aggressively/even viewing aggression purges angry feelings andaggressive impulses into harmless channelsresearch: playing violent video games increases aggression!

-Hypothesis: belief in catharsis increases attraction to violent games, especially among people who want to get rid of their anger

-Experiment 1: Participants were told study concerned impression formation. After giving consent, participants were randomly assigned to read bogus newspaper article- refuting catharsis,- supporting catharsis, - unrelated to catharsis Participants rated how credible, authoritative, believable, persuasive, interesting article was (1-10) .Next, randomly assigned to angered and nonangered conditions. Participants in angered condition essay about time when they were very angry. Afterwards very negative rating on their essay from ostensible partnerParticipants in nonangered condition received positive ratings anger manipulationAfter receiving their partners evaluation, participants completed an interest survey included descriptions of 8 fictitious video games (4 violent, 4 nonviolent). Participants rated how much they wanted to play each game (1-10). Also listed their 3 favorite video games. Results: Participants desire to play violent video games was analyzed using a 3 (procatharsis, anticatharsis, or control article) 2 (angered or not angered) 2 (participants sex) analysis of variance. significant interaction between type of article and whether theywere angered angered participants who read the procatharsis article wanted to play violent games more than the othersparticipants in the angered condition who read either the anticatharsis article/ control article wanted to play the violent games less than other participantsmen wanted to play violent games more than women

-Experiment 2: like in Experiment 1, but instead of manipulating belief in catharsis by bogus articles, measuring belief in catharsis using an 8-item Anger-Out subscale Results: - significant interaction between belief in catharsis and provocation- significant positive relationship between belief in catharsis and desire to play violent video games in angered people but not in nonangered - people with stronger catharsis beliefs had a stronger desire to play violent video games overall- men wanted to play violent games more than women did

Belief in catharsis, whether manipulated or measured, increases attraction to violent games in angry people.

Are You Insulting Me? Exposure to Alcohol Primes Increases Aggression Following Ambiguous Provocation(William C. Pedersen, Eduardo A. Vasquez, Bruce D. Bartholow, Marianne Grosvenor, Ana Truong)

Experiment 1: exposure to alcohol primes increased aggressive retaliation, but only when an initialprovocation was ambiguous; unambiguous provocation elicited highly aggressive responses regardless of prime exposure.Experiment 2: alcohol prime exposure effects are relatively short-lived and that perceptions of the provocateurs hostility mediated effects of prime exposure on aggression.

Experiment 1: designed to assess moderating effect of provocation ambiguity on alcohol-primed physical aggression.Participants were primed with either alcohol or neutral words followed by an ambiguous provocation, an unambiguous provocation, or no provocation and then were given an opportunity to aggress against an ostensible other. We predicted an interaction between prime content and prime ambiguity on subsequent aggressive behavior such that alcohol priming would significantly augment aggression only when paired with an ambiguous provocation.Results: Provocation ambiguity manipulation check. participants perceived the ambiguous evaluation (viz., I dont even know where to begin) as more ambiguous than the unambiguous evaluation (viz., This is one of the worst essays I have ever read)Aggression. Participants decisions concerning the length of time their counterparts should submerge their hands in ice water were submitted to a 2 (prime content: alcohol/neutral) 3 (provocation content: ambiguous/unambiguous/no provocation control) between-subjects ANOVA. Neither the main effect of Prime content, nor the main effect of Provocation content was significant. However, a significant Prime content Provocation interaction was found.Simple effect analyses indicated that alcohol priming significantly augmented aggression for participants in the ambiguous provocation condition, but not for those in either unambiguous provocation condition, or the control condition

Experiment 2: extends findings of Experiment 1 in two important ways. 1. This experiment investigates a possible mediator of the effect of alcohol priming on the subsequent aggression, namely, perceptions of target hostility. Perceptions of a targets hostility can explain differences in levels of aggression displayed toward that target. 2. Experiment 2 assesses the temporal duration of the priming effects observed in Experiment 1. Srull and Wyer (1979) showed that the ability of priming to impact perceptions of behavior diminishes over time. In contrast, other work suggests that priming effects can be sustained over relatively long durations if primin activates goals that influence how people think or behave in accordance with their motivations. By manipulating the temporal delay between the provocation manipulation and the opportunity to engage in aggressive action, design of Experiment 2 permits determining the extent to which the effects of alcohol prime exposure on aggression reflect relatively short-lived accessibility of associations versus more sustained goal priming.

The initial part of the procedure was identical to Experiment 1. Specifically, participants were told that there was another (bogus) participant and that the two of them would be writing essays on abortion and then exchanging them for evaluation. After ostensibly exchanging essays, participants then engaged in the same priming task used in Experiment 1

Results: Aggression. Time delay is continuous variable participants decisions concerning the length of time their counterparts should submerge their hands in ice water (i.e., aggression) were submitted to a multiple regression analysis in which aggression was regressed on prime content (alcohol, neutral), time delay (0 min, 7 min, 15 min) and their interaction. The time delay variable was mean-centered prior to creation of the cross-product (Prime Time delay) term.Hostile perception as a mediator. To test our hypothesis that alcohol priming influences aggression by affecting the extent to which others actions are viewed as hostile, we examined whether prime content (alcohol vs. neutral) indirectly affected subsequent aggressive behavior via perceptions oftarget hostility. To test this idea, we first modeled the effect of priming condition (alcohol or neutral) on hostile perceptions;this effect was significant, indicating that, across delay conditions, participants exposed to the alcohol prime perceived the target as more hostile than participants exposed to the nonalcoholprime.Next, we tested whether hostility ratings were associated with aggression and found this association to be significant and positiveFinally, we tested the indirect effect of prime condition on aggression via hostility ratings using the Monte Carlo based bootstrapping procedure (see MacKinnon, Lockwood, & Williams, 2004) developed by Selig and Preacher (2008; also see Preacher & Hayes, 2004) with 10,000 bootstrappingresamples.This analysis indicated that the predicted indirect effect was significant

Incidental exposure to alcohol-related primes, accomplished here via very brief presentation of words referring to alcohol, can influence social behavior in ways consistent with effects of alcohol consumption. Findings go beyond previous demonstrations by showing that alcohol prime exposure effects operate in a similar manner to other priming effects, that is, by biasingperception in prime-congruent ways, leading to predictable changes in behaviorBeyond these theoretical contributions, the current research has implications for understanding behavior in numerous situations and contexts where alcohol is typically present, such as parties, bars, and sporting events: Patrons do not have to drink to experience or be subject to the aggressionenhancing effects of alcohol, a fact that would seem to suggest caution in all such environments.