24TH MARCH 2020 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

TUESDAY

KUSHAGRA PRASAD
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY)

AGGRESSION: ROOTS OF VIOLENCE AND HUMAN AGGRESSION

 Humans somehow are “programmed” for violence by their basic nature. Sigmund
Freud- Aggression stems from a powerful death wish. According to SF, this instinct
aimed at self-destruction but is soon redirected towards others.
 Another view by Konrad Lorenz( Nobel Prize winner) suggested Aggression stemming
out of the inherited fighting instinct found in particular individuals.
 2 major things- Human beings' aggression is shown in various ways from not
talking/ignoring to overall acts of violence. The 2nd one is aggressive actions are seen
more in particular societies and likely to occur over there.

DRIVE THEORIES: THE MOTIVE TO HARM OTHERS

 Countering Freud and Lorenz, few SP came up with an alternate view: Aggression
stemming mainly from an externally elicited drive to harm others. External
Conditions like frustration arouse strong motivation to harm others.
 Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis- Frustration leads to the arousal of a drive whose
primary goal is that of harming some person or object. But, frustration is only one of
many different causes of aggression.

MODERN THEORIES OF AGGRESSION

 Social Learning Perspective- Humans not having a large array of aggressive responses
at their disposal. They acquire these in the same way as acquiring other things over
time. Individuals based on their direct behaviour and observing the behaviour of
others. Whether a specific person will show aggression in any particular situation will
depend upon a person’s experience, past behaviour, rewards associated with such
behaviour etc.

 General Aggression Model (GAM)-

1. Chain of events which may ultimately lead to overt aggression can be
initiated by two major types of input variables- Situational Factors and
Personal Factors.
 2. The variables in Situational Factors include frustration, provocation and
something which causes an individual some kind of discomfort. The variables
in Personal Factors include particular individuals having high irritability,
certain attitudes about violence.
3. These situational and personal variables lead to overt aggression through
their impact on three basic processes: Arousal, Affective State and
Cognitions.
4. Depending on individuals’ interpretations of the current situation and
restraining factors, they then engage in thoughtful action, which might
involve restraining their anger or impulsive action.

CAUSES OF HUMAN AGGRESSION: SOCIAL, CULTURAL PERSONAL AND SITUATIONAL

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS-

 Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis made two sweeping assertions- Frustration

always leads to some form of aggression and Aggression stems from frustration.
 Direct Provocation
 Heightened Arousal: Excitation transfer Theory suggesting that physiological arousal
tends to dissipate slowly over time, a portion of such arousal may persist as a person
moves from one situation to another.
 Exposure to Violence in Films, Television and Video Games: Effects of which can be
short term or long term. In addition to it, Films and TV significantly increase the
likelihood of aggressive behaviour by people exposed to them.

CULTURAL FACTORS-

 Cultures of Honour and Sexual Jealousy- Cultures in which strong norms are
indicating that aggression is an appropriate response to insults to one’s honour.

READINGS-
1. Fundamentals of Social Psychology- Robert Baron, Nyla Branscombe, Donn Byrne
and Gopa Bhardwaj