Aggression

Liliyana Sari, S.Psi, M.Sc

 Outline
1. Theoretical Perspectives on Aggression
2. Causes of Human Aggression
3. Forms of Aggression: Bullying
4. Techniques to Prevent and Control Aggression
What is Aggression?
• Behaviors intended to harm others who are
motivated to avoid such treatment
• Excludes: unintentional harm or involve pain
as an unavoidable effect of helping someone
• Hostile (affective) aggression: driven by
anger to injure other people (e.g. murders)
• Instrumental (cognitive) aggression: as a
means to attain other goals such as money,
political power, or attention (e.g. terrorism)
Is it aggression?
Theoretical Perspectives on Aggression
Why do human beings aggress against others in such
savage and frightening ways? Social psychologists have
focused on three big ideas:
1. There is a biologically rooted aggressive drive
2. Aggression is a natural response to frustration
3. Aggressive behavior is learned
Biological Perspectives
v Instinctive behavior: An innate, unlearned
behavior patterns à self-destruction (Freud),
fighting instinct (Lorenz)
v Neural systems in both animals and humans
facilitate aggression – the prefrontal cortex is
less active in murderers
v Genetic influences: the neural system’s
sensitivity to aggressive cues – some children
are more sensitive to maltreatment
v Most social psychologists rejected this idea
 Drive Theory
v Aggression stems from external conditions
that arouse the motive to harm or injure others
v Frustration-Aggression Theory (Dollard et al.,
1939) à frustration creates a motive to aggress
v Frustration: the blocking of goal-directed
behavior – it grows when our motivation to
achieve a goal is very strong
v Displacement: the redirection of aggression to a
target other than the source of the frustration
v Relative deprivation: the perception that
someone is less well-off than others (e.g. large
income gap)
Social Learning Theory
(Bandura, 1997)
vAggression is learned through direct experience
or by observing the behavior of others
vIndividuals usually learn:
(1) various ways of harming others
(2) which people are appropriate targets for
aggression
(3) what actions by others justify retaliation
(4) what situations or contexts are ones in which
aggression is permitted or even approved.
vFactors: past experience, family (e.g. physically
aggressive parents), rewards associated with
aggression, and attitudes
 General Aggression Model
(Bushman & Anderson, 2002)

v Aggression is triggered by a wide

range of input variables: situational
and person factors.
v These two variables will influence:
ü Arousal: physiological arousal or
excitement
ü Affective states: hostile feelings and
outward signs (e.g. angry facial
expressions)
ü Cognitions: induce individuals to think
hostile thoughts and bring aggression
to mind
Causes of Human Aggression
q Basic Sources
q Social Causes
q Cultural Factors
q Personality and Gender
q Situational Determinants
Causes of Human Aggression
Basic Sources
§ Frustration Personality and Gender
§ Provocation (e.g. criticism, § TASS (Traits as Situational
teasing) Sensitivities) model: aggressive
Social Factors behaviors will only influence
§ Social Exclusion when situational factors are
§ Exposure to Media Violence (e.g. strong to activate it
violent games, movies, tv § Type A Behavior – competitive,
programs) hostile, and time urgency
Cultural Factors Situational Determinants
§ Cultures of Honor § Heat of Anger: Temperature
§ Sexual Jealousy § Alcohol – impairs cognitive
§ Male gender role à masculine? functions
Form of Aggression: Bullying
Ø A pattern of behavior in which one individual
is chosen as the target of repeated
aggression by one or more others
Ø The victim generally has less power than
those who engage in aggression (the bullies).
Ø Cyberbullying: Bullying (repeated assaults
against specific people) occurred in the
Internet à insults, exclusion, and blackmail
a. The motive to hold power over others
b. The motive to be part of a group that is
“tough” and high in status
c. Their tendency to be unhappy or depressed
Characteristics of Bullies and Victims

Pure Bullies

Pure Victims

Bully-Victims
 Think about this.
How Can We Reduce Bullying?
Techniques to Prevent and Control
Aggression
Punishment
v Punishment: Procedures in which aversive
consequences are delivered to individuals
when they engage in specific actions.
v Punishment can reduce aggression only if:
(1) it must be prompt —it must follow
aggressive actions as quickly as possible;
(2) it must be certain to occur —the
probability must be very high;
(3) it must be strong enough to be highly
unpleasant to potential recipients;
(4) it must be perceived by recipients as
justified or deserved
Self-Regulations: Internal
Mechanisms
vSelf-regulation (or self-control): our capacity
to regulate many aspects of our behavior,
including aggression à requires a lot of
cognitive effort
vAggression often erupts because we have
invested much cognitive effort in other tasks
that we don’t have enough left to perform this
important but demanding function.
vHow? Strengthening internal mechanism that
usually operate to control such behavior
 Catharsis?
v Catharsis hypothesis: The view that providing angry
people with an opportunity to express their
aggressive impulses in safer ways will reduce their
tendencies to engage in aggression.
v Why does “letting it out” fail to reduce aggression?
(1) anger may actually be increased when individuals
think about wrongs they have suffered and imagine
ways of harming these people
(2) watching aggressive scenes, listening to aggresive
songs, or thinking about revenge may activate even
more aggressive thoughts and feelings
(3) Even if catharsis did occur, the effects would
probably be temporary at best
Increasing Self-Esteem
v Self-affirmation: the tendency to
respond to a threat to one’s self-
concept by affirming one’s
competence in another area
(different from the threat)
Other ways to reduce aggression?