PSGY1012: SOCIAL

PSYCHOLOGY
Lecture 8: Aggression
Dr Eun Hee Lee
Reading this week…
Chapter 12 of

Social Psychology

Hogg & Vaughan

 Consider the following approaches to human

Today we will ….
(and nonhuman) aggression:
 Freud
and the frustration-aggression
hypothesis
 Ethology and evolutionary psychology
 Operant conditioning and social learning
 Excitation transfer model
 Cognitive neo-association
 Personality approaches
 Environmental, situational, and cultural factors
Aggression
What is aggression?
• The intentional infliction of some form of
harm on others.- Baron and Byrne (2000)
• Directed towards the goal of harming or
injuring another living being who is motivated
to avoid such treatment - Baron & Byrne, 2000
• Directed toward another individual carried out
with the proximate intent to cause harm” -
Anderson & Huesmann, 2003

Definitions have some commonality: ‘Intent to

harm’ (Carlson et al., 1989)
Types of Aggression
 Instrumental
aggression:
Aimed at acquiring
something or achieving
some outcome.
 Affective
aggression:
Aggression as a result
of an emotion such as
anger.
Types of Aggression
 Direct/overtaggression: Physical violence +
face-to-face verbal aggression.
 Indirect
aggression: Spreading rumours,
excluding from the group, etc.
 On average, men engage in more direct
aggression. There is little or no sex
difference in indirect aggression (although
some research suggests women may engage
in slightly more of it).
Aggression: Perception vs. Reality
Aggression:
Perception vs.
Reality
Aggression: Perception vs. Reality
Aggression: Perception vs. Reality
 Freud and the psychodynamic theory of aggression:
Psychodynamic
theory
 We have an innate ‘death instinct’ (Thanatos).
 At first, this is directed at ourselves.
 We learn to direct it at others.
 It builds up and must be released.
 But… it is possible to calm down without being
aggressive. In fact, lashing out may make us more
aggressive.
 Is it realistic that a species would evolve a self-directed
death instinct?
 Most psychologists no longer take Freud’s ideas
seriously
Frustration and Frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard,
1939):
aggression
Frustration: "an interference with the
occurrence of an instigated goal-response at
its proper time in the behavior sequence"
(Dollard et al., 1939, cited in Berkowitz, 1989,
p.60)

 Based on psychodynamic theories.

 It suggests all frustration leads to aggression.
 It is often not possible to target the actual
cause of the frustration (powerful, unavailable
etc) so a scapegoat is found (e.g. prejudice
against other individuals)
 People can be aggressive towards the
scapegoat without fear of consequences.
Frustration and Frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard,
1939):
aggression

Criticisms (Berkowitz, 1962; 1989)

• Frustration does not always lead to

aggression (e.g. sad)

• Not just frustration that leads to aggression

• Aversive events
• Negative affect

• Situational cues
• Frustration ill defined
Ethology
 Ethologistsstudy animals’ behaviour in their
natural physical and social environment.
 Like eyes and claws and wings, behaviour is
shaped by natural selection (has a ‘survival value’.
 Functional view of aggression
 Lorenz (1966): Humans have an evolved
aggressive drive which builds up until you act on
it (for example, if we don’t eat, our hunger drive
builds up and this drive will only be satisfied when
you eat).
Lorenz’s
Hydraulic Model
• Aggression as a force
that builds relentlessly
without cause unless
released

"present-day civilized
man suffers from
insufficient discharge of
his aggressive drive" 
Evolutionary Psychology
 Various aspects of psychology (including
aggression) evolved because they promote the
survival of the genes giving rise to them – e.g., by
allowing the individual to survive long enough to
have offspring (which inherit those very genes).
Evolutionary Psychology
 The main evolutionary functions of aggression
found among animals are:
 Predatory aggression (animals looking for food)
 Male-male aggression (competition access to
territory)
 Sex-related aggression (attempt to obtain sex or
to get rid of)
 Defensive aggression (defend against aggressors)
 Maternal/Parental aggression (mostly females but
exceptions with bi-parental care species)
Evolutionary Psychology
 Sexdifferences: Men have evolved to be
more prone to direct aggression than
women. This sex difference is found in every
culture, and in most animals.
Evolutionary
Psychology
Evolutionary
Psychology
 Sex differences in aggression:
Evolution or socialisation?
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology
 Important: Evolutionary psychologists argue that,
although the capacity for aggression is innate, the
expression of aggression depends a great deal on
the social context. We can control aggression
Limitations of Discussed Approaches
• These accounts do have problems!
• Limited evidence for psychodynamic theory
 Context: Developed after World War One
• Ethological account struggles to explain functional
value of aggression in humans
• Evolutionary account takes limited empirical
evidence, and claimed to use circular reasoning.
• Limited practical application
Learned Aggression
Instrumental/Operant Conditioning:
 Ifaggression is rewarded, it is more likely
to be repeated (positive/negative
reinforcement).
 Ifaggression is punished, it is less likely
to be repeated.
 !!Not inconsistent with the idea that the
capacity for aggression has an
evolutionary origin.
 Learning Aggression
via Others
Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1973):
 The tendency for a person to reproduce the actions attitudes
and emotional responses exhibited by someone else.

Bandura, Ross & Ross (1963)

 Children watched an adult playing with ‘Bobo doll’.
- 4 conditions:
 Observed aggressive model on film.

 Film Observed real-life aggressive model.

 depicting an aggressive cartoon character.

 Control group - no exposure to aggressive model.

 Children exposed to the aggressive model displayed

significantly more aggression.
http://youtu.be/zerCK0lRjp8
Learning Aggression via Others
Criticisms of the Bobo Doll Study
 https://
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/checkpoints/202003/did-the-bobo-doll-st
udies-teach-us-about-aggression
(see excerpts in notes below slide)

http://youtu.be/zerCK0lRjp8
Excitation Transfer Excitation-transfer model (Zillmann,
Model 1979):
 Residual (physiological) arousal transfers
from one situation to another.
 Heightened arousal can lead us to be more
aggressive.
 We can interpret the arousal as a sign that
an aggressive response is appropriate.
 If we have learnt a particular aggressive
response, we are more likely to use it.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq-CK0
LvdT0
Excitation Transfer Model

High level of excitation:

Exercising • Heart rate
at the Aggression
• Blood pressure
gym
• Muscle tremor

Motorist takes
last parking
space

TIME
Hogg & Vaughan (2014, p.464)
Cognitive neo-association
Cognitive neo-association (Berkowitz, 1969):
 Exposure to violence can translate to antisocial acts.
 Real
or fictional images of violence can later translate into
aggression because you are primed to respond that way.
Weapons effect (Berkowitz & LePage, 1967) – famous
phenomenon
 When we are angry, the mere presence of a weapon (e.g.
gun) increases the probability that it will be used aggressively
because it primes us for violence.
 Note:
This has failed some recent replication attempts. The
weapons effect is quite possibly not real.
Does Media Make Us Violent?
Does Media Make Us Violent?
Does Media Make Us Violent?
 Gaming and Aggression
• There’s plenty of evidence to suggest there’s no
effect (Ferguson, 2015)
• One of the big problems is the unstandardized use
of aggression measures (e.g. Ferguson, 2007; Elson
et al., 2014) – selective use of measures can make
effects seem bigger than they are.
• It also struggles to account for real world crime
rates – engagement with gaming has increased
whereas crime has fallen.
Personality Approaches
Narcissism
 People with extremely high self-esteem and a sense of entitlement are more
likely to be aggressive (Bushman & Baumeister, 1998).

Type A Personality
 Behaviour pattern characterised by striving to achieve, time urgency,
competitiveness and hostility (Matthews, 1982).
 More conflict with peers and subordinates but not superiors (Baron, 1989)

Psychopathy (trait or syndrome)

 People who have the ability to understand other’s emotions but don’t care
about them.
Deindividuation
 Deindividuation happens when we lose our sense of an
individual identity and engage in antisocial behaviour (e.g.
in a group).
 Example: when people are in a concert, they are punching
the air or shaking their heads frantically. (e.g. What about
the crowd watching a person who’s making a suicide
attempt?)
 Part of it may be due to the anonymity provided by a crowd.
Dehumanisation
What is dehumanisation?
• Deprive of positive human qualities. - Oxford English Dictionary
• People are likened to animals.
• So that the rights and considerations of being human no longer
apply.
• Example: aggression toward sexualised women is mediated by
decreased perceptions of humanness in intrasexual competition
(Arnocky et al., 2019)
• But a lot of discussion is going on in this area
 Maybe we see others as still human but bad human
Stanford Prison Study
Zimbardo (1971):
Deindividuation and dehumanisation were factors in
the Stanford Prison Study which (supposedly) led to
aggressive behaviour by the ‘guards’. (But see
critique in Moodle; this is a very dubious study.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XN2X72jrFk
Stanford Prison Study
Environmental or Situational Factors

AMBIENT CROWDING ALCOHOL

TEMPERATURE
Ambient
temperature
As the ambient temperature rises
there are increases in affective
aggression. Some examples:

 Domestic violence in the USA

(Cohn, 1993)

 Violent suicide (Maes et al.,

1994)

 Collective violence (e.g. gang

violence, riot; Carlsmith, 1979)

But at a certain point, increases in

temperature are associated with
lowered violence.
Ambient temperature
Crowding
If we feel that our personal space has been
encroached, we may be more aggressive.
 Evidence of this comes from population
studies (Regoeczi, 2003) and prison
studies (Ng, 2001).
Alcohol
 Alcohol reduces inhibitory control and
increases impulsivity (Assaad et al.,
2006)
 Alcohol intake increases risk taking and
aggression (e.g., Cases et al., 1991;
Bushman, 1997)
Cultural influences
on aggression
Core concepts in Social Identity
Theory:

 Some cultural norms and

values can encourage certain
kinds of aggression, in certain
contexts, towards certain
people

Subculture of violence:

 Some subcultures such as

gangs accept violence as a
norm and may even require
violence of group members.
Summary
There are many different approaches to aggression within psychology. Which
approach or approaches do you think are most accurate?
 Freud and the frustration-aggression hypothesis
 Ethology and evolutionary psychology
 Operant conditioning and social learning
 Excitation transfer model
 Cognitive neo-association
 Personality approaches
 Environmental, situational, and cultural factors
Next Week: Prosocial Behaviour