1

Social
P A G E

Psychology of
Aggression 2
Dr Doron Cohen
 Overview of today’s lecture
P A G E 2

• What situational variables lead to increased

aggression?

• Focus: Alcohol, Song Lyrics and Heat

 Do you go clubbing?
P A G E 3

Violent behaviour in and around pubs and clubs

presents a significant public health problem (Smith &
Allen, 2004).
Research consistently shows the peak time for violent
offending is weekend nights and the peak location is
in and around pubs and clubs (Allen et al., 2003).
Resulting injuries are often facial, some of which are
'glassings’ and can lead to permanently disfigured
(OFNS, 2017; Povey & Allen, 2003)
Most incidents involve drinking by the offender,
victim or both (Murdoch et al., 1990).
 Effects of Alcohol on Aggression P A G E 4

• Alcohol plays an important role in aggressive behaviour

• Approximately, 80% of violent offenders had been drinking
alcohol before committing their crimes (Murdoch, Phil, & Ross,
1990)
 Homicide (Parker & Auerhahn, 1999)

 Domestic violence: physical and sexual abuse of children, sexual

aggression and wife battering (Barnett, Miller-Perrin & Perrin,

2011)
 Group violence: sports violence, rioting, vandalism (Russell,

2004)
Experimental test of the alcohol-aggression P A G E 5

link
Methodology: Randomly allocated participants to
 an alcohol condition
 a non-alcohol condition (placebo) and compare delivery of
aversive stimuli.
• Causal link between alcohol intake and aggression
• Meta-analytic reviews supports alcohol as a significant
predictor of aggressive behaviour with moderate effect sizes
(Foran & O’Leary, 2008; Bushman & Cooper, 1960)
 But there are major individual P A G E 6

differences…
• The alcohol-aggression link is highest…for
people who show high levels of dispositional
aggressivity, irritability, hostile rumination style…

• And/or low levels of…anger control, self-control,

empathy, and executive cognitive functioning
(Krahe, 2003).
How might alcohol lead to aggression? P A G E 7
How might alcohol lead to aggression? P A G E 8

• Being grounded in the moment feels

pleasant because it stops rumination of
past negative experiences or worries about
the future.

• Staying grounded in the present are skills

that therapists using CBT and mindfulness
try to teach their clients (Corrigan 2002;
Loizzo 2009; Zylowska et al. 2008)
How might alcohol lead to aggression? P A G E 9

Alcohol (ethanol) leads to alcohol myopia: a narrowing of cognitive or

intellectual focus
 Decreases self-regulation
 Reduces anticipatory regret
 Increases reactivity
 Sensitive to the immediate environmental cues
• This prevents a comprehensive appraisal of situational cues.
• Intoxicated ppl are more likely to misinterpret what someone is saying or
to respond aggressively to provocation
 Effects of misogynistic music on behaviour and affect
(Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006) P A G E 10

Does music make people more aggressive?

Fischer & Greitemeyer (2006)

Male and female participants recruited for two,
apparently unrelated studies.
In study 1, participants randomly allocated to listen
to either a misogynistic, aggressive song (Eminen’s
Superman) or a neutral song of the same genre/style
(Bon Jovis’ It’s My Life)
Effects of misogynistic music on behaviour and effect
(Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006) P A G E 11

• After exposure to the songs, ps asked to rate the song

they heard on various dimensions.
• Next, a confederate (fake participant) entered the room.
Half the time confederate was male, half the time
female.
• Confederate explained that they were here for the
second part of the study (to rate preferences for chilli
sauce) and explained that they liked sweet but not hot
chilli.
 Effects of misogynistic music on behaviour and effect
(Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006) P A G E 12

• Confederate was then asked to sit in a septate room and

wait.
• The experimenter told the original participant that they
would make up a sample of sauce for the other
participant and that they could choose whether to add
either sweet or hot chilli sauce and that they could
choose the amount of sauce. They were also told that the
other participants would need to drink the whole sample.
• Experimenter left the room while p did this.
 Effects of misogynistic music on behaviour and effect
(Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006) P A G E 13

• Men more likely to act aggressively IF (1) the confederate

was female and (2) they were exposed to misogynistic song.
• Males who heard the misogynistic song added 10.43 grams
more hot chilli sauce to female participants’ drinks than to
males.
• Showed more aggressive cognitions on a word completion
task.
• More likely to complete word fragments like “–un” as “gun”
than “fun”, “pun”, “run” or “bun”
 P A G E 14

Tells us nothing about long-term

exposure?
Styles of song are quite different: differ
in rhythm, beat, pitch, artist . So, how do
we know it’s the lyrics and not some
other aspect of the song that causes the
aggression?
Eminem and Bon Jovi both well-known
– might it be perceptions of the artists
that drive the effect?
 High Temperature P A G E 15

• Heat hypothesis: Aggression

and heat positively correlated
(Anderson, 2001)
• Two paradigms to test this
hypothesis under naturalistic
conditions
1. Geographic regions approach
2. Time periods approach
 Geographic Regions Approach P A G E 16

• Compares violent
crime rates in hotter
vs. cooler regions
• Supports heat
hypothesis:
• Link between hotter
climates and higher
violence rates (see
Anderson et al., 2000)
 Thinking Cap… P A G E 17

• What are the implications

for global warming?

• How can we mitigate

these risks?
 Time Periods Approach P A G E 18

• Compares violence rates in the same region during

cooler and hotter periods
• Supports heat hypothesis:
• Violent crime rates were higher in the summer
period than during the winter period (Anderson,
2001)
• About 2.6% more murders in the summer than in
the winter
• Violent crime rates were higher in hotter compared
to cooler summers
• Limitations?
 Impact of Global Warming on Crime P A G E 19

• Continuous rise in global temperature presents risk factor for the rise
of violent crime.
• Prediction by Anderson: Increase in temperature by 1.1 degrees
Celsius increases murder and assault rate by 9 cases per 100,000
citizens
• Might sound modest but  24,000 additional murders per year in
US
• A 5 Celsius increase by 2050 (predicted by Rowlands et al., 2013)
 120, 000 additional murders per year in US
 Further Reading P A G E 20

Use the reading that I have given you in the PDF in

this folder (the week 11 folder) by Barbara Krahe
Chapter 9 ‘Aggression’
Pages 365-366, 367-369