Aggression: Intending to Hurting others

“…nothing so threatening to humanity as humanity

itself.” (Lewis Thomas 1981)

©2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 1

• Kayla Rowland, murdered
by another 6 year old
• Father of murderer said
his son spent his time
“watching violent movies
and TV”
Aggression
Defined
Theories of aggression
Influences (causes)
How it can be reduced
Reforming a violent culture

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What Is Aggression?

Aggression
Physical or verbal behavior intended to cause harm
Hostile Aggression.
Aggression that springs from anger; its goal is to injure

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Type of
Definition Example
Aggression

Indirect
Aggression Spreading a
Attempt to
rumor that
hurt
your ex-
Direct another
romantic
Aggression without
partner has
obvious
a sexually
face-to-face
Emotional transmitted
conflict
Aggression disease

Instrumental
Aggression
Instrumental Aggression
Aggression that is a means to some other end
 E.g. terrorism,
 To displace occupiers or get to heaven

 E.g. boxing
 For $$$ reward

 E.g. war

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DETERMINANTS OF AGGRESSION

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Situational Determinants
high temperatures
 hotter years (and summers) increased rates of violent
crimes, but not property or rape crimes

9
8
7

Index of Assaults
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-5
15

35

55

75

95
Temperature
Situational Determinants
alcohol Sober Intoxicated
 intoxicated participants
4.9
behave more aggressively 5
4.2 4.4
and respond to 4
provocations more 3.2
strongly 3
 low aggressors became
2
more aggressive when
intoxicated, whereas high 1
aggressors did not 0
Low Aggressors High
Aggressors
Situational Determinants
Media
Personal Determinants
Type A behavior pattern

Hostile attributional style

Narcissism (inflated self-esteem)

Gender (higher in males when not provoked)

males tend to use direct forms (push, shove, insult)
females tend to use indirect (gossip, spread rumors)

Next
Personal Determinants
Biological
Instinct theory - innate behavior pattern
 Freud- redirecting the “death instinct” (thanatos) to others,
which is an opposition to a “life instinct, “Eros”.
 Thanatos is initially self directed, but later in development it
becomes directed outwards towards others.
 Lorenz- inherited “fighting instinct” developed through the
course of evolution (strongest survive).
 Aggression is adaptive because it must be linked to living
long enough to procreate.
 We do not have well-developed killing appendages, such as
large teeth or claws.
 In order to kill, we generally need to resort to weapons,

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Neural Influences
Genetic Influences

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Is Aggression Innate?
Evolutionary Psychology
Emphasis placed on genetic survival rather than
survival of the individual
Accounts for inhibition of aggression against
genetically related others
Daly and Wilson (1988, 2000)
Birth parents much less likely to abuse biological
children than stepparents are to harm their
stepchildren
Blood Chemistry
 high testosterone linked to higher aggression and less
helping
 low levels of serotonin inhibit ability to restrain aggressive
urges

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The Role of Testosterone
Testosterone
Hormone linked to masculine body
development and behavior in a wide
range of species
Hens given testosterone act like roosters,
and rise in dominance hierarchy
Gender Differences in Aggression
Men’s aggression is more likely to do physical harm
Men commit the vast majority of homicides -->
 Is Aggression Innate?
Evolutionary Psychology

Why gender differences?

Males aggress to achieve and maintain status
Females aggress to protect offspring
 100

75
Percentage
of Total FBI 50
homicides

25

0
Men 1961- 1966- 1971- 1976- 1981- 1986- 1991- 1996-
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Women

Throughout history, men have committed the vast

majority of homicides. This graph depicts data
from the United States over the last 3 decades
Sex and Testosterone
Dutch psychologist Stephanie VanGoozen &
colleagues (1995, 1997) studied people undergoing sex
change operations:
Women changing to men got
testosterone injections – became
more aggressive and sexual
Men changing to women got
testosterone suppressants – became
less aggressive and sexual
Caveat: Frustration-Aggression X
Socio-Economic Status
Dabbs and Morris (1990) searched records of 4,462
U.S. military veterans, now in their 30s and 40s:
They divided men into those from:
 relatively low socio-economic status
 middle and upper class backgrounds

And then compared the groups for evidence of

antisocial behavior before, during, or after military
service
 Dabbs & Morris (1990)

50

40
Percentage 30
with High
Levels of 20
Delinquency 1
0
0
Low SES High SES

High testosterone But not in men of

Normal
was associated higher socio-
testosterone
with delinquent economic status,
High behaviors in men who presumably
testosteron of low socio- had other paths to
e economic status attain status
Is Aggression Innate?
The Role of Serotonin
The neurotransmitter serotonin appears to restrain
impulsive acts of aggression
Low levels of serotonin associated with high levels of
aggression
Boosting serotonin can dampen aggressiveness
But is the lack of serotonin an innate cause of
aggression?
What Are Some Theories of
Aggression?
Aggression as a Response to Frustration
Frustration
 Blocking of goal-directed behavior
Frustration-aggression theory (Dollard, .39)
 Frustration always leads to aggression.
 Displacement

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Research shows that hypothesis is too simple:
1. Frustration sometimes produce depression and
withdrawal, not aggression (Beckwitz, 1998).
2. Not all aggression is preceded by frustration.
-Frustration is only one of many causes of aggression.
3. Only explains, and only partly, hostile aggression.

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What Are Some Theories of
Aggression?
Frustration-Aggression Theory Revised (L. Berkowitz, ’78)
Original theory overstated the frustration-aggression
connection.
Frustration is an aversive, unpleasant experience and
may thus lead to aggression.
Unexpected frustration viewed as illegitimate produces
more than frustration that is expected and viewed as
legitimate.
Even unexpected/illegitimate aggression do not always
lead to aggression.

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Negative feelings caused by aggression produce
tendencies towards aggression, which may be
modified by higher-level cognitive processes.

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What Are Some Theories of
Aggression?
Aggression as a Response to Frustration
Relative deprivation
 Perception that one is less well off than others with whom
one compares oneself.
 Explains why happiness tends to be lower and crime rates

higher in communities and nations with large income

inequality (large gini coefficient)
 This reasoning has been applied to the role of social and

economic deprivation in countries like South Africa.

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Excitation Transfer (Zillmann,
1988)
The expression of aggression is a function of:
A learned aggressive behaviour.
Arousal or excitation from another source.
The person’s interpretation of the arousal state, such
as that an aggressive response seems appropriate.

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Role of heightened excitation
on aggression
Making gestures while driving in stressful traffic
conditions.
Exclaiming with annoyance when we are already
upset about dropping some crockery in the kitchen.
The extreme level of excitement that occurs at a
football match can erupt into violence.

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 The role of heightened
excitation on aggression.
Student works out High levels of excitation: Continuing
at gymnasium -Heart rate aggression
effect
-Blood pressure
-Muscle tremor

Another motorist
takes last parking
space

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What Are Some Theories of
Aggression?
Observational Learning
Social learning theory (Bandura):
Though SOCIALISATION, chn learn to aggress bcz they
are rewarded or someone else appears rewarded for
their actions.
LEARNING BY DIRECT EXPERIENCE: based on
Skinner’s operant conditioning principles: bhvr is
maintained by rewards and punishment…Joe takes
Margy’s biscuit, if no one intervenes, his behaviour is
rewarded.

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Learning by Vicarious
Experience:
Is a contribution of social learning theorists, who
argue that learning occurs through the process of
modeling and imitation of other people.

Example: a television character wins the girl of his

dreams as a result of killing several people

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Bandura, Ross, & Ross
 Subjects were exposed to either Physical Aggression
aggressive or nonaggressive
models 20.0
 Nonaggressive model assembled
15.0
tinker toys
 Aggressive model hit Bobo doll 10.0
 Subject then spent 20 mins alone
5.0
in room with various toys
including Bobo. 0.0

Female Male
Glamorizing Violence
Plagens, et al. (1991)
Typical American child sees 200,000 acts
of violence on TV by age 18
Children who watch a lot of violent TV
are more violent towards peers
Experimental studies, in which violence
is controlled, also find effects of watching
violence
Other studies have found…
By the end of elementary school, a typical American
child will have seen:
8,000 murders
More than 100,000 other acts of violence
2003 study (Parents Television Council) found 534
separate episodes of prime-time violence during a 2
week period
The most violent TV shows are targeted to children
(e.g., cartoons)
 Effect of TV and Video
Violence on Violence
Content of video games crucial reason behind
great concern of developmental researchers
- research shows that violent TV and video games
push children to be more violent than they
normally would be
 computer games probably worse, as children are doing
the virtual killing
Doomsday Version 2.5
In this video game, it appears you win by
beheading the guy???
From Dorothy G. Singer and Jerome L. Singer (eds.), Handbook of Children and the Media.
Copyright © by Sage Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc.
Counsellor-Mediated Strategies
Anger Management Training
Goal is to help clients to:
Identify the antecedents to their anger
Identify their own reactions
Select good choices

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Counsellor-Mediated Strategies
Social Competence Training
Social skills deficits impact aggression
Use social competence training
Combine with contingency management
Plan for generalization across settings and people
by involving as many people as possible in the
training

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Counsellor-Mediated Strategies
Contingency Management Strategies
 Pinpoint the target behavior(s)
 Identify antecedents to the problem behavior
 Intervene by changing the antecedents to
prevent the behavior
Example:
Antecedent to aggression: Peer teasing
Intervention: Prevent teasing through teaching or
consequence strategies

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Counsellor-Mediated Strategies
Token Reinforcement
Response Cost
Develop system for giving points for wanted
behaviors and fines for unwanted behaviors.

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Counsellor-Mediated Strategies
Guidelines for Response Cost (cont)
Explain system carefully
Tie to reinforcement system
Implement response cost immediately after the
unwanted behavior occurs
Use system each time behavior occurs
Don’t let student lose more points than earned

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EXTINCTION
Just as reinforcing desirable behaviours can increase its
frequency, failing to reinforce undesirable behaviours can
make them less likely to occur, a process known as
EXTINCTION.
E.g. a client who gets attention through disrupting class,
damaging property, violating hospital rules might be
placed in a “time out” room for a few minutes to
eliminate reinforcement for misbehaviour.
Provides a valuable way for reducing noxious behaviours
by adolescents and seriously disturbed adults.

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