AGRESSION AND HURTING OTHERS
-aggression: the physical act or verbal behaviour intended to cause harm
-aggression includes both physical aggression and social aggression
-hostile aggression: springs from anger and aims to injure (ie. most murder)
-instrumental aggression: aims to injuring too – but is commited in the pursuit of another goal (ie.
terrorist, war)
Theories of Aggression:
-Aggression as a Biological Phenomenon:
-the frst view (Rousseau) blames society, not human nature, for social evile s
-the 2nd view (Hobbes) sees society’s laws as necessary to restrain and control the human brute this
“brutish” view – that aggressive drive is inborn and thus inevitable – was argued by Freud
-Instinct Theory and Evolutionary Psychology:
-Freud speculated that human aggression springs from a self-destructive impulse, orenn saw
aggression as an adaptive behaviour rather than a self-destructive one but the two agreed
that aggression was an instinctive behaviour
-the idea that aggression is an instinct collapsed as a list of supposed human instincts great to
include nearly every conceivable behaviour
-the idea that aggression is instinctive also fails to account for the variations in aggressiveness
from person to person and culture to culture
-throughout much of human history, men have found aggression adaptive, aggression ofen
occurs when males are competing with other males
-Neural Infuences:
-because aggression is a complex behaviour, no single spot in the brain controls it. But
researchers have found neutral systems in both animals and humans that facilitate aggression
-the prefrontal cortex, which acts like an emergency brake on deeper brain areas involved in
aggressive behaviour, was 14% less active than normal in murderers and 15% smaller in
antisocial men
-situational factors can also place a role: sleep deprivation reduces anxiety in the prefrontal
cortex, an area of the brain responsible for self control
-Genetic Infuences:
-heredity infuences the neural system’s sensitivity to aggressive cues
, -aggressiveness also varies among individuals. Out temperaments – how intense and reactive
we are – are partly brought with us into the world, infuenced by our sympathetic nervous
system’s reactivity. A person’s temperament, observed in infancy, usually endures
-a specifc gene (MAOA- ) linked to aggression, called the “warrior gene” or “violence gene”
-people with the gene showed more activation in the self-control centre of their brain
afer being rejected or insulted, suggesting that they were struggling to control their
anger
-Biochemical Infuence:
Alcohol: alcohol unleashed aggression when people are provoked.
o Alcohol enhances aggressiveness by reducing people’s self-awareness, by
focusing their atention on a provocation, and by people’s mentally associating
alcohol with aggression
o Alcohol also predisposes people to interpret ambiguous acts as provocations
Testosterone: hormonal infuences appear much stronger in lower animals than in
humans. But human aggressiveness does correlate with testosterone
Poor Diet: prisoners who got extra nutrition were involved in 35% fewer violent
incidents. Those who drank more sugary drinks were more likely to be violent. And
people who consumed more trans fats were more aggressive
Biology and Behaviour Interact: the trafc between biology and behaviour fows both
ways. For example, high levels of t may cause dominant and aggressive behaviour. But
dominant and aggressive behaviour leads to higher t levels.
-Aggression as a Response to Frustration:
-if you go to a vending machine and your money gets eaten are you more likely to be aggressive?
-one of the fst psychologist theories of aggression, frustration aggression theory, says yes
-frustration: is anything that blocks you from ataining a goal. Frustration grows when our
motivation to achieve a goal is very strong
-the aggressive energy need not explode direction against its source; instead we displace out
hostilities to safer targets
-even irrational frustration can cause devastating violence
-Frustration-aggression theory revised:
-laboratory tests of the frustration-aggression theory produced mixed results: sometimes
frustration increased aggressiveness sometimes it didn’t.
-the original theory overstated the frustration-aggression connected, so it was revised.
-frustration produces anger, an emotional readiness to aggress. Anger arises when someone
who frustrates us could have chosen to act otherwise
-aggression: the physical act or verbal behaviour intended to cause harm
-aggression includes both physical aggression and social aggression
-hostile aggression: springs from anger and aims to injure (ie. most murder)
-instrumental aggression: aims to injuring too – but is commited in the pursuit of another goal (ie.
terrorist, war)
Theories of Aggression:
-Aggression as a Biological Phenomenon:
-the frst view (Rousseau) blames society, not human nature, for social evile s
-the 2nd view (Hobbes) sees society’s laws as necessary to restrain and control the human brute this
“brutish” view – that aggressive drive is inborn and thus inevitable – was argued by Freud
-Instinct Theory and Evolutionary Psychology:
-Freud speculated that human aggression springs from a self-destructive impulse, orenn saw
aggression as an adaptive behaviour rather than a self-destructive one but the two agreed
that aggression was an instinctive behaviour
-the idea that aggression is an instinct collapsed as a list of supposed human instincts great to
include nearly every conceivable behaviour
-the idea that aggression is instinctive also fails to account for the variations in aggressiveness
from person to person and culture to culture
-throughout much of human history, men have found aggression adaptive, aggression ofen
occurs when males are competing with other males
-Neural Infuences:
-because aggression is a complex behaviour, no single spot in the brain controls it. But
researchers have found neutral systems in both animals and humans that facilitate aggression
-the prefrontal cortex, which acts like an emergency brake on deeper brain areas involved in
aggressive behaviour, was 14% less active than normal in murderers and 15% smaller in
antisocial men
-situational factors can also place a role: sleep deprivation reduces anxiety in the prefrontal
cortex, an area of the brain responsible for self control
-Genetic Infuences:
-heredity infuences the neural system’s sensitivity to aggressive cues
, -aggressiveness also varies among individuals. Out temperaments – how intense and reactive
we are – are partly brought with us into the world, infuenced by our sympathetic nervous
system’s reactivity. A person’s temperament, observed in infancy, usually endures
-a specifc gene (MAOA- ) linked to aggression, called the “warrior gene” or “violence gene”
-people with the gene showed more activation in the self-control centre of their brain
afer being rejected or insulted, suggesting that they were struggling to control their
anger
-Biochemical Infuence:
Alcohol: alcohol unleashed aggression when people are provoked.
o Alcohol enhances aggressiveness by reducing people’s self-awareness, by
focusing their atention on a provocation, and by people’s mentally associating
alcohol with aggression
o Alcohol also predisposes people to interpret ambiguous acts as provocations
Testosterone: hormonal infuences appear much stronger in lower animals than in
humans. But human aggressiveness does correlate with testosterone
Poor Diet: prisoners who got extra nutrition were involved in 35% fewer violent
incidents. Those who drank more sugary drinks were more likely to be violent. And
people who consumed more trans fats were more aggressive
Biology and Behaviour Interact: the trafc between biology and behaviour fows both
ways. For example, high levels of t may cause dominant and aggressive behaviour. But
dominant and aggressive behaviour leads to higher t levels.
-Aggression as a Response to Frustration:
-if you go to a vending machine and your money gets eaten are you more likely to be aggressive?
-one of the fst psychologist theories of aggression, frustration aggression theory, says yes
-frustration: is anything that blocks you from ataining a goal. Frustration grows when our
motivation to achieve a goal is very strong
-the aggressive energy need not explode direction against its source; instead we displace out
hostilities to safer targets
-even irrational frustration can cause devastating violence
-Frustration-aggression theory revised:
-laboratory tests of the frustration-aggression theory produced mixed results: sometimes
frustration increased aggressiveness sometimes it didn’t.
-the original theory overstated the frustration-aggression connected, so it was revised.
-frustration produces anger, an emotional readiness to aggress. Anger arises when someone
who frustrates us could have chosen to act otherwise
