Disclaimer:
These notes were made using the following textbook:
Baumeister, R. F., Bushman, B. J., Ally, Y., de Sousa, D., Dhlomo-Sibiya, R.
M., Hermann, C., Mbatha, K., Nienaber, A., Schwär, G., Shirinda-
Mthombeni, K., and Silinda, F. (2018). Social Psychology: South Africa (1st
Edition). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781473751415.
, Chapter 10: Aggression and Antisocial Behaviour
Introduction:
• Rwanda genocide: illustrates important points about aggression and
violence
o Mass media can promote aggression
o Frustrated people can violently lash out at the source
o Aggressors often dehumanize their victims
o Violent actions can have unintended consequences
o Forgiveness is possible, even for the most extreme actions
• Early psychological theories
o Depicted aggression as the outburst of powerful inner forces
• More recent theories
o Consider aggression as a kind of strategic behavior used to
influence others, get what one wants, and defend certain
ideas seen as under attack
• Pessimistically, there is a great deal of aggression in the world.
Optimistically, many situations that could lead to aggression do not
Defining aggression and antisocial behavior:
• Aggression: any behavior intended to harm another person who is
motivated to avoid the harm
o Displaced, direct, indirect, reactive, or proactive
o Bullying and cyberbullying
• Antisocial behavior: behavior that damages interpersonal
relationships or is culturally undesirable
• 3 Important features Behaviour, intentional/ deliberate & Victim
attempts to avoid. Behaviour intended to harm is aggression, even if
2
These notes were made using the following textbook:
Baumeister, R. F., Bushman, B. J., Ally, Y., de Sousa, D., Dhlomo-Sibiya, R.
M., Hermann, C., Mbatha, K., Nienaber, A., Schwär, G., Shirinda-
Mthombeni, K., and Silinda, F. (2018). Social Psychology: South Africa (1st
Edition). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781473751415.
, Chapter 10: Aggression and Antisocial Behaviour
Introduction:
• Rwanda genocide: illustrates important points about aggression and
violence
o Mass media can promote aggression
o Frustrated people can violently lash out at the source
o Aggressors often dehumanize their victims
o Violent actions can have unintended consequences
o Forgiveness is possible, even for the most extreme actions
• Early psychological theories
o Depicted aggression as the outburst of powerful inner forces
• More recent theories
o Consider aggression as a kind of strategic behavior used to
influence others, get what one wants, and defend certain
ideas seen as under attack
• Pessimistically, there is a great deal of aggression in the world.
Optimistically, many situations that could lead to aggression do not
Defining aggression and antisocial behavior:
• Aggression: any behavior intended to harm another person who is
motivated to avoid the harm
o Displaced, direct, indirect, reactive, or proactive
o Bullying and cyberbullying
• Antisocial behavior: behavior that damages interpersonal
relationships or is culturally undesirable
• 3 Important features Behaviour, intentional/ deliberate & Victim
attempts to avoid. Behaviour intended to harm is aggression, even if
2
