Aggression

TODAY

-   defining aggression and violence

-   studying aggression and violence

-   theories of aggression

: catharsis

: social learning theory

: voluntary incapacitation

-   research on aggression

: Bobo doll study

: violent video games and movies

Aggression

: an intentional action aimed at doing harm or causing pain (to someone who wants to avoid it)

( Can be physical or psychological pain )

Violence

: aggression with the goal of extreme physical harm

Studying Aggression and Violence

: Researchers cannot ethically make participants engage in actual violent behavior.

1. short-term laboratory experiments with non-violent measures of aggression

2. correlational studies

3. longitudinal studies

Laboratory measures of Aggerssion

1. blasting another person with noise

2. choosing how long another person will hold their hand in ice water

3. choosing how much hot sauce another individual must consume

Q How high is the external validity of this type of research?

https://www.collabra.org/articles/10.1525/collabra.104/print/

Collabra: Psychology

Theories of Aggression : Catharsis

- people have aggressive impulses

- need to find a way to express or drain aggressive impulses to stay psychologically healthy and avoid aggressive behavior

ex. watching violent movies, engaging in violent sports, punching a punching bag

Theories of Aggression : Social Learning Theory

- We learn social behaviors ( ex. aggression ) from observing others and imitating them

Theories of Aggression : Voluntary Incapacitation

- People who are more interested in violence may be especially drawn to violent movies, video games, and TV and engaging in these activities may make them less likely to engage in violent acts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmBqwWlJg8U

Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment

Bobo doll study _ Bandura Et Al., 1961

-   If catharsis is correct, observing aggressive behavior should make children behave less aggressively.

-   If social learning theory is correct, observing aggressive behavior should make children behave more aggressively.

Bobo doll study _ results : 

-   Children who observed aggressive behavior were more likely to behave aggressively themselves.

-   Consistent with social learning theory ( not catharsis )

Meta-analysis

: statistically combines the results of many studies ( published and unpublished ) that test the same hypothesis

Video games : meta-analysis _ Anderson & Bushman, 2001

-   Playing violent video games -> increased aggressive behavior in children and young adults

-   Why?

-   “Violent media increase aggression by teaching observers how to aggress, by priming aggressive cognitions (including previously learned aggressive scripts and aggressive perceptual schemata), by increasing arousal, or by creating an aggressive affective state (p. 355).”

Video games : meta-analysis _ Ferguson, 2015

-   claim : There are a lot of issues with research on video games, especially when it comes to applying the results to real world violence.

1. small relationship between violent video games and aggression

2. even smaller when confounds are controlled for ex. gender, trait aggression

Violent media and aggressive behavior : meta-analysis _ Bushman & Huesmann, 2006

-   violent media exposure associated with aggression for children and adults

-   consistent with social learning theory

Does movie violence increase violent crime ? Big data analysis _ Dahl & Dellavigna, 2009

-   Correlation between attendance of violent movies and rates of violent crime.

-   Found less violent crime on days with high attendance of violent movies

-   Why ? voluntary incapacitation

: violent individuals watch movies instead of drinking alcohol or engaging in aggressive acts

 

Summary

1. There is not a great ( ethical ) way to study the causes of aggressive and violent behavior

2. Different types of studies yield different results

3. Need more carefully designed interventions with children

 

Potential ways to reduce aggression _ Bushman Et Al, 2016

1. Reduce childhood exposure to violent media.

2. Teach children self-control.

3. Teach children social competence skills such as empathy and anger management.

4. Create programs to make students feel like they belong and are included in schools.

Intervention research

-   experiments

-   compare a control group with an intervention group on an outcome or outcomes

Longitudinal research

-   follows the same individuals over time