PSYCH 221 Exam 4 Vocabulary
Cycle of Abuse
Honeymoon Period → Building of Tension → Violence/Explosion → Repeat.
Freudian Views on Aggression
"Drive to Death"; people desire to kill.
Example of Emergency Helping
Aiding in a crisis; saving someone's life.
Communal Relationships and Helping
Altruism is more likely.
Example of Casual Helping
Giving directions.
Nonprejudiced
Not automatic or controlled.
Increasing Helping Behavior
Raising awareness increases helping behavior.
Catharsis Hypothesis
Seeing violence being performed can purge one's own aggression.
Rape Myth
"Any healthy woman can successfully resist rape if she wants to"; "The majority of rape victims have a reputation of being promiscuous"; "many women have an unconscious wish to be raped."
Rape Report/Conviction/Sentencing Statistics
10% reporting; 2% of rapists are convicted (20% of reported); 1% of rapists spent more than 1 year in jail (50% of convicted).
Rape Victim Statistics
15% of women will be victims; 25% of college women have been raped.
Prosocial Behavior
Any act that is intended to benefit others.
How Many Men Rape?
4.4% of 2,900 college men admitted to rapist behavior; 3.3% of males admitted to attempted rape; 7.2% admitted to using sexual coercion; 10.2% admitted to forced/coerced sexual contact.
Rape Perpetrator Statistics
99% of rapists are men; 20% of rapists report being so aroused they could not help it.
Modern Racism
Acting accepting but thinking with prejudice; subtle & ambiguous.
Altruism
Any prosocial act that is without benefit to the altruist or that is done without self-interest.
Darwinist Views on Aggression
Aggression behavior aids positive selection; men are aggressive to ensure paternity.
Displaced Aggression
Aggression towards different, lower status target rather than source/cause of aggression; "taking it out" on someone.
Social Learning Theory on Why Men Rape
Aggression wins approval and status rewards; rape is learned through modeling, sex-violence linkage, rape myth, and desensitization.
Alcohol and Aggression
Alcohol can cause alcoholic myopia (increased aggression); insecure or aggressive people become more aggressive.
The Men's Program
All-male program for rape prevention; decreases likelihood of being sexually coercive; decreases rape myth acceptance levels; decreases behavioral intent to rape 7 months later.
5 Levels of Discrimination
Antilocution (verbal); Avoidance (social); Discrimination (action); Physical attack (violence); Extermination (mass violence).
Race
Arbitrary social category, not a biological/genetic one.
Overt Prejudice
Automatic and controlled.
Implicit Prejudice
Automatic, not controlled.
Discrimination
Behaviors; overt behavior directed toward a person simply because of presumed group membership; not always indicative of prejudice.
Four Types of Helping
Casual helping, substantial personal helping, emotional helping, emergency helping.
Realistic Conflict Theory
Cause of Prejudice; limited resources lead to conflict between groups and increased prejudice.
Situational Causes of Aggression
Children in the U.S. see 8,000+ murders/100,000+ acts of violence on TV by 6th grade; Catharsis Hypothesis.
Controlled Prejudice
Conscious beliefs; influences behavior that is monitored/controlled.
Newly Prejudiced
Controlled, but not yet automatic.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Social Role Theory
Division of labor → Gender Role Expectations & Sex-Typed Skill Beliefs → Sex differences in social behavior.
Evidence of Aggression in America
Double the people were killed by homicide in America than in the Vietnam War during same years; homicide-by-gun rate in America is 35x higher than in Germany, Denmark, or England, and 7x higher than in Canada or France.
Kin Selection
Evolutionary motive of helping; helping one's closest relatives.
Aggression in Other Animals
Experiments showed that aggression is learned, not genetic.
Prejudice
Feelings; hostile or negative attitudes toward a distinguishable group of people based solely on their membership in that group; belief structures & expectations about a group; not always a cause of discrimination.
Modification to Frustration-Aggression Theory
Frustration does not lead to aggression by itself - an aggressive cue is needed (e.g. a gun).
Exceptions to Frustration-Aggression Theory
Frustration is understandable, unintentional, legitimate, or expected; situation is not conducive to aggression.
Feminist Perspective on Why Men Rape
Gender differences in social status/power; desire for power and control; influence of male dominance in pornography.
Jigsaw Puzzle Technique
Having children depend on one another to learn and do well in class.
Which Men Rape?
History of family violence; early/varied sexual history; delinquency; acceptance of rape, hedonistic/dominance motives; low self-worth; low religiosity; low empathy.
Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis
If empathy is present, altruistic behavior is more likely; without empathy, Social Exchange ideas (cost vs. reward) will come into play.
Frustration-Aggression Theory
Increased frustration increases the likelihood of aggression; amplified when one is close to a goal or one does not expect the frustration.
Rewards of Helping
Increased possibility of reciprocal helping; relief of personal distress caused by witnessing; social approval and self-worth increase.
Causes of Negative Attitudes Toward Outgroups
Informative social influence; bias toward remembering distinct (bad) situations.
Aggression
Intentional behavior aimed at causing either physical or psychological pain.
Deprivation
Lack of resources.
Social Learning and Aggression
Learning aggressive behavior and the consequences of such behavior impact likelihood of being aggressive.
Example of Substantial Personal Helping
Lending money.
Example of Emotional Helping
Listening.
Instrumental Aggression
Means for achieving another goal; caused by opportunity for high reward with low risk (e.g. poverty, gangs, etc.).
Gender Differences in Aggression
Men are more aggressive in ordinary circumstances, but women can be just as aggressive if sufficiently provoked; young girls tend to engage in indirect/covert aggression; young boys tend to engage in direct/overt aggression.
Gender Differences in Altruistic Personalities
Men help strangers more, women help friends more.
Norm of Reciprocity
Motive of helping; "I help you, you help me."
Conditions for Contact Hypothesis
Mutual Interdependence, A Common Goal, Equal Status, Informal, One-on-One Contact, Contacts with Several Members of Outgroup, Social Norms of Equality
Evolutionary Theory on Why Men Rape
Natural selection chooses men with the propensity to rape; places reproductive control/power in the hands of men; fails to account for men who rape males, young girls, and pregnant or older women; stress and physical harm reduce chance of pregnancy.
Steps of Decision Tree
Notice the event, interpret it as an emergency, assume responsibility, know the appropriate form of assistance, and decide to implement help.
Aggressive Cue
Object that promotes aggression simply by being present.
Social Identity Theory
People favor ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self-esteem; threats to self-esteem cause more ingroup favoritism & vice-versa.
Cultural Differences in Altruistic Personalities
People from interdependent cultures are more likely to help those from the in-group than the out-group.
Negative-State Relief Hypothesis
People help in order to alleviate their own sadness or distress (usually in a way unrelated to their own distress).
Normative Conformity Pressures
People may be rewarded for holding racist/prejudiced beliefs.
Imagined Diffusion of Responsibility
People who went out to dinner with a group helped the least; people who did not go out to dinner helped the second least; people who went out to dinner with one friend helped the most.
Relative Deprivation
Perception that you or your group has less than you/your group deserve; causes aggression.
Personality & Helping
Personality does not determine likelihood of helping; people in a hurry are less likely to help.
Effects of Positive Mood on Helping
Positive mood increases helping due to increased sympathy, longer-lasting positive mood, and increased self-attention and desire to be good.
Urban-Overload Hypothesis
Possible explanation for why people in rural areas are more inclined to help than those in populous areas; overstimulation in urban areas causes people to block things out, which prevents Step 1 of the Decision Tree (noticing an event).
Methods for Reducing Prejudice
Prevent categorization in the first place; breakdown of ingroup/outgroup structure; increased contact & status equality.
Automatic Prejudice
Quick & uncontrollable; influence behaviors that are not monitored or controlled; e.g. identifying weapons vs. tools when presented with White or African-American subject.
Exchange Relationships and Helping
Relates to Social Exchange Theory; one is more likely to help a friend than a stranger unless the friend is beating oneself in a personally relevant domain (then we are more likely to help stranger).
Methods of Reducing Aggression
Remove aggressive cues; Provide better role models' Diffuse anger through apology; Build empathy.
Serotonin and Aggression
Serotonin inhibits aggression.
Punishment for Adults
Severe, swift, subsequent punishment is most effective.
How to Overcome the Urban-Overload Hypothesis
Victim must single someone out and ask them for help so that a passerby will notice them.
Hostile Aggression
Stems from feelings of anger and aimed at inflicting pain; caused by threats to self-esteem, self-worth, status, or respect.
Punishment for Children
Swift, mild punishment is most effective.
Testosterone and Aggression
Testosterone promotes aggression.
Pluralistic Ignorance - Bystander Effect
The more people who witness and emergency, the less likely any of them are to help.
Effects of Video Games on Violence
Those who played violent video games were more violent; more aggression, less helping, more aggressive thoughts, more anger, more arousal.
Stereotypes
Thoughts; generalizations about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to all members of the group.
Empathy
Understanding another's experience from their point of view.
Categorization
Used as a way of learning about and remembering people and things; leads to oversimplification & generalization.