PSY 210 Exam 3

Personality factors in aggression

1. Type A Personality 2. Hostile attributional bias 3. Narcissism 4. Gender differences

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

Blocking of goal-directed behavior --> Frustration --> Aggression/Meditation/Turn cheek/Redirect/Count to 10/etc.

Forgiveness

can help - if you truly forgive

Gratitude - why does expressed gratitude increase future prosocial action?

1. Adds to self-efficacy of the helper (you feel more competent) 2. Adds to self-worth of the helper

Darley and Latane (1968) Suggested 2 explanations for bystander effect

1. Diffusion of responsibility 2. Fear of social blunder

Why does media violence cause violent behavior?

1. It teaches new techniques 2. It can prime aggressive thoughts or memories 3. It desensitizes viewers to the effects of violence and reduces empathy for victim 4. It weakens inhibitions

5-step model needed for help to be given (Latane and Darley, 1970)

1. Notice something unusual is happening 2. Interpret situation as one where help is needed (Pluralistic ignorance) 3. Assume responsibility 4. Decide on a course of action - that you have the knowledge and skills to act 5. Take action

Internal factors - altruistic personality

1. Self-concept that includes empathy 2. Belief in a just world where everyone gets what they deserve 3. High in social responsibility/sense of duty 4. Internal Locus of Control 5. Low in egocentrism

Bystander effect is stronger it

1. The situation is ambiguous 2. The bystanders are anonymous

Internal factors - perspective taking (3 types)

1. You can imagine how other person perceives an event and how he or she must feel 2. You can imagine how you would feel if you were in that situation ("imagine self" perspective) 3. Feeling empathy for a fictional character

Group

2 or more interacting people who share common goals, have a stable relationship, are somehow interdependent, and perceive that they are part of a group People who are perceived to be bonded together in a coherent unit to some degree Common-bond groups = involve face-to-face interaction Common-identity groups = face-to-face interaction is often absent

Genetic/Evolutionary Explanations (Kin selection theory)

A key "goal" of all organisms is getting our genes into the next generation - one way to do this is to help others who share our genes We are more likely to help others to whom we are closely related (Do not need to have a child to pass on most of genes)

Prosocial behavior

Actions by individuals that help others, with no immediate benefit to the helper

Provocation

Actions by others that tend to trigger aggression in the recipient, often because they are perceived as stemming from malicious intent

Operational Defenition

Aggression may be operationally defined in traffic as horn tooting or rude gestures Some studies define it as pushing a shock button

Generativity

An adult's concern for and commitment to the well-being of the future generation (Erikson's 7th stage compared to stagnation [30-60])

A basic drive theory

An unmet need --> drive state --> efforts to reduce the drive state

Displaced aggression Penderson et al., 2000

Anagrams - can be easy, difficult, or impossible Provocation included different anagrams, loud distracting music, and rude treatment The trigger was slightly negative evaluation

Excitation transfer theory

Arousal can persist and intensify emotional reactions in alter, unrelated situations

Situational factors

Attraction Similarity Attribution of responsibility Prosocial role models (e.g. an ally who helps) Perceived cost of helping (e.g. time, danger, disgust, disease) Scent (through mood) - pleasant fragrance puts you in a better mood, and you are more likely to help

Techniques for studying aggression

Buss technique Milgram study

Exposure to nonaggressive model

Can work e.g. Jesus, MLK

Bushman & Anderson, 2002

Children played video games Aggressive or nonaggressive Then read brief story and asked what character will do next Participants who played violent games thought characters in ambiguous stories would act and think more aggressively and feel angrier than those who played nonaggressive games Results can be explained with hostile expectation bias and GAM

Empathic accuracy

Cognitive component; correctly perceiving others thoughts and feelings Leads to good social relations (plays a key role in social adjustment)

Empathic concern

Concern for well-being of others

Alcohol Pihl et al. 1997

Consuming alcohol can increase aggression in both men and women, perhaps because it reduces individual's capacity to process some kinds of info

High temperature

Curvilinear relationship Higher temperature increases aggression to a point. Beyond that, aggression declines as temp rises

Altruism

Doing something for someone else with no thought of reward

Narcissim

Ego threat Unearned self-esteem - will become angry when someone questions unearned ability

3 components of empathy

Emotional empathy Empathic accuracy Empathic conern

Theoretical explanations for prosocial behavior

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (pure desire to help) Negative State Relief Model (selfish desire to make self better) Empathic Joy Hypothesis (motivated by positive feelings one gets) Competitive Altruism (to gain status) Genetic Determinism Model (we help others who are genetically similar to ourselves to preserve our gene pool) (sociobiological explanation)

After 40 years of study

Exposure to media violence van have very harmful effects But we seem to have difficulty regulating ourselves as a society, even when our behavior is highly destuctive

Bryan & Test, 1973

Female motorist & role models - woman was more likely to get help if another car down the road was broken down and someone was helping

Variables

First IV: aggressiveness (low,high) - no random assignment because it's a personality trait Second IV: alcohol consumption (sober, intoxicated) DV: levels of shock used An interaction effect 2 x 2 ANOVA

Instinct/Biological approah

Freud - held that aggression stems mainly from a powerful death wish (thanatos) that we all possess. It is then redirected toward others Lorenz - suggested that aggression springs mainly from inherent fighting instinct, which ensures that only the strongest males will obtain mates and pass their genes on to the next generation Sociobiology Evolutionary perspective - most social psychologists continue to reject the view that human aggression stems from innate factors, but some now accept that genetic factors may play a role

Social determinants

Frustration Direct provovation Social exclusion Media violence

Moral Motives

Generativity Self-interest Moral Integrity Moral hypocrisy

Defensive helping

Help given to members of outgroups to reduce the threat they pose to status or distinctiveness of one's own ingroup

Subsets of prosocial behavior

Helping and altruism

Situational determinants

High temp Alcohol

Hostile attributional bias

Hostile aggression - prime objective is inflicting harm on victim

Results

In absence of provocations, mild triggering did not lead to high level of aggression After provocation, mild triggering led to high level of aggression When provoked, you'll respond more aggressively to a small trigger (additive effect)

Violent video games Meta-analysis of all well-conducted studies Playing such games

Increases aggressive cognitions Increases aggressive feelings Increases aggressive behavior Reduces empathy Reduces prosocial behavior (all relatively long term)

Aggression

Intentional infliction of harm on another person. This includes name calling and insulting •Does not include accidental harm or harm to inanimate objects or animals unless intended to hurt another person •Behavior directed toward the goal of harming another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment

Emotions and helping (simple model)

Internal factors now Positive emotional state •Reward probable --> greater helping •Cost probable --> less helping Negative emotions •Sometimes more helping (negative state relief) •Sometimes less helping Models today are much more complicated

Punishing aggressive behavior can work if:

It is prompt It is certain to occur It is strong enough to be highly unpleasant It is seen as justified by recipient

General Aggression Model (GAM)

Lists situational and personality factors. These affect internal state (frustration in drive model). May result in thoughtful or impulsive action According to theory, a chain of events that may ultimately lead to overt aggression can be initiated by two major types of input variables: 1. Factors relating to current situation (e.g. frustration, provocation, exposure to aggressive behavior, and discomfort) 2. Factors relating to the people involved (e.g. traits that predispose people toward aggression, certain attitudes and beliefs about violence, etc.) Modern theory of aggression stating that aggression is triggered by a wide range of input variables that influence arousal, affective stages, and cognitions

Internal factors - empathy

More empathic, more likely to help Women express more empathy

Attribution of responsibility

More likely to help others when we think they are not responsible for their problem If someone is drunk they are less likely to receive help because bystander reasons that it is their fault

Similarity

New mothers have empathic concern when shown video about other new mothers (similarity to others increases our empathic concern for them) Shaw, Borough, & Fink - homosexual stranger required assistance; many fewer people helped than when a heterosexual stranger requested help

Kitty Genovese

No one helped or called the police Evidence of Bystander effect

Why do so many people play violent games?

Not violence that attracts, but sense of autonomy and competence 2 things teenagers have always craved (independence and competence) Reactance - doing the opposite of what you are told in order to maintain an illusion of control •For video games, it's an illusion of autonomy

Direct provocation

Number 1 way to cause someone to aggress •Criticism •Sarcasm •Teasing •Physical assault - aggressing against someone is the number one way to get them to aggress

Milgram study

Participant aggression is produced more easily when given direction - bigger version of the Buss apparatus

Prosocial vs. Aggressive Video Games

Participants played 1 of 3 games, and then experimenter spilled cup of pencils Subjects who played prosocial video game were more likely to help than neutral or aggressive game Less prosocial the game that was played, less helpful behavior

Type A personality

Pattern consisting primarily of competitiveness, time urgency, and hostility

"Bystander apathy"

People may just not care anymore

Phil, Lau, Assad, 1997

Personality type and alcohol interest •Aggressiveness (low and high) •Alcohol consumption (sober, intoxicated) 2 x 2 design or a 2-way ANOVA Low aggressors became more aggressive with alcohol while high aggressors became less aggressive Effect of alcohol on aggressiveness depends on high or low aggression

Types of aggression

Physical aggression Verbal aggression Passive aggression Internet aggression

Empathy

Piaget's Cognitive Development: •In concrete operational stage (7-12) we gain ability to take another person's perspective •In formal operation stage (12 & up) we gain ability to think abstractly and to recognize complexity Most important influence for helping is empathy - emotional responses to another person's emotional state, and the capacity to take the perspective of the other person Having a secure attachment style facilitates an empathic response

Negative-State Relief Model (Caldini, Baumann, & Kendrick, 1981)

Prosocial behavior is motivated by a desire to reduce own negative emotional state (negative reinforcement) The proposal that prosocial behavior is motivated by bystander's desire to reduce his or her own uncomfortable negative emotions or feelings Empathy is not needed --> unhappiness about anything can motivate prosocial behavior You engage in prosocial behavior primarily as a way to improve your own negative mood - empathy is not a necessary component

Prevention and control of aggression

Punishment Catharsis Self-regulation Forgiveness Exposure to nonaggressive models Training in social skills (including faulty attributions) Generating an incompatible response

Why may we be willing to help people unrelated to us?

Reciprocal altruism theory - because helping is usually reciprocated

Social Exclusion

Rejection can trigger aggression Negative emotion does not seem to trigger Hostile mindset causes us to see neutral action by others as hostile See hostile attributional bias - the tendency to see things as more hostile, especially when someone rejects you Misattribution - false interpretation of someone else's motives Cognitive factors not emotional ones are responsible for the aggression

Internal factors - moral motives

Self Interest Moral Integrity Moral hypocrisy

Emotional empathy

Sharing feelings and emotions of others

Media violence

Since Bandura's Bobo doll studies - all studies of imitation or modeling of aggressive behavior Violence sells More violent films or TV watched the more likely to be arrested for violent crimes Clear that use of violent media causes more violence, but how?

Bullying

Singling out others for repeated abuse •Bullying •Workplace violence •Violence in long-term relationships

Latane & Darley 1968

Smoke-filled room - participant did nothing because no one else did, or took a lot longer to do anything (Bystander effect stronger when in room with strangers that are anonymous)

Factors that reduce helping

Social Exclusion - conditions in which individuals feel that they have been excluded from some social group Darkness - feelings of anonymity reduce the tendency to help others Putting an economic value on our time reduces prosocial behavior

Daney et al. 1973

Subjects working back to back, and heard a crash from the other room. Were less likely to help than if they were face to face, because the first thing we do in an emergency is social comparison (e.g. looking at each other)

Piliavin et al. 1969-1975

Subway studies (many variables) Person fell down after door closed, when there was a fixed number of people present The more people, the longer it took to help; people less likely to help if a nurse in uniform is sitting there, if blood is present

Competitive Altruism

Suggests people help because it boosts own status and reputation Helping others is costly, so it suggests to others that individuals engaging in helpful behavior have desirable personal qualities Help such as big donations are often made in order to gain status (Flynn et al., 2006)

Diffusion of Responsibility

Suggests that the greater the number of witnesses to an emergency, the less likely victims are to receive help Each bystander assumes someone else will do it

Conclusions about media violence

Systematic content analyses find very frequent violence in mass media 1. Materials significantly increase likelihood of aggressive behavior by people exposed to them 2. Effects are short term and long term in nature 3. Magnitude of the effects is large

Empathy

The capacity to experience others' emotional state vicariously The emotional reactions that are focused or oriented toward other people and include feelings of compassion, sympathy, and concern

Entitativity/cohesiveness

The extent to which a group is perceived as being a coherent identity

Moral integrity

The motivation to be moral and to actually engage in moral behavior

Moral hypocrisy

The motivation to be moral while doing one's best to avoid the actual costs involved with actually being moral

Self-interest

The motivation to engage in whatever behavior provides the greatest satisfaction

Batson et al. 1997

Undergraduate students presented with a moral dilemma - give boring task or change to win raffle ticket to themselves or another participant •90% agreed they should take boring task •70-80% actually did opposite

Deciding who needs help

Victim responsibility Blaming the victim Conservatives vs. Liberals Prior commitment (Moriarity,1970) •Beach blanket study •Neighborhood watch

Empathic Joy Hypothesis

We help because it feels good when we do (positive reinforcement) The view that helpers respond to needs of a victim because they want to accomplish something, and doing so is rewarding in and of itself Requires that person find out about positive impact they've had Smith, Keating, & Stotland, 1989: Participants told that female student might drop out of college because she felt violated. They were only helpful if told they would receive feedback about their impact - if there was high empathy and also received feedback about action's impact

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

We want to bring the negative feelings of others to an end Some prosocial behavior is motivated solely by desire/decision to help someone who is in need Compassion for other people outweighs all other considerations

The Bystander Effect

When more people are present, the less likely anyone is to help someone in crisis Takes longer to help, if help is given at all

Helping in an emergency

Would be a subset of prosocial behavior

Frustration

anything that prevents us from reaching goals we are seeking--> leads to arousal of a drive whose primary goal is that of harming some person or object--> primarily the perceived cause of frustration

Pluralistic ignorance

because none of the bystanders respond to an emergency, no one knows for sure what is happening, and each depends on the others to interpret the situation Inhibiting effect is much less likely if group is of friends - more likely to communicate about what is going on

Punishment

can work if conditions are right Procedures in which aversive consequences are delivered to individuals when they engage in specific actions

Catharsis

does not work

Situational factors (in GAM):

frustration, attack, aggressive model, aggression cues, the presence of a weapon, discomfort

Gender differences

getting less and less (women are becoming more aggressive)

Personality factors (in GAM)

irritability, attitudes about violence, values about violence/masculinity, skills, Type A, Hostile Attributional bias

Self-regulation

is difficult

Gender differences

men are more likely to engage in direct aggression - actions aimed directly at target that stem from aggressor Gender differences are decreasing

Frustration

the negative emotional state we experience when someone or something blocks our goal-directed behavior

Drive theories (of aggression)

theories suggesting that aggression stems from external conditions that arouse the motive to harm or injure others Most famous is frustration-aggression hypothesis

Buss technique

used in past to study "imaginary" aggression People pushed button they thought was administering a shock DV was pushing the button (e.g. how hard, or how long it was held)

Why is empathy declining in U.S. college students? (Konrach et al. 2011)

•Increasing exposure to violence in mass media •Schools still emphasizing unearned self-esteem (feel good about yourself) --> makes kids narcissistic •Reality TV message is to "do anything to win" •Social media reduces face-to-face interactions (none of these proven as causal)