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.