Aggression
An intentional action aimed at doing harm or cause pain to another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment
- Hostile (hot) - intend to harm another person (physically or/and psychologically) motivated by anger and hostility
- Instrumental (code) - harm for strategic purposes (gain wealth, political gain, protect in-group value)
- Most aggression is a combination of both
Origins or Aggression
- Individual differences or personality traits
- Narcissism - exaggerated feeling of self-importance
- Machiavellianism - cunning and manipulative, use other people for their own gain
- Psychopathy - persistent anti-social behavior
- Gender - man are more physically aggressive, women display more “relational aggression” (rumor)
- Biological Factors
- Genetic factors (warrior gene/MAOA gene) and (crime gene/CDH13)
- Underdeveloped or damaged brain areas (damage in orbital cortex)
- Situational factors
Social Learning
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Theory: Bob Doll Experiment - observing and learning aggression
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Media and Video Games
- TV characters are 1,000 times more likely to murder
- Most crime on TV are violent, most crime in real life is non-violent
- 0.2 correlation with violent action
Video Game Violence Study
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Method
- 2 Groups, one is playing a violent game, other is a natural game
- After play, participants were asked to respond to hypothetical interpersonal conflicts
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Result
- There are a higher rate of aggression choice for the violent game group
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Social Rejection
- Studies shown that many perpetrators have experienced some sort of social rejection before
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Unchecked Power
- Theory: Stanford Prison Study
- People can become more aggressive when power is not checked
Types of Aggression
- Violence towards women
- Chain and India had higher abortion of girls due to one-child-policy
- Sex trafficking
- Sexual assaults is a problem all over the world
- Violence against minorities
- Dehumanization - the attribution of nonhuman characteristics and the denial of human qualities to out-group
- Human nature
- Human uniqueness
How to reduce Aggression
- Catharsis - the release of a strong emotion such as anger, by expressing it directly
- DOES NOT WORK to reduce regression
- Best solution: Face-to-face interaction to resolve regression