PSYC1030 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Observational Learning, Methamphetamine, World Health Organization
PSYC1030 Lecture Eight: Aggression &
Prosocial Behaviour
• Aggression is seen in people who are angry. Aggression sometimes results in a person
acting in violent ways with the intention of harming an individual. Most of the time,
however, people aren't aggressive or violent to one another
• Prosocial means helpful and positive. It refers to any voluntary behaviour that is
performed with the intention if benefitting another person. Researchers examining
prosocial behaviour have been interested in looking at the psychology of why, on the
whole, people are nice to each other
Aggression
• Aggression and alcohol go hand in hand, alcohol is a factor in many examples of
violence and crime. Alcohol cause aggression for very different reasons compared to
the way that drugs such a meth and steroid cause aggression
• Myopia is short-sightedness and lack of intellectual insight--alcohol myopia is a
theory that has been developed to explain the effects that alcohol causes on
individual's perceptual and cognitive functioning
• Research has found that excessive intake of alcohol, on a single occasion, leads the
individuals to be more sensitive to the immediate environmental cues. It increases an
individual's reactivity to what's happening to them in the moment, and reduces their
ability to regulate their impulses as well as their ability to think carefully about the
consequences of their actions (Steele & Joseph, 1990)
• Anyone who has drunk too much can relate to a foggy feeling that occurs, they start to
lose track of the bigger picture, they can only focus on the people in front of them and
what's happening to them at the time. 'beer goggles' is the idea that people become
more attractive when they've been drinking
• When people are drinking, they are in a bubble where they're not thinking about the
future as much as when they're not drinking--which is actually one of the reasons why
people find drinking enjoyable. People spend a lot of time reflecting on the past or
planning the future, and seldom think of the present. Sometimes, people have to do
thinks like meditate and actively think about the here and now to snap themselves into
the moment. And alcohol is very good at making people live in the moment, but it can
really get them into trouble
• When people are under the influence of alcohol, they are more likely to initiate violence
than when they're sober, they're more likely to swing a punch because they're not
thinking about what happens after the punch is thrown
• Even though alcohol is not a primary contributor to violence--as most people who
consume alcohol do so without becoming aggressive, there has been some evidence
showing an association between the consumption of alcohol and violence (Graham &
Homel, 2008)
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Prosocial behaviour: aggression is seen in people who are angry. Aggression sometimes results in a person acting in violent ways with the intention of harming an individual. Most of the time, however, people aren"t aggressive or violent to one another: prosocial means helpful and positive. It refers to any voluntary behaviour that is performed with the intention if benefitting another person. Researchers examining prosocial behaviour have been interested in looking at the psychology of why, on the whole, people are nice to each other. Aggression: aggression and alcohol go hand in hand, alcohol is a factor in many examples of violence and crime. People spend a lot of time reflecting on the past or planning the future, and seldom think of the present. Sometimes, people have to do thinks like meditate and actively think about the here and now to snap themselves into the moment.
