PSYC104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Reciprocal Altruism, On Aggression, Prosocial Behavior
10 May 2018
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PSYC104 Lecture
Week 8 – Social Motivation
Aggression and Violence
• Why do humans hurt one another?
• Aggression is a fundamental social motive (everyone does it, sometimes)
• Social learning accounts
• The role of learning and modelling – people become violent by watching violence
• BoBo Doll experiments
But what comes first?
• Greitemeyer and Mugge (2014) – meta-analysis of 98 studies on 37,000 people – found
significant, positive relationship between violent videogames and aggressive behavior
Social Learning – Problems
• Doest eplai the origis of hua iolee
• Why have humans behaved aggressively throughout history and across cultures?
• Why are humans attracted to violence, even though they fear it?
• Is human aggression learned or instinctive, or both?
Istitie Aouts
• Aggression as instinct
o Darwin – aggression functions to assert power and dominance
o Threat and appeasement displays
Freud and Lorenz
• Freud – the death istit
• Lorenz – O Aggressio 1963 – proposed a fightig istit
o Aggression is a healthy, adaptive instinct but needs appropriate channeling
o Catharsis – purifig disharge, gets rid of aggressie eergies
Instinct Theories – Problems
• No evidence for aggressive energy and reservoirs inside people
• Catharsis doest ork – violence breeds violence
Current thinking
• Aggression and violence involve a complex interaction between nature (innate propensities
– what we come into the world with) and nurture (what we learn from our families and
culture – our socialization)
• But…h are e or ith the apait for iolet ehaior? What is it for?
Evoluntionary Account
• Functions of aggression – what is achieved by behaving aggressively?
• How has aggression worked to enhance the reproductive success of the human species over
thousands of years of evolution?
• Note: there is no morality involved here
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Aggression and violence: why do humans hurt one another, aggression is a fundamental social motive (everyone does it, sometimes, social learning accounts, the role of learning and modelling people become violent by watching violence, bobo doll experiments. But what comes first: greitemeyer and mugge (2014) meta-analysis of 98 studies on 37,000 people found significant, positive relationship between violent videogames and aggressive behavior. Is human aggression learned or instinctive, or both? (cid:858)i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)(cid:272)ti(cid:448)e(cid:859) a(cid:272)(cid:272)ou(cid:374)ts: aggression as instinct, darwin aggression functions to assert power and dominance, threat and appeasement displays. Freud and lorenz: freud the (cid:858)death(cid:859) i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)(cid:272)t. Lorenz (cid:858)o(cid:374) aggressio(cid:374)(cid:859) (cid:894)1963(cid:895) proposed a (cid:858)fighti(cid:374)g i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)(cid:272)t(cid:859: aggression is a healthy, adaptive instinct but needs appropriate channeling, catharsis purif(cid:455)i(cid:374)g dis(cid:272)harge, gets rid of aggressi(cid:448)e (cid:858)e(cid:374)ergies(cid:859) Instinct theories problems: no evidence for aggressive energy and reservoirs inside people, catharsis does(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:449)ork violence breeds violence. Current thinking: aggression and violence involve a complex interaction between nature (innate propensities.
