PSYC104 Lecture Notes - Appeasement, Kinship Terminology, Reciprocal Altruism
13 Jun 2018
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Social Psychology Lecture
Social Motivation
Aggression and Violence
- Aggression does not have to be motivated by anger (contract killers)
- Aggression is a fundamental social motive (everyone sometimes does it)
- Aggression is learned
- Social Learning Accounts
o The role of learning and modelling – people become violent by watching violence
o BoBo Doll experiments – skittle was a face on it, children would watch through a
one-way mirror and would see parents being aggressive towards it, when they
children watched them be violent, they would too. If the children had not seen the
parents be violent to the dolls, they were not violent to them either.
o Garbage in, garbage out
- What comes first?
o Some children are aggressive when young
o Some kids who are naturally violent could just be drawn to more violent things such
as video games
o Meta-analysis of 98 studies on 37,000 people – found significant, positive
relationship between violent videogames and aggressive behaviours
Social Learning: Problems
- Doest eplai the origis of human violence
- Why have humans behaved so 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?
Istictie Accouts
- Aggression as instinct:
o Darwin – aggression functions to assert power and dominance – looks at others with
similar DNA
o Threat and appeasement displays
Freud and Lorenz
- Freud – the death istit. Goal of life is death
- Lorenz – o aggressio 1963 – proposed a fightig istit
o Aggression is a healthy, adaptive instinct but needs appropriate channelling
o Catharsis – purifig disharge, gets rid of aggressie eergies
Instinct Theories: Problems
- No evidence for aggressive energy reservoirs inside people
- Catharsis doest ork – iolee reeds iolee. Ca ake ou hugr for ore iolee
Current Thinking
- Aggression and violence involve a complex interaction between nature and nurture
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- But, h are e or ith the apait for iolet ehaiour? Whats it for?
Evolutionary Account
- Functions of aggression – what is achieved by it?
- How has aggression worked to enhance the reproductive success of the human species over
thousands of years of evolution?
- No morality involved – ulture teahes us hat is right or rog , there are ot oughts or
shoulds i ature
Functions of Aggression
- Helps us to co-opt the resources of others
- Helps us defend ourselves from attack and protect our own resources
Inciting Fear in Rivals
- Aggression can function to build your reputation as a dangerous person – if ou ess ith
e, oull e sorr
Problems with Aggression
- Short-term versus long-term consequences
- Aggression breeds aggression – leading to revenge and retribution cycles
- Hard to break out of – ho gies i first?
- Cultures of honour – losig is shaeful feuds ad edettas a last for eturies
Men, Women, and Violence
- Cross culturally, men are more violent
- oug ale sdroe propesit for risk-taking behaviour, fast driving, dangerous sports,
heavy drinking, violent behaviour
Social Factors
- Rewarding male violence – if the culture rewards male violence, there will be more of it
The Role of Testosterone
- Testosterone increases aggressive behaviour in animals, and young males have the most
testosterone and are more violent
- Testosterone decreases with age; older men are less violent
- The issue is complex
o Most e ith high testosteroe dot oit iolet ries
o Ma iolet riials dot hae high testosteroe leels
o Causal directions issues – winning increases testosterone levels
Female Aggression
- Violent female offenders have higher testosterone than non-violent offenders
- Higher testosterone in females is associated with more aggressive fantasies and behaviours
- So:
o Testosterone seems to energise people and elicits pleasurable feelings of power and
control, especially in competitive contexts
Evolutionary Origins of Aggression
- Mes “eual “trategies:
o Can opt quantity over quality
o Can pursue cheap (commitment) free sex because spreading his genes is relatively
easy
o But – most men end up trading quantity (many sexual partners) for quality
(commitment to one or few) – a strategy that enhances reproductive success
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Aggression does not have to be motivated by anger (contract killers) Aggression is a fundamental social motive (everyone sometimes does it) If the children had not seen the parents be violent to the dolls, they were not violent to them either: garbage in, garbage out. Does(cid:374)(cid:859)t e(cid:454)plai(cid:374) the origi(cid:374)s of human violence. Is human aggression learned or instinctive, or both? (cid:862)i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)cti(cid:448)e(cid:863) accou(cid:374)ts. Aggression as instinct: darwin aggression functions to assert power and dominance looks at others with similar dna, threat and appeasement displays. Freud the (cid:858)death(cid:859) i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)(cid:272)t. goal of life is death. Lorenz (cid:862)o(cid:374) aggressio(cid:374)(cid:863) (cid:894)1963(cid:895) proposed a (cid:862)fighti(cid:374)g i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)(cid:272)t(cid:863: aggression is a healthy, adaptive instinct but needs appropriate channelling, 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) No evidence for aggressive energy reservoirs inside people. Catharsis does(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:449)ork (cid:448)iole(cid:374)(cid:272)e (cid:271)reeds (cid:448)iole(cid:374)(cid:272)e. ca(cid:374) (cid:373)ake (cid:455)ou (cid:862)hu(cid:374)gr(cid:455)(cid:863) for (cid:373)ore (cid:448)iole(cid:374)(cid:272)e. Aggression and violence involve a complex interaction between nature and nurture.
