PS270 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Hot Sauce, White Noise, Decibel
Reactions to Being Helped
● Equity Theory: people want equitable relationships (not just maximum rewards)
■ One person’s ratio of rewards to costs should be equal to the other
person’s
○ Being in an inequitable relationship creates distress → one person under
benefitted one over benefitted
○ Recipient of help may feel negatively toward the helped if there is no chance to
reciprocate (eg if someone loans you money)
● Social Exchange Theory: maximize rewards and minimize costs
○ Helper gets an increased sense of power from helping
■ A reward that can motivate helping
○ Recipient gets an increased sense of powerlessness (has to acknowledge
dependence)
● Self-Threat Theory: getting help can threaten self-esteem, if it:
○ Conveys the message that the recipient is inferior and needs help to avoid failure
○ Help deviates from important values (eg independence, self-reliance, and
fairness)
○ Does not increase chances of future success or reduce future need for help
NEW TOPIC
Aggression
● Aggression: any behaviour intended to cause physical or psychological pain
○ Intentional harm
○ Whether successful or not
● Hostile aggression: stems from anger and aims at hurting another person (heat of the
moment eg throw something)
● Instrumental aggression: also intended to hurt, but in order to achieve another goal
(calculated eg hitman hired to kill)
Studying Aggression in the Lab
● “The Aggression Machine”
○ Presented as shock generator
○ Could be competitive task participants are competing in, shock loser - not told
what degree of shock to administrate or how long
○ Researchers look at how long and how high they shock the other person
○ Aversive noise - administer blast of white noise to other person, choose decibel
level and how long it is administered
○ Amount of hot sauce put on food prepared for someone else
● These experiments can engage psychological realism - same kind of aggressive intent
that can play out in other contexts
Situational Factors (that influence aggression): Alcohol Intoxication
● Alcohol lowers self-awareness
● Bars in London Ontario → looked at aggression and alcohol in bars, men more prone to
this kind of aggression, for men more intoxicated = more aggression
● Domestic violence → more alcohol = more aggression
● These are both correlational studies → could be third variable, or reverse causation (if
someone is angry they may drink more to get prepared excuse)
● Cause or prepared excuse?
● Experimental evidence - eg insults and shocks → can pin down causality, in shock study
alcohol increases aggression
MacDonald, Zanna, and Holmes (domestic violence)
● Married or dating participants recalled a relationship conflict
● Then drank vodka (BAC 0.08), a placebo drink, or no drink
● Intoxicated participants:
○ Expressed more negative emotions in response to the conflict
○ Had more negative views of their partner
● Placebo participants - pour drinks in front of them, what they believe is vodka is actually
water, alcohol sprayed in room, very little bit of vodka on top → most participants
convinced
Situational Factors: Pain and Discomfort
● Pain
○ Animals in pain that cannot escape will almost invariably attack
○ Cold immersion and aggression - see how long you can keep hand in cold water,
participants who experience cold immersion vs those who don’t are more likely to
be aggressive
● Temperature
○ Heat in particular
○ Likelihood of riots and violent crime - in major US cities, riot more likely as heat
increases
○ Professional baseball - eg pitcher purposely hitting batter, higher likelihood of
players being hit as temperature increases
○ Heat can increase negative feelings and discomfort - ultimately increase
aggressive behaviour
○ Could be other factors in these ^^ situations
○ Experimental data
■ Participants in a hot room (32 degrees celsius) rather than a normal
room:
Document Summary
Equity theory: people want equitable relationships (not just maximum rewards) One person"s ratio of rewards to costs should be equal to the other person"s. Being in an inequitable relationship creates distress one person under benefitted one over benefitted. Recipient of help may feel negatively toward the helped if there is no chance to reciprocate (eg if someone loans you money) Social exchange theory: maximize rewards and minimize costs. Helper gets an increased sense of power from helping. Recipient gets an increased sense of powerlessness (has to acknowledge dependence) Self-threat theory: getting help can threaten self-esteem, if it: Conveys the message that the recipient is inferior and needs help to avoid failure. Help deviates from important values (eg independence, self-reliance, and fairness) Does not increase chances of future success or reduce future need for help. Aggression: any behaviour intended to cause physical or psychological pain.
