Chapter 12

Social psychology has defined aggression in many different ways:

● behaviour resulting in personal injury or destruction of property (Bandura, 1973);
● behaviour intended to harm another of the same species (Scherer, Abeles, & Fischer,
1975);
● behaviour directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is
motivated to avoid such treatment (Baron, 1977);
● intentional infliction of some form of harm on others (Baron & Byrne, 2000);
● behaviour directed towards another individual carried out with the proximate (immedi-
ate) intent to cause harm (Anderson & Huesmann, 2003).

Explanations of aggression fall into two broad classes, the biological and the social, although
this distinction is not entirely rigid. A debate over which of the two explanations is superior is
an example of the nature–nurture controversy: is human action determined by our
biological inheritance or by our social environment?

Aggression is an instinct: that is, a pattern of responses that is genetically predetermined.

an instinct is:
● goal-directed and terminates in a specific consequence (e.g. an attack);
● beneficial to the individual and to the species;
● adapted to a normal environment (although not to an abnormal one);
● shared by most members of the species (although its manifestation can vary from indi-
vidual to individual);
● developed in a clear way as the individual matures;
● unlearned on the basis of individual experience (although it can become manifest in rela-
tion to learnt aspects within a context).

Thanatos is in opposition to a ‘Life Instinct’, Eros. Thanatos is initially directed at self-

destruction, but later in development it becomes redirected outwards towards other people.
Freud’s background as a physician influenced his notion of the death instinct, which was also
partly a response to the large-scale destruction of the First World War.

Ethology
Approach that argues that animal behaviour should be studied in the species’ natural physical
and social environment. Behaviour is genetically determined and is controlled by natural
selection

Releasers
Specific stimuli in the environment thought by ethologists to trigger aggressive responses.

Fighting instinct
Innate impulse to aggress which ethologists claim is shared by humans with other animals.

Evolutionary social psychology

An extension of evolutionary psychology that views complex social behaviour as adaptive,
helping the individual, kin and the species as a whole to survive
Generally, social psychologists have not favoured theories of aggression defined in terms of
instinct – they prefer approaches that emphasise the role of learning and of the social con-
text.
Evolutionary social psychology developed out of evolutionary theory and sociobiology. It
assumes an innate basis for aggression but also claims a biological basis for all social
behaviour.

Derived from Darwinian theory, the evolutionary argument is provocative: specific behav-
iour has evolved because it promotes the survival of genes that allow the individual to live
long enough to pass the same genes on to the next generation. Aggression is adaptive because
it must be linked to living long enough to procreate.

Biosocial theories
In the context of aggression, theories that emphasise an innate component, though not the
existence of a full- blown instinct.

In its original form, the frustration–aggression hypothesis linked aggression to an anteced-

ent condition of frustration. Theory that all frustration leads to aggression, and all aggression
comes from frustration. Used to explain prejudice and intergroup aggression.

Frustration–aggression hypothesis
Theory that all frustration leads to aggression, and all aggression comes from frustration.
Used to explain prejudice and intergroup aggression.

Dolf Zillmann’s excitation- transfer model. The expression of aggression (or any other
emotion) is a function of: (a) a learnt aggressive behaviour, (b) arousal or excitation from
another source and (c) the person’s interpretation of the arousal state, such that an aggressive
response seems appropriate.

Sociallearningtheory is a wide-ranging behavioural approach in psychology, and it features

the processes responsible for (a) the acquisition of a behaviour or a behavioural sequence, (b)
the instigation of overt acts and (c) the maintenance of the behaviour.

Although Bandura acknowledged the role of biological factors in aggression, the theory’s
emphasis is on the role of experience, which can be direct or vicarious. Through socialisa-
tion, children learn to aggress because either they are directly rewarded or someone else
appears to be rewarded for aggression.

The idea of learning by direct experience is based on B. F. Skinner’s operant reinforce-

ment principles: a behaviour is maintained by rewards and punishments actually experi-
enced by the child. For example, if Jonathan takes Margaret’s biscuit from her, and no one
intervenes, then he is reinforced by now having the biscuit. The idea of learning by
vicarious experience maintains that learning occurs through the processes of modelling and
imitation of other people.

According to Bandura, whether a person is aggressive in a particular situation depends on:

● a person’s previous experiences of others’ aggressive behaviour;
● how successful aggressive behaviour has been in the past;
● the current likelihood that an aggressive person will be either rewarded or punished;
● the complex array of cognitive, social and environmental factors in the situation.

Early findings pointed to a clear modelling effect when the adult was seen acting
aggressively in a live setting. Even more disturbingly, this capacity to behave aggressively
was also found when children saw the adult model acting violently on television.

An interesting theoretical development is a blending of social learning theory with the

learning of a particular kind of cognitive schema – the script. Children learn rules of conduct
from those around them, so that aggression becomes internalised.

Research on age trends for murder and manslaughter in the United States shows that this
form of aggression quickly peaks among 15- to 25-year-olds and then declines systematically

Type A people are overactive and excessively competitive in their encounters with others,
and may be more aggressive towards those perceived to be competing with them on an
important task.

a correlation between levels of testosterone and aggression does not establish causality

Sociocultural theory
Psychological gender differences are determined by individuals’ adaptations to restrictions
based on their gender in their society. Also called social role theory.

Sexual selection theory

Sex differences in behaviour are determined by evolutionary history rather than society.

1 Boys, like men, consistently show more physical aggression than girls.
2 Gender and nationality interact in the case of relational aggression–[Link]
frequently among Italian girls than Italian boys, but less frequently among Chinese girls than
Chinese boys.

An instrumental reason for aggression is catharsis. We aggress as an outlet or release for

pent-up emotion – the cathartic hypothesis.

Catharsis
A dramatic release of pent-up feelings: the idea that aggressive motivation is ‘drained’ by
acting against a frustrating object (or substitute), or by a vicarious experience.

Cathartic hypothesis
The notion that acting aggressively, or even just viewing aggressive material, reduces
feelings of anger and aggression.

Disinhibition
A breakdown in the learnt controls (social mores) against behaving impulsively or, in this
context, aggressively. For some people, alcohol has a disinhibiting effect.

Deindividuation
Process whereby people lose their sense of socialised individual identity and engage in
unsocialised, often antisocial, behaviours.
Dehumanisation
Stripping people of their dignity and humanity.

Collective aggression
Unified aggression by a group of individuals, who may not even know one another, against
another individual or group.