Pro- and Anti-Social Behaviour

NATURE AND CAUSES OF AGGRESSION

Social psychological theories of aggression

Social learning theory (SLT)

We learn both aggressiveness and how to express aggression through direct reinforcement (conditioning theory) and indirect reinforcement (social learning).

Bandura (1977) suggested that there are four steps in the modelling process.

• Attention. If a person (model) is prestigious or similar you will pay more attention.

• Retention. Actions must be remembered (i.e. cognitive processes involved). 

• Reproduction. Vicarious reinforcement is not enough, imitation requires skills.

• Motivation. Imitation depends on direct and indirect reinforcements and punishments.

Research evidence

Bandura et al. (1961, 1963) showed that, if children watched someone else behave aggressively towards Bobo-the-doll (punching it, shouting at it and hitting it with a hammer), they were more likely to be aggressive and to imitate specific actions when they were placed on their own with the doll (after being mildly frustrated). Other findings and later variations found that imitation was even more likely if:

• the model was rewarded

• the model had high status, for example, a favourite hero or heroine on TV

• the child identified with the model, for example same sex

• live models were more effective than a film or a cartoon

• the person had low self-esteem.

Evaluation

• Research findings may be due to demand characteristics in an unfamiliar social situation (the children had to look for cues of what to do with Bobo).

• Can explain media influences

• Can explain influence of coercive home environments. Parents solve disputes ggressively, children model their behaviour on this (Patterson et al., 1989).

• Can account for cultural and individual differences between people.

• It explains the fact that people imitate specific acts of violence.

• Oversimplified. People are not consistently rewarded for aggression, often they are punished.

• Environmental determinism. Suggests that aggression is externally caused.

Deindividuation

The presence of a crowd (or group) leads individual members to feel anonymous and act according to a different set of rules than they would normally.

Zimbardo (1969) suggested that:

• individuated behaviour is rational, consistent with personal norms - deindividuated behaviour is unrestrained, acting on primitive impulses, leads to antisocial acts.

Research evidence

Zimbardo (1963) repeated Milgram’s (1963) obedience experiments with participants either wearing a name tag (individuated) or in a hood (deindividuated). The latter gave more shocks. 

Diener et al. (1976) observed the behaviour of over 1000 children on Halloween; the house owner asked some of the children to give their names. Those who remained anonymous were more likely to steal some money and/or extra chocolate when briefly left alone (i.e. behave anti-socially).

Evaluation

• In some instances deindividuation leads to increased pro-social behaviour . 

• As with obedience, an individual can elect whether to behave autonomously.

Relative deprivation theory

The gap between what one has and what one feels one deserves leads to feelings of relative deprivation and aggression. 

Runciman (1966) distinguished between two forms of relative deprivation:

• egotistic deprivation – derived from comparison with other similar individuals

• fraternalistic deprivation – derived from comparisons with other groups.

Research evidence

Abeles (1976) interviewed over 900 poor Blacks living in the US to find out why, when socioeconomic conditions were improving for Blacks, there were still so many urban riots. The respondents felt they were still worse off when compared with White counterparts whose incomes had also increased. They also had increased expectations.

Evaluation

• Can explain feelings of aggression expressed by a whole group.

• Can explain why some well-off members of minority groups continue to feel relative deprivation (fraternalistically rather than egotistically).

Effects of environmental stressors

Research evidence

Overcrowding: Calhoun (1962) described ‘behavioural sink’, a pathological response to overcrowding in rats. Co et al. (1984) studied prison populations and found as density increased so did disciplinary problems and death rates.

Temperature: Baron and Ransberger (1978) linked collective violence in the US and heat, up to a point. When it becomes very hot, people become lethargic.

Pain: Berkowitz et al. (1979) placed participants’ hands in cold or warm water. They caused greater harm to a partner in the cold water condition.

Noise: Glass et al. (1969) found that unpredictable noise has a ‘psychic’ cost because it required attention, whereas constant noise can be ‘tuned out’. Noise led to frustration.

Lack of control: Glass et al. (1969) found that when some participants were given a button, ostensibly to control the noise, they showed greater task persistence.

Donnerstein and Wilson (1976) found angered participants gave greater shocks except when they had a control button.

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

Environmental stressors may increase frustration. Dollard et al. (1939) suggested that frustration always leads to some form of aggression and aggression is always the result of frustration.

Research evidence

Frustration triggers aggression. Geen and Berkowitz (1967) frustrated their participants using insoluble puzzles. If the participant then watched an aggressive film and the confederate used a name from the film (‘Kirk’ as in Kirk Douglas) then the number of shocks given to the confederate was greater.

Cues also trigger aggression. Berkowitz and LePage (1967) showed that when students received electric shocks from a confederate and then were given the opportunity to do the reverse, level of shocks were higher when a gun was close to the shock machine.

Evaluation

• General levels of arousal may be a better explanation (arousal-aggression hypothesis) since environmental stressors are physiologically arousing.

• Some events are physiologically arousing but lead to positive behaviour, such as loud music. Stressors may amplify mood (density-intensity hypothesis). 

• This explanation combines biological and social factors (physiological arousal and learned responses to cues).