1. Aggression

2. Video game bans: the debate about guns, GTA, and real-life violence

3. WHAT IS AGGRESSION?
Aggression is behaviour with the intent to harm. Note that it is not the behaviour itself but the intent to cause harm. It can be subdivided into:
Person-orientated aggression: the intent is to cause harm to another person.
Instrumental aggression: the intent is to gain personal reward.
Or alternatively into:
Proactive aggression: behaviour intended to achieve a desired outcome.
Reactive aggression: a response to another person’s behaviour (usually, but not always, aggressive behaviour).

4. Social psychological approaches to explaining aggression
Social psychological theories of aggression, for example, social learning theory, deindividuation
Institutional aggression
Biological explanations of aggression
Neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggression
Genetic factors in aggressive behaviour
Evolution and human aggression
Evolutionary explanations of human aggression, including infidelity and jealousy
Evolutionary explanations of group display in humans, for example sport and warfare

5. Social psychological approaches to explaining aggression
Social psychological theories of aggression, for example, social learning theory, deindividuation
Institutional aggression

6. social learning theory
The social learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura has become perhaps the most influential theory of learning and development. While rooted in many of the basic concepts of traditional learning theory, Bandura believed that direct reinforcement could not account for all types of learning.
While the behavioural theories of learning suggested that all learning was the result of associations formed by conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment, Bandura's social learning theory proposed that learning can also occur simply by observing the actions of others.
His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new information and behaviours by watching other people. Known as observational learning (or modelling), this type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviours.

7. 1. People can learn through observation.
Observational Learning
In his Bobo doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated that children learn and imitate behaviours they have observed in other people. The children in Bandura’s studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll. When the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate the aggressive actions they had previously observed.
Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning:
A live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating or acting out a behaviour.
A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and explanations of a behaviour.
A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviours in books, films, television programs, or online media.

8. 2. Mental states are important to learning.
Intrinsic Reinforcement
Bandura noted that external, environmental reinforcement was not the only factor to influence learning and behaviour. He described intrinsic reinforcement as a form of internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment. This emphasis on internal thoughts and cognitions helps connect learning theories to cognitive developmental theories. While many textbooks place social learning theory with behavioural theories, Bandura himself describes his approach as a 'social cognitive theory.'

9. 3. Learning does not necessarily lead to a change in behaviour.
While behaviourists believed that learning led to a permanent change in behaviour, observational learning demonstrates that people can learn new information without demonstrating new behaviours.

11. How
Attention: In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that distracts your attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model is interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning.
Retention: The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning.

12. How 2!
Reproduction: Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to actually perform the behaviour you observed. Further practice of the learned behaviour leads to improvement and skill advancement.
Motivation: Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behaviour that has been modelled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation. While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing other experience some type of reinforcement or punishment. For example, if you see another student rewarded with extra credit.

13. Evidence (read this)
Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961) conducted a classic study on imitation of aggression. Children aged 3–5 years were taken one at a time into a room where they sat at a table on which there were lots of attractive toys. An adult model sat at another other table on which there was a variety of toys, including a Bobo doll. Half of the children were in the aggressive (experimental) condition in which the model attacked the Bobo doll using the same series of aggressive actions, including some unusual ones. Half the models were men and half were women. The other half of the children were in the non-aggressive condition. The researchers found that children in the aggressive condition reproduced a great many of the physical and verbal aggressive acts they had observed. In the non- aggressive condition, the children showed no aggression at all but simply played with the toys in a non-aggressive manner. Boys reproduced more physical aggression than did the girls but there was no difference in boys and girls with respect to verbal aggression. Boys were more likely to be aggressive if they had seen a male model rather than a female one, and girls were more likely to be aggressive if they had seen a female model rather than a male one. The results show strong evidence that children are likely to copy new types of behaviour that they would have been unlikely to produce otherwise

14. Walters and Thomas (1963,) found that participants who had watched a violent scene chose to administer higher electric shocks to learners who gave incorrect responses than those who had not witnessed violence (no shocks were actually administered). This demonstrates disinhibition—the weakening of inhibitions against socially unacceptable behaviour.

15. Deindividuation
Deindividuation is when people lose their sense of individual identity. Most individuals would normally refrain from aggression because they don’t want to be held to blame for their actions – but in situations such as crowds, social restraints and personal responsibility are perceived to be lessened, so displays of aggressive behaviour occur.
It can be said that as a result of normative social influence, deindividuation causes people to unquestioningly follow group norms instead of personal norms, which sometimes leads individuals to display aggressive behaviour.
Zimbardo sees people in crowds as being anonymous, with lessened awareness of individuality and a reduced sense of guilt, or fear of punishment. The bigger the crowd, the more this will be.
Prentice-Dunn and Rogers (1982) believe that individuals normally have awareness of personal moral codes, but being in a crowd diminishes private awareness, so instead they follow the group norms.

16. Malmuth and Check (1981) – found that nearly a third of male university students in the US would rape if there was no chance of them getting caught.
Zimbardo (1963) – replicated Milgram’s electric shock study, but the participant was either individuated with a name tag or deindividuated by wearing a hood. The deindividuated participants gave more shocks, supporting the idea of deindividuation.
Diener et al (1976) – found that anonymous ‘trick-or-treating’ children in the USA took more money or sweets than non-anonymous children, supporting the notion of deindividuation.
Watson (1973) – conducted a cross-cultural study and found that warriors who disguised their appearance – for example, through face paint – tended to be more aggressive, suggesting that deindividuation effects are universal.

17. Application of theory – The theory of deindividuation can help us reduce aggression, for example using obvious CCTV cameras at events such as football matches has been shown to reduce violence levels.
Pro-social behaviour – Deindividuation in crowds can lead to increased pro-social behaviour, for example religious gatherings.
Doesn’t affect everyone – The idea that people lose their personal moral codes when deindividuated is evidently not true, as many people are not negatively affected by crowds.
Football hooliganism and ritualised behaviour – Deindividuation has been used to explain the phenomenon of football hooliganism. However, Marsh et al (1978) found that mainly ritualised behaviour occurred at football matches, with actual violence being rare. So football crowds aren’t acting aggressively, but just in a ritualised way.

18. Institutional aggression
Those serving in institutions e.g. police, military, terrorist groups etc. bound together by a common purpose to be aggressive. The aggression is influenced by factors associated with the institutional setting. NOT aggression within institutions. E.g. Deindividuation - use of uniforms, Power of Social roles – behaviour can change according to the expectations of their role and Situational Variables – physical or to do with norms and rules – clothing and hierarchy of power .

19. Importation Model‐ Irwin and Cressey (1962)
This theory states that individuals who enter prison with particular characteristics are more likely to engage in violence than those who do not possess these characteristics‐ violence is not a product of the institution itself, but of the characteristics of those within the institution. Younger inmates are thought to find adjusting to prison life more difficult, and so are more likely to engage in violence than others. Adams (1981) claims that younger inmates are more likely to view violence as an appropriate way of solving conflicts. Research in the U.S. has shown that blacks are more likely to engage in institutional violence than whites. This is because blacks often come from impoverished backgrounds, and so import characteristics that encourage violent behaviour.

20. Research on the Importation model has shown:
‐ Keller and Wang (2005): The study found that violence was more likely to occur in prisons that held the most troublesome inmates. ‐ Harrer and Steffensmeir (1986): The researchers analysed data from 58 U.S. prisons, and found that blacks were more likely to engage in violence, whereas whites showed higher incidences of substance abuse. The researchers concluded that these trends were typical of U.S. society at the time, supporting the idea that inmates import their characteristics into the prison environment.

21. Evaluation of the importation model:
‐ McCorkle et al (1995) state the importation model fails to explain how to manage violent offenders/reduce prison violence. ‐ According to the individuation model, members of violent gangs prior to imprisonment will show higher levels of violence in prison, as they will import characteristics of their gang membership. However, DeLisi et al (2004) found that in 800 male inmates, gang membership prior to imprisonment had no effect on violent conduct.

22. Deprivation Model
This theory acknowledges that whilst inmates may enter prison with characteristics that may be more suited to violence, it is the prison environment that causes stress and frustration, which in turn leads to violence.
Harrer and Steffensmeir (1986) propose that violent behaviour in inmates is a response to the “problems of adjustment posed by the deprivations of imprisonment”. Sykes (1958) identified some of these “problems”, for example, loss of heterosexual relationships. The problem of deprivation is particularly common in overcrowded prisons, where the conditions lead to exacerbated tensions between inmates and staff.

23. Evaluation of the Deprivation Model:
The main study of the deprivation model fails to support its main assumptions. McCorkle et al (1995) found no evidence to support a correlation between violence and aspects of the prison environment in a sample of 371 U.S. prisons. McCorkle also pointed out that whilst the deprivations of prison life are constant, serious outbreaks of violence are not. He suggested that prison violence was more to do with the poor management of offenders than deprivation. Poole and Regoli (1983) studied young offender in 4 institutions, and found that pre institutional violence was the best predictor of inmate aggression, regardless of the features of the institutions.

24. The Ideas of Zimbardo
Zimbardo’s ideas show support for the deprivation model. In ‘The Lucifer Effect’ (2007), Zimbardo emphasised the influence that a situation could have on a person’s willingness to conduct violence against others.
In his Stanford Prison Study (1973), he observed how psychologically well adjusted males who were given the role of “guards” behaved brutally towards their “prisoners”.
The study showed how institutional factors such as lack of external control could cause normal people to deviate from social norms. Zimbardo claimed that this was present in real life situations such as the abuse of prisoners in Abu Grahib, Iraq. He also claimed that we are more likely to behave aggressively when we dehumanise/label others, which is demonstrated in both real life and experimental situations: ‐ During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, the Hutu majority referred to the Tutsi minority as “cockroaches that must be stamped out”. This was influential in the killing of 800,000 Tutsi in just 100 days.

25. Research support
Bandura (1974): Students were asked to work on a task with a group from another college. One group overhead the other group being describe as “animals”, whilst another heard the other group being described as “nice”. When the participants were later asked to deliver what they thought were real electric shocks to the other group, higher shocks were administered in the 1st condition.

26. Evaluation of Zimbardo’s ideas:
Reichler and Haslam (2006) argue that institutional aggression is not simply a product of situational factors, but is more to do with one group’s way of thinking about the other. For example, in Abu Grahib, prisoners were labelled as “vermin”, whereas British prisoners during WW2 were generally respected by their German captors.

27. Initiation Rituals
Initiation rituals are an example of institutional aggression. The term refers to special rituals/requirements for new members of a group. The idea is that once an individual takes part, they will have a common bond with other members of the group. However, initiation rituals can often be damaging, and are banned in 43 U.S. states. The 2 main theories explaining the function of initiation rituals are:

28. adult confidence
Raphael (1988) An important function of initiation rituals is to replace childhood weakness with adult confidence. If a person can handle an initiation ritual, then they can handle everything else. There is a common stereotype of a “real man”, and emphasis is often placed on physical and mental toughness and obedience to superiors

29. Cognitive Dissonance Theory‐ Festinger (1957)
When a person behaves in a way which doesn’t fit with an existing attitude/belief, they will experience an unpleasant state of disagreement with the belief. Individuals who take part in initiation rituals believing they are pointless/wrong will experience this state of disagreement. To overcome this, they will take part in the initiation ritual regardless of their belief that it is wrong. This will lead to them valuing the ritual, no matter how degrading it was for them.
Davis (1977) states that this process makes the initiation ritual an important part of the person’s group membership. Despite the damaging consequences of initiation rituals, there are several examples of where they have been used, and they are particularly common within the military:
Winslow (2004) quoted a Canadian airman on initiation as saying: “for the other guy, it’s a question of gaining confidence and showing the older guys they can do it. For older guys, it’s like they check out the young guys to see who they can trust”.
McCorkle et al (1993) found that in prisons, the domination of the weak during initiation rituals was seen as essential by inmates in order to maintain status. ‐ In Russia, initiation is known as “dedovschina”. It involves nightly beatings from sergeants, and it is approved by many top generals
Hazing

30. Outline and evaluate one or more social psychological theories of aggression. (8 marks + 16 marks)

31. AO1 = 8 marks Outline of one or more social psychological theories of aggression Examples of social psychological theories of aggression in the Specification are social learning theory and deindividuation, and candidates are likely to focus on these. Top band answers should be accurate and well detailed, so for social learning theory the processes involved in eg imitation must be outlined. For deindividuation a variety of processes may be involved, such as decreased self- assessment and self-awareness. Examiners should be sensitive to depth-breadth trade-offs in answers covering more than one theory. For AO1 marks in the top band, the outline of one or more social psychological theories must be clearly linked to aggression.

32. AO2/AO3 = 16 marks
Evaluation of one or more social psychological theories of aggression The main source of AO2/AO3 marks is likely to be the findings of research studies.
Implications for social psychological theories must be explicit for marks in the top bands, and this may be a particular problem for complex studies such as Zimbardo’s original prison study.
Methodological evaluation of studies is likely to be popular, but may only earn AO2/AO3 marks if implications for the theory/explanation are clear eg by explicit reference to a lack of ecological validity affecting the generalisability of findings and hence of the theory/explanation. Answers presenting only extended methodological analysis of Bandura’s Bobo doll studies are unlikely to move beyond basic for AO2/AO3.

33. Comparison with alternative explanations, such as the role of genetics or evolutionary approaches, may earn AO2/AO3 credit if used effectively as AO2/AO3. Simple description of alternatives will not earn marks. Issues, debates and approaches in this area include nature and nurture.
Social learning theory in particular emphasises imitation, learning, and the influence of models. This is very much a ‘nurture’ explanation. It ignores the established importance of biological (eg brain neurotransmitters), genetic and evolutionary factors in aggressive behaviour. Candidates may also refer to gender and cultural differences and biases, and ethical issues in social psychological research and research with children.
Examiners should also be alert to IDA outside the ‘routine’ list, for instance, applications of theories.
AO2/AO3 material should first be placed in the appropriate band according to the descriptors. However, not all the criteria need be satisfied for an answer to be placed in a particular band. Weak performance in one area may be compensated for by strong performance in others. In order to access the top band, issues, debates and/or approaches need to be addressed effectively.