Individual Determinants of Aggression

Overview  Before midterm… situational/external factors  After midterm… biological/individual factors

Revised – Anderson’s Model

What do we mean by “Person”?  Stable person factors that are relatively consistent across time, across situations or both…  … and thus may influence behavior in a wide range of different contexts  Most people believe aggression is caused by person factors rather than situational factors

Personality Traits, quiz?  General anxiety  Anxiety over social approval  Hostile Attributional Bias  Irritability  Emotional Susceptibility  External Locus of Control  Internal Locus of Control  Type A  Shame-prone = No link to aggression = Lower aggression = Higher Aggression = Lower Aggression = Higher Aggression

Attributions  Hostile Attributional Bias  Perceiving ambiguous actions as malicious  High self-efficacy beliefs  believe they can successfully carry out aggressive acts  Outcome efficacy beliefs  believe the acts will produce the desired outcomes  Perspective Taking  person’s ability to take the perspective of another  Rumination  remaining cognitively preoccupied with the experience

Self-esteem  People with low self-esteem are aggressive?  What about “High self-esteem” individuals?  React poorly to criticism  Respond to failure by irrationally raising their predictions of future performance  Strong impulse to erase the threat  Collective violence related to superiority of group  Threatened Egotism  Favorable self-appraisal combined with unfavorable evaluation  Who has excessively favorable views of the self? Narcissism, Psychopathy,  When are you more sensitive to feedback? Uncertainty about self, Unstable self-esteem, Alcohol

Self-Control Given all the causes of aggression, why are people not more aggressive?  Undercontrolled – high impulsivity, low inhibition  Overcontrolled – low impulsivity, high inhibition  Why does self-control fail?  Extends to non-violence  Criminals more likely to smoke cigarettes, unplanned pregnancies, unstable romantic relationships, game, etc.  Is this related to impulsivity?

Gender  Previously we found that  males are more aggressive than women  women receive less severe aggression  But now, why?  Genetic – next chapter  Hormonal – next chapter  Social Role – this chapter Aggressive behavior acquired as part of cultural norms Women report more guilt and shame about being violent Macho personality pattern  Evolutionary – this chapter Adaptive value of male aggression in securing access to reproductive females Is this why young men are most aggressive? Is aggression a display of status, power?