Human Aggression

Human Aggression Chapter Six

Human Aggression • We Americans display a chilling acceptance of violence that, at times, seems utterly absurd and mindless. • On a broader scale, we humans have shown ourselves to be a particularly aggressive species. • Some questions: • Is aggression inborn? • Can it be modified? • What are the social and situational factors that increase or decrease aggression?

Aggression Defined • Aggression action is defined as intentional behavior aimed at causing either physical or psychological pain. • It is not to be confused with assertiveness. • The most important factor is INTENTION.

Aggression Defined • It is useful to distinguish between hostile aggression and instrumental aggression: • Hostile aggression is an act of aggression stemming from a feeling of anger and aimed at inflicting pain or injury. • Instrumental aggression also has an intention to cause injury, but the hurting takes place as a means to some goal other than causing pain.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Scientists, philosophers, and other serious thinkers are not in complete agreement about whether aggression is an inborn, instinctive phenomenon or whether such behavior must be learned. • It is a controversy that has been raging for centuries. • Example: Hobbes’s Leviathan • Example: Rousseau’s concept of the noble savage

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Hobbes’s more pessimistic view was elaborated in the 20th century by Sigmund Freud. • Freud theorized that human beings are born with an instinct toward life (Eros) and an equally powerful instinct toward death (Thanatos).

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Freud believed that aggressive energy must come out somehow – a notion best characterized as a hydraulic theory. • Unless aggression is allowed to drain off, it will produce some sort of explosion.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • According to Freud, society performs an essential function in regulating this instinct and in helping people sublimate it. • To sublimate is to turn destructive energy into acceptable or useful behavior.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Research on the instinctiveness of human aggression is provocative but inconclusive because it is impossible to conduct a definitive experiment. • Accordingly, scientists have turned to experiments with nonhuman species to gain additional insight into the extent to which aggression may be hardwired. • Example: Cats vs. Rats (Kuo)

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Kuo’s research does not demonstrate that aggressive behavior is not instinctive. • It merely demonstrates that the aggressive instinct can be inhibited by early experience.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • What if an organism grows up without any contact with other organisms? • Example: Rats raised in isolation will attack a fellow rat when one is introduced, and will use the same pattern of threat and attack that experienced rats use. • Aggression, apparently, does not need to be learned.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • It is also insightful to study animals with whom we share the most genetic similarity – chimpanzees. • Chimpanzees are extremely aggressive and males will hunt and kill other chimps.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • We should also examine the bonobo, an equally close genetic relative. • Bonobos have been described as more intelligent, more compassionate, more empathic, and more peaceful than chimps. • The bonobo is also one of the least aggressive species of mammal on the planet. • They have been called the “make-love-not-war” ape.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • The bonobo is a rare exception – among primates, aggression is nearly universal, which strongly suggests that it has evolved and been maintained because it has survival value. • However, evolutionary psychologists underscore the point that nearly all organisms also have evolved strong inhibitory mechanisms that enable them to suppress aggression when it is in their best interests to do so.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Aggression is an optional strategy. • It is determined by the animal’s previous social experiences as well as by the specific social context in which the animal finds itself. • The bonobos prove that violence between animals is far from inevitable. • It can be virtually eliminated within a culture.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Where humans are concerned, because of the complexity of our social interactions, the social situation takes on even greater importance than it does in the animal kingdom.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Berkowitz suggested that humans seem to have an inborn tendency to respond to certain provocative stimuli by striking out against the perpetrator. • Whether or not the aggressive tendency is actually expressed in overt action is a function of a complex interplay among these innate propensities, a variety of learned inhibitory responses, and the precise nature of the social situation.

Is Aggression Instinctive? • There is much evidence to support Berkowitz’s contention that, among humans, innate patterns of behavior are infinitely modifiable and flexible. • Example: “primitive” tribes living in peace, “civilized” societies (like ours) opting for war • Changing social conditions can lead to dramatic changes in aggressive behavior. • Example: Iroquois tribe vs. Huron tribe

Is Aggression Instinctive? • In our own society, there are some striking regional differences in aggressive behavior and in the kinds of events that trigger violence. • Example: Homicide rates in the North vs. South (Nisbett) • Example: “Culture of honor” (Nisbett, et al.) • Example: Reaction to honor-related murder (Cohen & Nisbett)

Is Aggression Instinctive? • Although an instinctual component of aggression is almost certainly present in human beings and other primates, aggression is not caused entirely by instinct. • In human beings, such behavior can be modified by situation and social factors. • In short, aggressive behavior can be reduced.

Is Aggression Useful? • Should aggression in humans be reduced? • Lorenz argued that aggression is “an essential part of the life-preserving organization of instincts.” • Basing his argument on nonhumans, he sees aggression as being of prime evolutionary importance; others concur. • Example: Washburn & Hamburg; Pinker; LeBoeuf

Is Aggression Useful? • Using data from the animal kingdom, some observers urge caution in attempting to control aggression in humans, suggesting that, as in some lower animals, aggression may be necessary for survival. • Aronson argues that such reasoning is based on an exaggerated definition of aggression.

Is Aggression Useful? • Ashley Montagu feels that an oversimplification and misinterpretation of Darwin’s theory has provided the average person with the mistaken idea that conflict is necessarily the law of life.

Is Aggression Useful? • The danger is that his kind of reasoning becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and can lead us to ignore or downplay the survival value of nonaggressive and noncompetitive behavior. • There is ample evidence to support this conclusion. • Example: Kropotkin work on mutual aid • Example: Altruistic chimpanzees

Is Aggression Useful? • As a culture, Americans seem to thrive on competition. • Example: Lombardi, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” • While it may be true that, in the early history of human evolution, highly competitive and aggressive behaviors were adaptive, Aronson questions the current survival value of that behavior now.

Is Aggression Useful? • Does catharsis work? • Catharsis is the psychoanalytic concept of the release of energy, specifically aggressive energy. • If not released, pressure from this energy would build, exploding into acts of violence or emerging as a mental illness. • This belief has become part of our cultural mythology.

Is Aggression Useful? • There is a plethora of evidence indicating that catharsis simply does not work. • Example: Bushman • Physical activity seems neither to dissipate anger nor to reduce subsequent aggression. • Example: Patterson

Is Aggression Useful? • What happens when acts of aggression are targeted directly against the person who provoked us? Does this satiate our need to aggress and reduce our tendency to hurt that person further? • Systematic research again demonstrates that the opposite occurs. • Example: Geen, et al.

Is Aggression Useful? • Taking all of this together it is clear that venting anger – directly or indirectly, verbally or physically – does not reduce hostility. • It increases it.

Is Aggression Useful? • Why does expressing aggression lead to greater hostility? • First, once we express negative feelings it becomes that much easier to follow such behavior with consistent statements and actions. • Moreover, retaliation is typically more severe than the initial insult or attack. • We tend to engage in overkill, which sets the stage for dissonance reduction. • Example: Kahn

Is Aggression Useful? • Overkill maximizes dissonance. • The greater the discrepancy between that the perpetrator did to you and your retaliation, the greater the dissonance. • The greater the dissonance, the greater your need to derogate him. • Example: Kent State shootings • Example: Denying African Americans education • Example: Anti-American sentiment post-9/11

Is Aggression Useful? • In most situations, committing or condoning violence does not reduce the tendency toward violence. • Committing acts of violence increases our negative feelings about the victims. • Ultimately, this is why violence almost always breeds more violence.

Is Aggression Useful? • What happens if we can somehow arrange it so that retaliation is not allowed to run roughshod over the instigator of aggression? • What if the degree of retaliation is reasonably controlled so that it is not significantly more intense that the action that precipitated it? • Aronson predicts that there would be little or no dissonance. • Experiments confirm that when retaliation matches the provocation, people do not derogate the provocateur.

Is Aggression Useful? • The major point to be emphasized is that most situations in the real world are messy – retaliation almost always exceeds the original offense. • Why? The pain we receive always feels more intense that the pain we inflict. • Example: Neurology research on “tit-for-tat” • The conclusion? Escalation is a “natural by-product of neural processing.”

Causes of Aggression • One major cause of violence is violence itself. • Other major causes include: • Neurological and Chemical Causes • Pain and Discomfort • Frustration • Rejection, Exclusion, & Taunting • Social Learning

Causes of Aggression • Neurological and Chemical Causes • There is an area in the core of the brain called the amygdala which is associated with aggressive behaviors in human beings and lower animals. • When electrically stimulated, docile organisms become violent; when blocked, violent organisms become docile. • The impact of these neural mechanisms can be modified by social factors, however, even in subhumans.

Causes of Aggression • Neurological and Chemical Causes • Certain chemicals have been shown to increase aggression. • Example: Testosterone, a male sex hormone, increases aggression in animals. • Example: Dabbs, et al. report related findings in humans. • It is clear that testosterone affects aggressiveness, but behaving aggressively also increases the release of testosterone.

Causes of Aggression • Neurological and Chemical Causes • If testosterone level affects aggressiveness, does that mean that men are more aggressive than women? • When it comes to physical aggression, the answer appears to be yes. • Example: Maccoby and Jacklin • When we consider nonphysical forms of aggression, the picture gets more complicated. • Example: Relational aggression (Crick, et al.)

Causes of Aggression • Neurological and Chemical Causes • Is the gender difference in physical aggression biological or social in origin? • We cannot be sure, but some evidence points to biology. • Example: Archer & McDaniel cross-cultural study • It also is apparent that these findings are not due solely to biochemical differences.

Causes of Aggression • Neurological and Chemical Causes • One chemical that people throughout the world happily ingest is alcohol. • Alcohol tends to lower our inhibitions against committing acts sometimes frowned upon by society, including acts of aggression. • Example: Crime statistics • Example: Laboratory experiments

Causes of Aggression • Neurological and Chemical Causes • This does not mean that alcohol automatically increases aggression. • Research indicates that alcohol serves as a disinhibitor and also tends to disrupt the way we usually process information.

Causes of Aggression • Pain and Discomfort • Pain and discomfort are major precursors of aggression. • Example: Easily seen in animals • Example: Berkowitz study with cold water

Causes of Aggression • Pain and Discomfort • Observers have speculated that other forms of bodily discomfort (e.g., heat, humidity, offensive odors) might act to lower the threshold for aggressive behavior. • Example: “The long, hot summer”; Carlsmith & Anderson study of riots • Example: Anderson, et al. study of heat and violence • Example: Griffitt and Veitch laboratory study • Example: MLB games, car horn honking

Causes of Aggression • Frustration • Of situational causes of aggression, the major instigator is frustration. • If an individual is thwarted on the way to a goal, the resulting frustration will increase the probability of an aggressive response. • This is called the “frustration-aggression hypothesis.” Classic experiment: Barker, Dembo, & Lewin

Causes of Aggression • Frustration • Several factors can accentuate frustration. • Example: Nearness of goal (Harris) • Example: Unexpected or illegitimate interruption (Kulik & Brown)

Causes of Aggression • Frustration • Frustration is most pronounced when the goal is becoming palpable and drawing within reach, when expectations are high, and when the goal is blocked unjustifiably. • These factors help to point out the important distinction between frustration and deprivation. • Frustration is not the result of simple deprivation – it is the result of relative deprivation.

Causes of Aggression • Rejection, Exclusion, & Taunting • Aronson concludes that rampage killings (e.g., at Columbine High School) are just the pathological tip of an enormous iceberg: the poisonous social atmosphere prevalent at most high schools in this country. • This atmosphere is fraught with exclusion, rejection, taunting, and humiliation.

Causes of Aggression • Rejection, Exclusion, & Taunting • Recent research by Twenge, et al. demonstrates that being rejected has a plethora of negative effects, not the least of which is a dramatic increase in aggressiveness. • Aronson’s research also reveals that rejection and the accompanying humiliation were the dominant issues underlying high school rampage killings.

Causes of Aggression • Social Learning • Social learning plays an important role in determining whether or not a person will aggress in a given situation. • One qualification is the intention attributed to an agent of pain or frustration.

Causes of Aggression • Social Learning • One aspect that seems to distinguish humans from other animals is our ability to take the intentions of others into account – we become less aggressive when given a good explanation for the frustrating behavior of others. • Example: Mallick & McCandless • The tendency for frustration to provoke aggression can be strengthened if the experience is combined with exposure to certain provocative stimuli.

Human Aggression