Aggression as a biological phenomenon

1. Aggression as a biological phenomenon • Instinct theory and evolutionary psychology • Aggression as an innate, unlearned behaviour pattern exhibited by all members of a species • Neural influences • Genetic influences • Biochemical influences • Alcohol • Testosterone • Low serotonin • Biology and behaviour interact LO2

2. Aggression as a response to frustration • Frustration-aggression theory • The theory that frustration (the blocking of a goal-directed behaviour) triggers a readiness to aggress • Displacement • The redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the frustration • Generally a safer or more socially acceptable target LO2

3. Aggression as a response to frustration Source: Based on Dollard et al. (1939). Frustration and aggression. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press and Miller, N. E. (1941). The frustration-aggression hypothesis. Psychological Review, 48, 337–342. LO2

4. Aggression as a response to frustration • Frustration-aggression theory revised • Frustration produces anger • The role of aggressive cues • Relative deprivation • The perception that one is less well off than others to whom one compares oneself LO2

5. Aggression as learned social behaviour • The rewards of aggression • Observational learning • Social learning theory: The theory that we learn social behaviour by observing and imitating and by being rewarded and punished • e.g., Bandura’s “Bobo” doll experiments • The family • The culture • e.g., the “culture of honour” in the southern U.S. LO2