4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 8
BSc Psychology Year 1 Aggression
AGGRESSION
8.1. DEFINE AGGRESSION FROM A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE AND EXPLAIN THE ROLE OF INTENTION IN
AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR.
Aggression: Any physical or verbal behaviour that is intended to harm another person or
persons (or any other living thing; Greenberg et al., 2015)
DIRECT VS INDIRECT AGGRESSION
Direct Aggression
• Observable, physical or verbal acts intended to cause harm
• Associated with externalising problems such as conduct disorders or ADHD symptoms
• It tends to me more common among males (Hyde, 1984)
Direct Victimisation
• Describes the physical or overt actions aimed at causing harm, such as physical or verbal attacks
• This is more commonly observed among males
• However, there is research needed on whether direct victimisation is associated with externalsing
problems like direct aggression
Indirect (Relational) Aggression
• Socially manipulative behaviours aimed at harming relationships or social standing
• It has not been linked to any one gender (Björkqvist, 1994), but usually more to do with internalising
issues such as depression and anxiety
Indirect (Relational) Victimisation
• Involves relational harm, such as reputational damage
• More frequent among females
• Indirect aggression has been linked to internalising problems, particularly among girls (Hawker &
Boulton, 2000; Reijntjes et al., 2010, 2011)
o However, more research is needed to differentiate this impact from direct victimisation
Key study
• Lundh et al. (2014) studied 893 adolescents longitudinally over one year
• They found significant gender differences, such that boys report being more frequently subjected to
direct aggression while girls more indirect aggression
• Direct aggression was predictive of contact problems, specifically in boys
o However, in girls, Indirect aggression in girls was more predictive of increased conduct
issues
• Indirect victimisation showed a bidirectional association with both emotional symptoms and
conduct problems
1
,4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 8
BSc Psychology Year 1 Aggression
o This suggests that relational aggression and victimisation might lead to a cycle of worsening
emotional and behavioural difficulties, especially among girls
o This can mean that as adolescents experience indirect victimization, their emotional
distress and behavioural issues intensify, which may expose them to further victimisation
INTENTION
• The definition of aggression suggests that the harm (physical or psychological) must be intended;
otherwise, the term violence is used
• As well as an active act of aggression, it can also be a failure to act (such as not telling someone
that they are about to embarrass themselves to see them humiliated)
8.2. DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HARM AGGRESSION CAN
CAUSE AND COMPARE AFFECTIVE VERSUS INSTRUMENTAL
AGGRESSION.
• Physical harm can result in pain, suffering, injury or death
• Psychological harm can lead to anxiety, hypervigilance, sleeplessness, nightmares, rumination,
irritability, self-blame, dissociation, difficulty concentrating, and humiliation
• An act of violence can destroy a person’s sense that the world is a safe and orderly place (Coker et
al., 2002) and can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in extreme cases (Keane et al., 1990)
o They can also lead to harm to the loved ones and community of the victim
o There is also possible collateral damage for those who witness the aggression, often
leading to trauma and guilt
• In children, they can result in reduced self-esteem, poorer grades, and depression (Donnerstein,
2011)
• Violent acts can also lead to retaliation, resulting in cycles of violence occurring (Columbine High
School Shooting, for example)
AFFECTIVE AND INSTRUMENTAL AGGRESSION
Aggression has been distinguished into two types (Geen, 2001), which often blend
together to fuel aggressive acts
Affective Aggression
• When a person intends to harm another simply for the sake of doing so
• Reactive and emotion-driven aggression (Bushman & Anderson, 2001)
• Usually associated with anger and emotional dysregulation, leading to aggressive reactions without
prior calculation
• Motivated by a strong affective or emotional state and is, therefore, often impulsive
o It can also be calculated, for example, in a premeditated plan to seek revenge
• Characterises a majority of aggressive acts committed
• In children, it has been shown to correlate with high levels of negative emotionality, such as
irritability and sadness (Shiels et al., 2023)
o It is also typically triggered by environmental stressors that provoke strong emotional
responses
2
,4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 8
BSc Psychology Year 1 Aggression
Instrumental Aggression
• Goal-oriented, strategic, purposeful aggression, not triggered by strong emotions but still intends
to cause harm
• Often linked to environments where individuals aim to achieve specific objectives, such as
dominance or recourses
• Studies suggest that this is prevalent in individuals with psychopathic tendencies (Ly et al., 2016)
o It is also associated with personality traits such as low empathy and high impulsivity
Importance of the Distinction
• While affective aggression can benefit from intervention targeting emotional regulation,
instrumental aggression may require approaches focusing on modifying specific cognitive
behavioural patterns
MEASURING AGGRESSION
• Researchers have precise ways to categorise types of aggression and quantify aggressive acts,
allowing them to chart how aggression correlates with other factors
• Laboratory paradigms have been developed that lead participants to believe they are causing
physical harm to someone else without actually doing so (Geen, 2001; Buss, 1961; Lieberman et
al., 1999)
8.3. EXPLAIN THE ETHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, THE PHYSIOLOGY
OF AGGRESSION, AND THE UNIQUELY HUMAN ASPECTS OF
AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR.
Freud (1921/1955)
• Before WWI, Freud maintained the belief that humans are born with only an instinct to pleasure and
create (eros)
• After WWI, Freud how humans were so willing and eager to torture and murder others, suggesting
that humans are also born with an aggressive instinct (thanatos)
THE ETHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
• Ethology is the study of animal behaviour in its natural context
• Observing humans or other species under roughly similar situations, we can infer that those
behaviours have helped them to survive and reproduce (Lorenz, 1966)
o Evidence has shown that we are innately prepared to aggress under certain conditions
Similarities Between Humans and Other Species
• An organism will usually aggress against another if it attempts to acquire or gain control over
material resources that are necessary for survival (Enquist & Leimar, 1983)
o Similarly, humans display anger and aggression when others attempt to take control of their
territory or property (Worchel & Teddie, 1976)
• Animals, like humans, show signs of threat and aggression when they or their offspring are attacked
o Within the justice system, laws often recognise that aggression in self-defence is justified
• Threats to status can also be a primary trigger for aggression in both animals and humans
3
, 4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 8
BSc Psychology Year 1 Aggression
o In animals, lower-status group members sometimes try to achieve higher status to gain
access to more material resources, sexual partners and control over others
o Consistent with the idea that anger and aggression function to maintain one’s reputation
o People are especially likely to retaliate against someone who insults them when they know
that an audience has witnessed the insult (Kim et al., 1998)
• Aggression can be triggered by the perception that others are making one’s life difficult by either
imposing costs or denying benefits
• Anger and aggression seem to also have similar functions across species
o Anger displays (e.g. baring one’s teeth) deter others who might challenge one’s status, and
if these displays are not successful, then aggression can reinforce the message (Clutton-
Brock & Parker, 1995)
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF AGGRESSION
Brain Regions
The Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC)
• The DACC responds when there is a conflict between our expectations and dACC
the situation we are in (Bush et al., 2000), such as insults and provocations
• Krämer et al. (2007) found that the more dACC activation in response to
provocation by another person, the more willing they were to retaliate by
subjecting them to a painful noise
Hypothalamus and Amygdala
• Involved in the experiences of fear and anger, which often elicit Thalamus
aggressive behaviours
• When experiencing a threat, the hypothalamus prepares our body for
the fight-or-flight response, and the amygdala generates and
processes emotions such as fear or anger (anger = fight, fear = flight)
o Research has found that a lesion to the amygdala led cats Olfactory bulb
Hypothalamus
and monkeys to be tame, whereas stimulation led to Amygdala Hippocampus
increased anger
Testosterone
• The more testosterone secreted, the more likely one is to aggress
o Dabbs et al. (1995) found that men who committed other aggressive crimes showed higher
levels of testosterone
• Testosterone predicts levels of aggression in both sexes (Dabbs & Hargrove, 1997)
o However, men secrete more testosterone, and they commit more acts of physical
aggression than females (Archer, 2004)
• Some suggest that testosterone increases people’s efforts to preserve their social status (Josephs
et al., 2006)
Puberty
• Between ages 15 and 30, males show a dramatic spike in their criminal offending, and this is also
when testosterone levels peak
• After these ages, there is a dramatic decrease in interpersonal aggression and rates of violent
criminal offences
o As well as decreasing secretion levels of testosterone, by this age, people tend to use
more verbal means of aggression (Björkqvist et al., 1994)
4
