All tasks Aggression PSY3384 Minor Advanced Psychology
English: Extensive elaborations of all tasks of the Aggression Course. Added in
red what tutor said additionally. A 9 for this exam.
Dutch: Uitgebreide uitwerkingen van alle taken van het blok Agressie. In het
rood bijgeschreven wat tutor aanvullend zei. Een 9 gehaald voor dit tentamen.
Inhoud
Task 1 What is aggression?...................................................................................................................... 1
Task 2 Aggression Assessment .............................................................................................................. 22
Task 3 Aggression and psychopathology ............................................................................................... 37
Task 4 Origins of aggression: nature ..................................................................................................... 56
Task 5: Origins of aggression: Nurture .................................................................................................. 77
Task 6: Therapy for aggression ............................................................................................................ 100
Task 1 What is aggression?
Learning goals:
1. What is aggression? (definitions)
a. What types of aggressive behaviour are there?
b. And what are their correlates (what triggers this type and this type)
c. Role of gender
d. Cultural perspective on aggression
e. Evolutionary perspective on aggression
f. Role of emotions in aggression; which emotions play a part and in what way
g. GAM
2. What are different theories of aggression (nature, nurture, GAM-model)?
3. What are the different types of aggression? (differential diagnosis, overlap and differences)
4. What are the gender differences among aggression?
a. Verbal (women), sneakier (smarter), physical (men)
➢ What types of aggressive behaviour are there?
Kempes, M., Matthys, W., De Vries, H., and Van Engeland, H. (2005). Reactive and proactive
aggression in children : A review of theory, findings and the relevance for child and adolescent
psychiatry. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 14(1), 11-19.
Abstract
Reactive aggression is an aggressive response to a perceived threat or provocation, whereas
proactive aggression is defined as behavior that anticipates a reward.
The correlation observed between the subtypes is due to the fact that many children show both
types of aggression.
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,Definition of aggression
In human research, a widely used definition of aggression is behavior deliberately aimed at harming
people and/or objects. In addition to physical aggression, psychological aggression and relational
aggression are also recognized.
Antisocial behavior = behavior by which people are disadvantaged and basic norms and values are
violated (lying, stealing, and truancy spijbelen). Aggressive behavior then is a specific form of
antisocial behavior.
Theory of two types of human aggression
Two theories about aggression in humans:
- The frustration-aggression theory
o considers aggression as a hostile, angry reaction to a perceived frustration. According
to this theory, anger, perceived threat or goal blocking are regarded as factors that
instigate veroorzaken an aggressive response.
- The social learning theory (Bandura)
o Aggression is considered to be an acquired instrumental behavior that is controlled
by an anticipated reward. In this theory the instigating factor is the expected success
of the behavior rather than the punishment
Subtypes of adult human aggression subtypes coexists basicly
- Impulsive forms of aggression, which is typically explosive and uncontrolled and is
accompanied by high levels of arousal and emotions (anger and fear)
o Measurement of serotonin metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); Lower
serotonergic activity than do non-impulsive individuals.
- Non-impulsive aggression, which is goal-oriented and accompanied by low arousal.
o Psychopathy is characterized by traits such as dominance, lack of emotion, lack of
guilt. The violence that psychopaths show is instrumental (proactive) and
unemotional.
Subtypes of aggression in animals and humans
Aggressive defensive response in reaction to stimuli like threat that may be real or perceived
(affective/defensive aggression) and offensive/instrumental, highly organized aggressive response,
instigated by an anticipated reward (predatory aggression).
Subtypes of aggression in children
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,Social information processing
Children, when faced with a social situational cue, engage 5 mental stages of responses before
enacting competent social behaviors:
- Encoding of cues
- Interpretation of cues
- Clarification of goals
- Access of responses
- Response decision
Reactive aggression (problems with first 2) and proactive aggression (problems with last 3) were
found to be related to deficiencies in different stages of social information processing.
Peer status and evaluation
Bullying behavior was evaluated positively by children attending kindergarten kleuterschool but
negatively by children around 6 years old. In the case of older children, peers tended to make more
negative evaluations of proactively aggressive children as more negative.
Psychophysiology
- Proactive aggression is also described as fearless, calculative, and ‘cold-blooded’ behavior no
strong evidence
- Reactive aggression is ‘hot-blooded’ strong evidence also for heart rate
Developmental history
Many proactive- but not reactive-aggressive male adolescents are likely to perform criminal behavior
later in life.
Age and gender
- Younger children are more physical and impulsive in their aggressive behavior
- Reactive aggression start at a much younger age compared to proactive aggression. Because
the ability to plan comes with age.
- Girls more likely to show relational aggression (gossiping) proactive aggression often more
covert (stelen, liegen, roddelen)
- Boys more likely to show overt aggression (vechten) reactive aggression includes mostly
overt aggressive behavior (schelden, vechten, pesten, treiteren)
Validity of the distinction
The operational measures of the two dimensions are substantially grotendeels correlated:
- It might be that there are many children who show both reactive aggressive and proactive
aggressive behavior
o Behavior that look like reactive can have a proactive goal
- Ambiguity that arises when the concepts reactive and proactive aggression are used in
observational studies
Conclusion
The literature on the measurement in children via questionnaires and behavioral observations shows
that the subtypes can be distinguished but are substantially correlated → mainly due to the fact that
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, many children show both types of aggression and only small groups are characterized as reactive
only or proactive only.
Specific characteristics of the subtypes: social information processing, peer status, biological
correlates, and developmental history
➢ And what are their correlates (what triggers this type and this type)
Anderson, C., and Bushman, B. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27-51.
Personality = a set of stable knowledge structures that individuals use to interpret events in their
social world and to guide their behavior.
➢ BASIC DEFINITIONS
Human aggression
Human aggression is any behavior directed toward another individual that is carried out with the
proximate (immediate) intent to cause harm. In addition, the perpetrator must believe that the
behavior will harm the target, and that the target is motivated to avoid the behavior (Bushman &
Anderson).
- Accidental harm is NOT aggressive because it is not intended.
- Harm that is an incidental by-product of helpful actions is also not aggressive, because the
harm-doer believes that the target is not motivated to avoid the action (e.g., pain
experienced during a dental procedure).
Violence
Violence is aggression that has extreme harm as its goal (e.g., death). All violence is aggression, but
many instances of aggression are not violent. For example, one child pushing another off a tricycle is
an act of aggression but not an act of violence.
Hostile versus Instrumental Aggression
Hostile aggression (affective, impulsive or reactive aggression) has historically been conceived as
being impulsive, thoughtless (i.e., unplanned), driven by anger, having the ultimate motive of
harming the target, and occurring as a reaction to some perceived provocation.
Instrumental aggression is conceived as a premeditated means of obtaining some goal other than
harming the victim, and begin proactive rather than reactive. Degene die het inzet gebruikt zijn
agressie als instrument om de ander te beschadigen. Instrumentele agressie kan zowel verbaal
(schelden, dreigen, beledigen) als fysiek (schoppen, slaan) worden geuit.
➢ DOMAIN SPECIFIC THEORIES OF AGGRESSION
Cognitive Neoassociation Theory
Cognitive Neoassociation Theory assumes that cues present during an aversive event become
associated with the event and with the cognitive and emotional responses triggered by the event.
Aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behavioral tendencies are linked together in memory.
This model is particularly suited to explain hostile aggression.
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