Discuss social psycological explanations of aggression (SLT & Deindividuation)

(8+16)

AO1 Deindividuation

The deindividuation explanation states that people normally refrain from acting in an aggressive and antisocial manner, in part because they are easily identifiable and because they belong to societies that have strong norms against such behaviour. In a situation, which has crowds, restraints on aggressive behaviour may become relaxed. According to Zimbardo being part of a large crowd can diminish awareness of individuality because individuals are faceless and anonymous.  There is less fear of a retribution and a diluted sense of guilt.

AO2 

This theory is validated by the work of Zimbardo in his Stanford Prison experiment. In this experiment, healthy students were recruited to play either guards or prisoners. The guards donned uniforms including reflective sunglasses that prevented prisoners from making direct eye contact, thus providing the guards with anonymity. Prisoners wore a smock and stockings over their hair, hence removing any sign of individuality. During the study, participants did not address each other by name, instead referring to prisoners as number X and guards as Mr Correctional Officer. Zimbardo found that both guard and prisoner “uniforms” increased the anonymity of the participants, along with the thought that they were not being watched. These factors contributed to their deindividuation and escalation of aggressive behaviour.

AO2/IDA 

There is empirical research support from a cross cultural study. Watson conducted a cross cultural study looking at 23 different societies that changed their appearance significantly before going to war and how they treated their victims. What they found was of the 13 societies that killed tortured and mutilated their victims, all but on society changed their appearance by using war paint or other deindividuating features. Of the 10 societies that were less brutal towards their victims, 7 out of 10 did not change their appearance thus supporting the deindividuation theory.

IDA

Research has shown that there is a gender difference among men and women when under deindividuated conditions therefore research into deindividuation involving just one sex should be cautiously generalised as it may not be applicable. Cannavale et al found an increase in aggression was obtained only in the all male groups. Therefore males may be more prone to disinhibited aggression than females.

AO1 Social Learning Theory

Another explanation coms from Bandura who believed that aggressive behaviour can be learned through or by vicarious learning or direct experience. Learning by direct experience is derive from skinners principle of operant conditioning. Children witness many examples of aggressive behaviour at home and at school as well as on television and in film. By observing consequences of aggressive behaviour for those who use it a child gradually learns something about what is considered appropriate/effective conduct in the world around them. Thus they learn the behaviours through observation and they also learn whether when such behaviour are worth repeated via vicarious reinforcement. Social learning theorist emphasize that for behaviour to be imitated it must be seen as rearding in some way, i.e it must be reinforced. Bandura claimed that for social learning to take place individuals must be able to form a mental representation of the aggressive behaviour and any anticipated rewards or punishment that might be associated with it. If an appropriate opportunity arise in the future, individuals will display the aggressive behaviour provided the expectation of the reward is greater than the punishment.

AO2 

There is research to support this social learning from Bandura et al. They found that children who observed a model being rewarded for displaying aggressive behaviours towards the doll were more likely to reproduce the aggressive behaviour they saw. Where as those children who saw the model being punished for their aggression were less motivated to reproduce the behaviour. This supports the claims that the expectation of reward influences the likelihood of behaviour being performed.

AO2/IDA

A strength of social learning is that it can explain inconsistencies in aggressive behaviour.  For example if someone is aggressive and domineering at home but meek and submissive at work, it means that they have learned to behave differently in 2 situations because aggression in one situation brings you reward whilst aggression in the other brings punishment.

IDA 

A weakness of the explanation is however that the biological explanation contradicts the social learning theory, as high levels of the male hormone testosterone have been cited as a primary causal agent in aggressive behaviour. This casts doubts as to whether aggression is purely an aggressive behaviour.

AO2/IDA

Social learning also can explain cultural differences. The ‘culture of violence’ theory ( Wolfgang and Ferracuti) propose that some cultures emphasize and model aggressive behaviours whereas other cultures model non aggressive behaviours. For example the Kung Sa! People of the Kalahari desert, aggression is rare behaviour and !Kung San parents don’t use physical punishments as aggression is devalued by society as a whole. Absence of aggressive models in !Kung San culture further supports and explains how aggression is learned.