Aggression
Aggression (5)
This section contains information on the social psychology of Aggression. For news items on social psychology click here.
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Tuesday, 29 September 2009 08:43
Social Psychological Explanations of Institutional Aggression
Written by Keiron Walsh
What is Institutional Aggression?
Institutional Aggression can be defined as aggressive behaviour that occurs within an institution and is motivated by social forces, rather than anger or frustration. An institution usually refers to an organisation or place of confinement with its own social roles where behaviour is formally restricted and under the control of specific staff; for example, prisons, hospitals, army camps and boarding schools.
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Social/Psychological Factors
Deindividuation refers to the phenomenon of a person losing their inhibitions because they are no longer identifiable. One way that people can become deindividuated is when they are part of a large group or a crowd. Deindividuation has been used to explain why people who are usually well-behaved can become violent during, for example, riots.
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Social/Psychological Factors
Social Learning Theorists, such as Bandura (1965), claim that aggressive behaviour is learned through observing and imitating aggressive models. Aggressive behaviour is strengthened and maintained if it has a desirable outcome (reinforcement). Bandura's series of Bobo doll experiments revealed a number of factors that determine whether observed aggressive behaviour is imitated:
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Social/Psychological Factors
There are several ways in which genetic factors in aggression have been investigated. In the 1960s and 70s a popular theory was that males who have inherited an extra Y chromosome are more 'male' and therefore, more aggressive; however, this hypothesis as been shown to be incorrect. Nevertheless, animal breeding studies consistently show that it is possible to select for aggressiveness and twin and adoption studies in humans suggest that genes influence aggressive behaviour; more recently, psychologists and biologists have developed a better understanding of how genes can influence behaviour by using new technology to investigate the genetic mechanisms that lead to increased aggressiveness.
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Biological Factors
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Sunday, 03 January 2010 16:18
The Role of Neural and Hormonal Mechanisms in Aggression
Written by Keiron Walsh
There is now a considerable amount of research evidence suggesting that aggression is influenced by biological factors including hormones, the structure of the brain and the neurochemistry of the brain.
Published in
Biological Factors
