Aggression Key Studies

Bobo Doll Study:

Bandura et al (1961)

• Children observed aggressive and non-aggressive models 
• Tested for imitative learning in the absence of the model
• 1/3 of the children in the aggressive condition repeated model's verbl reponses 
• None of the childen in the non-aggressive condition made such remarks 
• Boys imitated more physical aggression than girls
• Did not differ between their imitation of verbal aggression 

Phillips (1986)

• Daily homocide rates in the US almost always increased in the week following a major boxing match, suggests that viewers were imitating behaviour they watched 
• Social learning is evident in adults as well as children 

Wolfgang and Ferracuti (1967)

• Culture of Violence theory 
• Large societies = some subcultures develop norms that sanction violence to a greater degree than the dominant culture
• Some cultures may emphasise and model non-aggressive behaviour, producing individuals that show low levels of aggression 

Zimbardo (1969)

• Four female undergraduates
• Required to deliver electric shocks to another student to 'aid learning'
• Half wore bulky lab coats and hoods to hide their face, sat separately and not referred to by name
• Other = wore normal clothes, were given large name tags and introduced by name, also able to see each other when at the shock machines
• Both groups told they could see the person being shocked
• Deindividuated condition = shocked twice as long 

Johnson and Downing (1979)

• Rather than deindividuation automatically increasing the incidence of aggression, any behaviour prduced could be a product of local group norms 
• Used the same experimental conditions as Zimbardo 
• However participants were made anonymous by means of mask and overalls, or by means of a nurses uniform 
• Shocked more = KKK
• People respond to normative cues associated with the social context 
• KKK participants clearly felt that aggressive behaviour was more appropriate 

Postmes and Spears (1998)

• Disibhibition and antisocial behaviour are not more common in large groups and anonymous settings 
• Little evidence that deindividuation is asociated with reduced self-awareness
• Or that reduced self-awareness increases disinhibition of aggressive behaviour 

Harer and Steffensmeier (2006)

• Collected data from 58 US prisons
• Black inmates had higher rates of violent behaviour but lower rates of alcohol and drug relate misconduct than white inmates
• Parallel racial differences in these behaviours in US society 
• Supports the importation model

McCorkle et al (1995)

• Overcrowding, lack of privacy and the lack of meaningful activity 
• All significantly influence peer violence

Nijiam et al (1999)

• Research into psychiatric institutions 
• Increased personal space failed to decrease the level of violent incidents among patients 
• Research is not consistent 

O'Brien (2003)

• Evidence for destructive consequences of dehumanisation can be seen in many conflicts
• Dehumanisation may also explain violence against immigrants 
• 'Polluting threats to the social order'

Mandel (1998)

• Rejects Milgram's claims - monocausal 
• Doesn't match historical record

Goldhagen (1996)

• Main casual factor in these atrocities was a form of anti-Semitism so deeply entrenched in the German people that they implicitly condoned the elimination of millions of innocent Jews 

Raleigh et al (1991)

• Support for imprtance of serotonin in aggressive behaviour 
• Study of vervet monkeys
• Those fed on experimental diet high in tryptophan = decreased levels of aggression 
• Difference in aggression could be attributed to their serotonin levels

Bond (2005)

• Drugs that clinically rise serotonin levels should produce a concurrent lowering in aggression
• This is what happens in antidepressant drug studies 
• Elevate serotonin levels
• Such drugs tend to reduce irritability and impulsive aggression 

Couppis and Kennedy (2008)

• Mice
• Reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event
• Dopamine is involved as a positive reinforcer in this pathway
• Individuals will intentionally seek out an aggressive encounter solely because they experience a rewarding senstation from it 

Albert et al (1993)

• Other studies find no relationship between testosterone and aggression
• Particuarly those who have compared testosterone levels of aggressive and less aggressive individuals
• Most studies showing a positive correlation = small samples of men within prisons, using either self-report measures of aggression or judgements based solely on the severity of the crime committed 

Mazur (1985)

• Distinguish between between aggression and dominance
• Aggression = intent to inflict injury 
• Dominance = achieve or maintain status over another
• Aggression = just one form of dominance behaviour 

McBurnett et al (2000)

• Four year study of boys with behavioural problems
• Supports effect of cortisol on aggressive behaviour 
• Low cortisol = antisocial acts at a younger age and 3 times the number of aggressive symptoms 

Buss and Shackelford (1977)

• Men who suspected that their wives might be unfaithful over the next year
• Exacted greater punishment for a known or suspected infidelity 
• Compared to men who did not anticipate future infidelities 

Shackelford et al (2000)

• Analysed half a million homocides, selecting 14,000 where the man killed his wife
• Younger women had a greater risk regardless of the age of their partner

Foldesi (1996)

• Racist conduct of a core of extremist supporters led to an increase in spectator violence 
• Xenophobic outburts in particular
• Violent incidents based on racist or xenophobic attitudes were observed at all stadia, with gypsies, Jews and Russians the usual targets 

Marsh (1987)

• Alternative explanation of the aggressive displays of football crowds
• Much of what passes for violent behaviour is actually highly ordered and ritualised
• Being a football hooligan enables young males to achieve a snese of personal worth and identity in the eyes of their peers 
• Group displays are not an indication of underlying xenophobic tendencies, but part of an 'alternative career structure' for working class males