General Psych 2 Aggression Attraction

Module 55

March 11, 2004

Class #14

Aggression

Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone

Highly publicized examples…

Why Are People Aggressive?

Freud suggested we have a death instinct Evolutionary psychologists believe aggressive

tendencies ensures the survival of the species Strong evidence for hereditary influences on

aggression Biological influences on aggressive tendencies:

Both the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex influence aggression

Hormones play an important role in aggression Dabbs (1997)

Reported correlations between testosterone and aggressive behavior

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

Dolard (1939) Frustration creates anger which can lead to acts

of aggression Just as food deprivation leads to the hunger drive

Berkowitz (1983, 1989) Those made miserable often make others

miserable

Role of Learning and Culture in Aggression Aggressive behavior is more common in individualist

than in collectivist cultures Many learn aggressive responses by watching

others e.g., Bandura’s “Bobo doll” experiments

People become aggressive when rewarded for aggressiveness and less aggressive when punished for aggression

How do rewards influence aggressiveness?

Andrew Golden, at age 11 gunned down 4 students & 1 teacher at age 11…his grandfather is a gun collector who owns hundreds of firearms and is also a licensed gun dealer

• Rewards are reinforcers

• Social learning theory Social learning theory of aggressionof aggression

Glamorizing Violence

Plagens, et al. (1991) Typical American child sees 200,000 acts of

violence on TV by age 18 Children who watch a lot of violent TV are

more violent towards peers Experimental studies, in which violence is

controlled, also find effects of watching violence

Space BlasterSpace Blaster

Doomsday Version 2.5

In this video game, it appears you win by beheading the guy???

Violent Video Games

Several studies have shown significant results indicating that playing violent video games is associated with a history of property destruction and hitting other students… Anderson & Dill (2000)

College students randomly assigned to play a violent video game (Wulfenstein) later had more aggressive thoughts and feelings than those who played a nonviolent game (Tetrix)

Black & Bevan (1992)

Movie-goers filled out an aggression questionnaire as they entered, or left: a violent movie, or a nonviolent movie…

DV: aggression IV: type of movie

Procedures

Subjects were randomly picked as they went to view violent movie or romantic film

In both cases, they were asked to fill out pretest questionnaire on aggression

After viewing the movie, they were again asked to fill out another questionnaire on aggression (posttest)

Results and Implication

What do you think they found?

Attraction:Factors that influence liking and loving Similarity

Relationships with similarity are more balanced Depends on importance - values and interests are

more important Limits to Similarity:

Relationships work best when each partner has their own areas where they excel

Thus, we tend to like similarity in terms of values and interests, but dissimilarity in areas of expertise

Attraction:Factors that influence liking and loving Reciprocity

"I'll like you if you like me"  Self-disclosure

the revelation of personal information about ourselves to other people

Implies trust, desire for intimacy When other is not ready to become more intimate, might

backfire Praise and favors

Praise and favors get others to like us, but depends on how those behaviors are interpreted

Works if seen as sincere, not manipulative - if the motivations are seen as positive, they tend to increase liking

And the #1 reason…at least this is what research suggests… Physical attractiveness

Most of us underestimate the effects of physical attractiveness, especially for ourselves

Attractiveness has strongest effect in the beginning

But matching levels of attractiveness is also important for long term - even for friends

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Synder, Tanke, and Berscheid (1977)

Maybe good looks are important? Anderson and Bem (1981)

Replicated the study showing the same effect for women's beliefs about men's attractiveness

Synder, Tanke, & Berscheid (1977) Male college students talked privately on the

phone with female college students Unknown to the woman, the men were shown

a picture of another woman (either very attractive or very unattractive)

Both the men and woman were not aware of the researcher’s deception

Synder, Tanke, & Berscheid (1977) After the conversation, the men rated the

woman’s personality… DV: Personality (warm…cold) IV: Attractiveness of person in the picture

Results?

Sex Differences in Date and Mate Preferences

Gender differences:Women’s Preference for Status Townsend & Levy (1990)

Women prefer a well-dressed unattractive man

to a good-looking man in a Burger King outfit Buss (1990)

Opposite for men judging women In most cultures women place more emphasis

on a potential mate’s income and status

Our obsession with attractiveness: Getting “the right look”… Why would someone want to undergo over

20 operations to try to obtain the “perfect” figure and face?

What would drive a woman to spend a fortune to look like a “Barbie”?

Cindy Jackson, the small town Ohio woman did just that…

Cindy: Before…

Cindy: After…

A total transformation?

1979 1990 1994 2003

Cindy as a child…

For Michael Jackson it probably didn’t quite work out as well…

Lunch with Michael Jackson: What do you think they talked about?

Of course, its not surprising what Howard Stern wants her to do…

Making ourselves physically attractive…

Research seems to indicate that attractive people receive many benefits, including: They are seen as more honest They are more likely to be hired for managerial

positions and elected to public office They receive shorter sentences for felonies

We do all these things…but is it really a waste of time??? Social Spotlight Effect

Researchers say we may overestimate the extent to which we’re in the public eye

According to research from Cornell University psychologist Thomas Gilovich, most people greatly overestimate the amount of attention that others pay to their appearance, causing themselves needless angst

Wear your Manilow T-shirt -- no one's looking Gilovich, Medvec, & Savitsky (1996, 2000)

The famous “un-cool T-shirt” experiments These researchers got students to wear a “Barry

Manilow” t-shirt into their classes

The Social Spotlight Effect The Social Spotlight Effect

The students who wore the t-shirt predicted that nearly half of the others would know who was on the shirt

The students who wore the t-shirt predicted that nearly half of the others would know who was on the shirt

50% 50%

40%40%

30%30%

20%20%

10%10%

0% 0% PredictedPredicted ActualActual ControlControl

The Social Spotlight EffectThe Social Spotlight Effect

In reality, less than a quarter of the other subjects recalled who was on the shirt

In reality, less than a quarter of the other subjects recalled who was on the shirt

50% 50%

40%40%

30%30%

20%20%

10%10%

0% 0% PredictedPredicted ActualActual ControlControl

Final Conclusions…

Lets face it, beauty is valued… Example: Wizard of Oz characters

But at what cost? Where do we draw the line? What does Cindy’s and Michael’s behavior tell

us?

Analyzing Love

Passionate Love Love that is intense, arousing, and marked by

strong physical attraction and deep emotional attachment.

Strong sexual feelings Thoughts of other intrudes on one’s awareness

frequently

Analyzing Love

Companionate Love Love that is less arousing but psychologically

more intimate Marked by mutual concern for welfare of other

Analyzing Love

Equity theory People are most satisfied with a relationship when the ratio between

rewards and costs is similar for both partners Inequitable relationships less likely to endure

Social exchange theory We maximize rewards and minimize costs Although both people feel bad about an inequitable relationship, the

over-benefited person generally feels more satisfied

Picture from slide #10 taken from following website: www.public.asu.edu/~jmacker/350/350_chap10_day19.ppt

Also, several pictures of Cindy Jackson taken from: http://www.cindyjackson.com/photo_album.html