Module Overview8.html

Aggression and Prejudice

Aggression and prejudice are two separate yet related topics.

Aggression

Aggression is the study of hostile and aggressive attitudes and behaviors (Aronson, 2023). Our society has a long history of aggression, and many social psychologists spend their time trying to find the predictors of aggression, as well as how to possibly remedy this behavior. One of the earliest theories that tried to explain the causes of aggressive behaviors is called the frustration-aggression hypothesis (St. Cyr, 2023). The frustration-aggression (or FA) hypothesis created the idea that aggression was primarily caused by a person becoming frustrated as a result of their goals being blocked.

For example, imagine that you are trying to open your car door. What if someone gets in the way and prevents you from opening that door? Because this person is blocking your goal, you would still have the energy to open the door, yet you would not be able to complete that action. As a result, you would now be frustrated. Frustration would then lead you to be aggressive. So, now you are more likely to hit the person that blocked you from your actions.

Although the FA theory still holds some value, a more modern view, called social learning theory (Aronson, 2023), is a more accepted theory. Social learning theory has ties to operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, behaviors that are rewarded are likely to be maintained, whereas behaviors that are punished (or not rewarded) will be reduced or extinguished. Social learning theory separates itself from operant conditioning in that a person does not have to carry out the actions themselves. In fact, if an individual observes another person carry out a behavior and that person is rewarded, the person observing this behavior is also more likely to carry out this behavior. For example, if you watch a person punch someone else and get away with it (hence, they are rewarded for being successful), you are now more likely to punch another person should that desire arise. Modern research on aggression focuses more on the predictors of aggressive behaviors and how we can intervene to reduce those behaviors. The problem with studying aggressive behaviors is that there are so many predictors of aggression, and those predictors are not always easy to identify. That makes the prediction of aggressive behaviors very complicated. This module will explore this and other issues.

Prejudice

Prejudice is the study of why we favor or disfavor certain people or things. Prejudice is an attitude that simply describes our beliefs or feelings about a particular person or thing. Social psychologists that study this topic typically also study the causes and possible remedies of discrimination. Discrimination, by definition, is a behavior where people act in a different manner toward the people or objects that are the targets of their prejudice (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2022). Allport stated that we tend to favor people who are part of our in-group and disfavor those who are part of our out-group (Aronson, 2023). A person’s in-group consists of individuals who are similar to them, and an out-group consists of individuals who are different from them. For example, if you are a highly intelligent math genius, you might consider your in-group to be individuals who are also highly intelligent math geniuses. Your out-group, then, would include anyone who is not a part of your in-group.

Some argue that the in-group/out-group distinction is genetic and is tied to friendship and perceived security (De Vries & Lee, 2022). Researchers who endorse this idea use the term kin selection to define their in-group. Kin selection means that you are most likely to protect those who are most similar to yourself, such as your kids. Thus, your family is your primary in-group, and your out-group could be anyone who isn’t in your immediate family. These topics and more will be discussed in the readings for this module.

References

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Sommers, S. R., Page-Gould, E., & Lewis, N. (2023). Social psychology (11th ed). Pearson Education, Inc.

De Vries, E. L., & Lee, H. C. (2022). Friend-shield protection from the crowd: How friendship makes people feel invulnerable to COVID-19. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28(4), 794–815. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1037/xap0000417

Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2022). Enhancing the “broaden-and-build” cycle of attachment security as a means of overcoming prejudice, discrimination, and racism. Attachment & Human Development, 24(3), 260–273. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/14616734.2021.1976921

St. Cyr, D. S. (2023). Reduction and control of aggression. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.