Psychology Blog » Aggression

Something to Bragg about……

Adrian Frost — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:39:45 +0000

Dreams, drugs, intelligence, memory, infant brains, psychoanalysis, human evolution and many more – Loads of online broadcasts from Melvyn Bragg’s ‘In Our Time’ Radio 4 series to be found here – all free – it makes one proud to be a licence payer….

Humans less aggressive than they used to be…

Adrian Frost — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:29:44 +0000

In the decade of Darfur and Iraq, and shortly after the century of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao, the claim that violence has been diminishing may seem somewhere between hallucinatory and obscene. Yet recent studies that seek to quantify the historical ebb and flow of violence point to exactly that conclusion.

LINK

To sleep, perchance to dream … or commit murder?

Evie Bentley — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:23:31 +0000

Some sleep disorders are well known – sleep-walking for example. But in very unusual cases people who sleepwalk behave in a highly unusual way, this is a very rare form of the disorder somnambulism when they commite violent acts.

In 2008 in the UK a middle aged man with a long history of sleep disorders actually killed his wife whilst they were both asleep. This tragedy happened when they were on holiday and the man in question had decided not to take his medication. He had a nighmare, thought he was struggling with assailants, but when he woke he found his wife dead. There is no reason to suspect that the couple were not happy together, and sleep disorder experts and the police accept that this unhappy case is one of temporary “insane automatism”.

Genes, free will, responsibility, murder?

Evie Bentley — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:59:20 +0000

If you smash your fist into someone’s body are you being aggressive and anti-social, or are you just doing what your genes programme you to do? The idea of genes affecting behaviour isn’t new and isn’t disputed, but the use of certain genes as a mitigating factor in criminal behaviour is a contentious issue. Genes have been used as part of the defence in cases of murder, and moral and ethical arguments around this use have focused on the low validity of the research evidence plus the generally accepted concepts of free will and personal responsibility. The argument has been taken a stage further now as a convicted murderer in Italy has had his sentence reduced partly because of his history of psychiatric illness and also partly because his genome includes five genes known to be associated with violent behaviour. One of these genes is a variant of MAOA, which codes for an enzyme which breaks down amines in the brain, and this low-activity variant correlates in research findings with violence and aggression, giving it its nickname the “warrior” gene. However, as we all know, correlations are not necessarily causal; and then there is the responsibility debate. So, what would you decide if you were on the jury, the defendant was clearly guilty of murder, but also had a gene profile predisposing him or her to violence and aggression?

Social learning theory can change the world

Cara Flanagan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:51:15 +0000

Earlier this year Professor Albert Bandura visited London and presented a fascinating talk on the application of social learning theory (SLT – now called social cognitive theory). An edited version of this talk is in the June edition of The Psychologist (which is free online here). The research he discussed provides great support for SLT as well as demonstrating its application to the real world.The talk focused on how SLT is being used to tackle urgent global problems. For example, in Tanzania the current population is 36 million. This is predicted to soar to 60 million in 25 years. Working with the Population Media Center, Bandura devised a radio drama which would raise people’s belief in their efficacy to control family size. Before many people believed that such control was the will of their deity.The programme has resulted in much wider use of birth control methods.Another project aimed to increase literacy in Mexico. A popular TV star played the role of a literate person in a TV drama programme, acting as a role model including modelling how to deal with self-doubts and setbacks. The day after the TV programme was aired 25,000 enrolled in self-study programmes! Enrolment was 90,000 in the year before the TV programme and about one million in the year of the TV programme.The key feature in this work is the interaction between psychological theory and practice. Bandura is able to extend what the programme makers might intuitively do by drawing on his theoretical insights – using concepts such as modlling and efficacy,

Order me thirty labcoats!

Adrian Frost — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:47:38 +0000

As you are probably aware, there’s always been a debate concerning whether or not psychology is a science – indeed this has been a topic on second year essay papers for years – but a while back the QCA messed up everyone’s chances of getting any discussion points on that question, by making a declaration that yes, psychology was a proper science after all …..

I got quite excited about this for a while – at last I could look at ’hard’ scientists in the chemistry department with my head held high… but being a real scientist has got a bit boring lately. It turned out all it meant was a new A03 skill on the exam papers :- criticising research methods, which was something we’d all been doing for years anyway.

However, I cheered up when a few days back I got an email about this site, which has everything I need to kit myself out with a proper psychological scientific research lab: sinister one-way mirrors, lie-detectors, goggles that make your perception go all wonky, weird little roller things that measure your sensitivity to pain and…. best of all…. a bobo doll:

No fake electric shock generators yet…. but I’m sure they’ll get some back in stock soon…

Where’s my skateboard?

Adrian Frost — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:27:59 +0000

How are juvenile delinquents portrayed in modern culture? (indeed do we even use the term ‘delinquent’ anymore?) The contemporary media paints a picture of surly youths hanging around on street corners drinking ‘alcopops’ and wearing hoodies. However, things were obviously quite different back in 1925, when eminient psychologist Sir Cyril Burt used the following illustration in his book ‘The Young Delinquent”:

If you click on the ‘read rest of entry‘ link at the end of this post to look at the rest of the pictures, you’ll discover that back then three piece suits and working mens caps were very ‘street’ for boys, whereas young ladies were smoking on the dancefloor and hanging about on enormous stuffed horses…..

….. terrifying……

All pictures from Burt, C.L. (1925). The young delinquent. London: University of London Press, with many thanks to Saxon (aged 43 11/12) of the excellent ‘Too Many Pipes’ for the original text.

(Also, talking of delinquents, have you looked at ‘Contemporary Mottled Sheep’ ?)

Wrestling with Freud…

Adrian Frost — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:02:11 +0000

Sigmund Freud argued that aggression could be represented as an ‘energy’ that somehow builds up inside of us, causing us to experience tension and psychological discomfort and maybe ultimately mental disorders, unless we could somehow ‘release’ it, by indulging in aggressive behaviour…. So if you’ve ever found yourself ‘boiling over with rage’ and have ‘taken it out on’ something or someone to make yourself feel better, then you’ve been indulging in a bit of Freudian thinking.. Freud called this process of release ‘catharsis’.

If you are studying aggression, this idea forms an interesting discussion point: Most of the social approaches imply to us that taking part in, or viewing, aggressive behaviours somehow increases the likelihood of our committing further aggressive acts, whereas for Freud the release of pent-up energy through a violent act actually decreases our inclination to be violent – So maybe you should go and beat up an inflatable children’s toy next time someone winds you up…

There’s an easy way to test this of course: Head over here and have a quick arm wrestle with the man himself. If you come away from the experience feeling noticeably more calm and relaxed, then Sigmund has the argument nailed. If you find yourself a boiling mass of frustrated rage with a broken keyboard, well… then maybe not, but please note that, either way, we here at the Cat & Dogs Book Publishing Company Inc. can accept absolutely no responsibility for damaged computer equipment and patrons take on the mighty Sigmund entirely at their own risk.