PSYC 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Cognitive Dissonance, Stereotype, Deindividuation

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 102
• Professor: Sherri Atwood

Document Summary

Social psychology: study of causes and consequences of sociality: only four species are ultra-social (including us, survival among limited or scarce resources. Aggression: behaviour whose purpose is to harm another: often a response to frustration and other aversive conditions and events, violence increases during hot years, hot days, aversive conditions: pain, heat, crowding, foul odours. Frustration-aggression hypothesis: principle stating that animals aggress only when their goals are thwarted; after repeated frustrating events, anger or negative affect can build. Being male is best predictor of aggression (socialization, testosterone, status threatened) Other reasons: genetics (selective breeding), brain, biochemistry (hormones and alcohol), neutral factors (underactive frontal lobes) Testosterone levels are correlated with irritability, assertiveness, impulsiveness, and low tolerance for frustration. Traits linked to testosterone levels, such as facial width, also are linked to aggressiveness. Significant number of violent male criminals have high testosterone levels along with low serotonin levels. Reducing testosterone reduces aggression, in both humans and animals.