PSY 306 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Dani People, Heritability, Impulsivity
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10 Aug 2019
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Class 15: Aggression
What is it?
● Aggression: intentional behavior aimed at doing harm or causing
pain to another person
○ Alternative: injurious behavior + social label
● Why is it bad?
○ Unpredictable
○ Uncontrollable
○ Grave consequences
● Aggression is an efficient form of evoking fear
○ Media over-reporting of crime
Why do we do
it?
Biological
● Evolutionary usefulness
● Genetic heritability (Fairbank monkeys)
● Hormones and neurotransmitters
○ Testosterone <-(+)-> aggression
○ Serotonin <-(-)-> impulsivity
● Generatics and Hormones Redux
○ Confounded with early environment and social support
Inter- and intra- cultural differences
● Quakers in the US
● Dugum Dani vs. Tahitians in New Guinea
Change over time
● Cultures change over time and slowly evolve into less aggression
○ Ex: Sweden hasn’t been in a war since defeat by Russia in the
Great Northern War in the 18th century
Regional Differences
● People in different areas of the world can have different levels of
aggression due to
○ Ex: people in the south have a culture of honor because
stealing cattle was easier than stealing crops (northern)
● Is it really biological?
○ Perhaps partly, but aggression is also strongly influenced by
situational, historical, and cultural factors