Psychology 12

1. Psychology of Action
Goals of
Aggresssive
Behaviour

2. Fight Club?
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3. Goals of Aggressive
Behaviour
Social psychological research
suggests that aggressive behavior may
serve a wide range of motivations.

4. Goals of Aggressive
Behaviour
1] the desire to influence other people
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5. Goals of Aggressive
Behaviour
2] to gain power and dominance over others
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6. Goals of Aggressive
Behaviour
3] to create the an impression of toughness
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7. Goals of Aggressive
Behaviour
4] to gain money or social approval

8. Goals of Aggressive
Behaviour
5] to discharge negative feelings
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9. Death Wish
Instincts
Freud spoke of a death instinct versus life instinct. We
have two desires at conflict. Our life instinct drives our
behavior to anything we can to survive. Our death instinct
is a powerful force people have to end their own lives eg.
Having a death wish.
Freud’s theory is that instead of killing ourselves we
satiate the death instinct by redirecting it towards the
destruction of other people .

10. Misplaced Aggression?
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11. Animal Instinct
Challenge Freud’s assertions and speculate that an
‘aggressive instinct’ could have evolved through natural
selection. Those animals willing to fight for their territories,
their mates or resources would survive better than those
who simply turned and ran.

12. Fight or Flight?
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13. Time Bomb?
Konrad Lorenz – proposed that humans, like animals,
have an innate urge to attack. Like hunger or sexual
desire, these aggressive urges will build up over time until
they are discharged.
Displacement – punching a wall versus a person
Catharsis – discharging of pent-up emotion eg.
Aggressive energy.

14. Movie Release
Many filmmakers and television producers have claimed
that showed sexually graphic or violent images can be
cathartic … most recent research has shown the opposite
occurs – those who watch violent movies or play violent
video games increases violent tendencies in the
viewers/players.

15. According to most recent research humans are not
programmed to be blindly aggressive. Aggressive is a
strategy for survival and reproduction, useful in some
situations but not in most others.
Aggressive behavior is generally instrumental – serving a
function. Most people know that aggressiveness can
backfire causing physical or emotional injury therefore
only choose aggression when other avenues have failed.
Aggression and Adaptive Goals