Instructor Notes

In this course, we have argued that people are generally caring toward others—that they have a basic desire to accept, care for, and help them—the violent events that surround us present a problem for this assumption. If people are generally good and care about others so much, then how could anyone possibly kill another human being, let alone participate in a suicide bombing or even genocide? Do aggressive events mean that people are naturally aggressive, violent, and hostile—or are they unusual events, shaped more by particularly extreme social situations that do not reflect the normal character of human beings?

We will answer these questions by considering the underlying principles of aggression—in terms of affect, cognition, and behavior, and in terms of the general goals of protecting the self and reaching out to others.

This week contains a number of “Major Points” with videos and discussion and assignment prompts to support the topics. This chapter contains an abundance of content. As an instructor, you will want to choose just 1 or 2 videos and perhaps just a few of the “Major Points” to cover and meet the learning outcomes of your course. You may wish to reference the “How to use this Resource” section for ideas on how to tailor your course offering.

Readings

Chapter 9: Aggression in Principles of Social Psychology – 1st International H5P Edition.

Teaching Materials

• Major Points
• Selected video presentations (choose 1 or 2)
• Class Discussion

Student Tasks

• Online Discussion forum
• Assignment: Violence Prevention
• Chapter Quiz (Available upon request)

Major Points

1. Aggression
   1. Emotional/Impulsive
   2. Instrumental/Cognitive
   3. Non-Physical: Verbal and Relational aggression
   4. Cyberbullying
   5. Missing and murdered Indigenous women
2. Explaining aggression
   1. Instinct theory
   2. Genetic influence
   3.  Biochemical influence
   4. Frustration-aggression hypothesis
   5. Social (observational) learning
3. Violence and Media
   1. Aggression cues in the environment
   2. Video games and violence
   3. Pornography and violence
4. Predictors of aggression
   1. Perceived rejection
   2. Perceived appropriateness of aggression
   3. Inflated and unstable self-esteem
   4. Tendency to perceive hostility
   5. Self-concern v/s other-concern
5. Prevention of aggression
   1. Minimize childhood exposure
   2. School policies against aggression
   3. Encourage better emotional regulation
   4. use more rewards over punishment
   5. Improve social equality

Videos

YouTube

Ted Talks

Clint Watts: Conversation with a terrorist is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. (12:33)

Discussion

Assignment

Content Attributions

The instructor notes are adapted from Principles of Social Psychology – 1st International H5P Edition by Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani and Dr. Hammond Tarry which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.