Social Psychology of Aggression: From Individual Behavior to Social Interaction PDF
Preview Social Psychology of Aggression: From Individual Behavior to Social Interaction
SSSP Springer Series in Social Psychology Springer Series in Social Psychology Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior Charles S. Carver/Michael F. Scheier Gender and Nonverbal Behavior Clara Mayo/Nancy M. Henley (Editors) Personality, Roles, and Social Behavior William Ickes/Eric S. Knowles (Editors) Toward Transformation in Social Knowledge Kenneth J. Gergen The Ethics of Social Research: Surveys and Experiments Joan E. Sieber (Editor) The Ethics of Social Research: Fieldwork, Regulation, and Publication Joan E. Sieber (Editor) Anger and Aggression: An Essay on Emotion James R.Averill The Social Psychology of Creativity Teresa M. Amabile Sports Violence Jeffrey H. Goldstein (Editor) Nonverbal Behavior: A Functional Perspective Miles L. Patterson Basic Group Processes Paul B. Paulus (Editor) Attitudinal Judgment J. Richard Eiser (Editor) SSSP Social Psychology of Aggression From Individual Behavior to Social Interaction Edited by Amelie Mummendey Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo 1984 Professor Dr. Amelie Mummendey Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat, Psychologisches Institut, Schlaunstrasse 2, D-4400 Miinster/W. With 17 Figures and 18 Tables ISBN-13 :978-3-642-48921-1 e-ISBN-13 :978-3-642-48919-8 DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-48919-8 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Social psychology of aggression. (Springer series in social psychology). Based on pa pers presented at a conference held Oct. 1983 at the Zentrum fiir Interdisziplinlire Forschung at the Universi ty of Bielefeld. Bibliography: p. Includes indexes. 1. Aggressiveness (Psychology)-Congresses. 2. Social psy chology-Congresses. I. Mummendey, Amelie, 1944-. II. Series. HM291.S5886 1984302.5'483-27096 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is con cerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by pho tocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks. Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law, where copies are made for other than private use, a fee is payable to 'Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort', Munich. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1984 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1984 The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply even in the absence of a spe cific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Typesetting and bookbinding: G.Appl, Wemding. Printing: aprinta, Wemding 2126/3140-543210 Foreword Dollard, Doob, Miller, and Mowrer formulated their frustration-aggression hy pothesis more than forty years ago. Since then the progress in theory of and re search on aggression has been very slow. Today we know that there are severe li mitations to their hypothesis. The development of alternative approaches has been restricted by the neglect of sociopsychological concepts. Until a few years ago, social psychology was at the back door of aggression research, and even this superficial acquaintance contained too many cognitive ideas to suit many of the influential heroes of the mainstream of research. There are many reasons for the decline of the old paradigms in aggression re search, among them the failure to extrapolate from the results of artificial experi ments to the realities of our time. This book goes much deeper than other texts in the area; it is also a fresh beginning. It endeavors to reformulate the more tradi tional topics and strongly emphasizes the social framework of aggression. Ac cordingly, hostile actions must be explained from a sociopsychological perspec tive. It has remained for Amelie Mummendey to show the way in which European and American research can be effectively integrated in a comprehen sive reader on aggression. Until recently I considered the topic of aggression to be about the most tedi ous in social psychology, but in this book the subject takes on exciting new life because of the emphasis on social interaction and the integration of cognitive and motivational concepts. According to this analysis, attributions, moral judg ments, subjective definitions of the social situation, antinormative behavior, ac ceptability of justifications and excuses, considerations of justice, and social in terdependence are the key concepts in an explanation. In addition, individual differences in aggressiveness are taken into account. The authors examine the contribution social psychology might make to an analysis of aggression. The contributions provide excellent leads to the meaning and the role of illegitimate and antinormative aspects in the problem of aggression. Marburg, March 1984 Hans Werner Bierhoff Preface Nobody would provoke a big argument by making the statement that aggression is one of the most prominent research topics in the behavioral and social sciences. The importance of the topic led to the establishment of the Internation al Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA), which is an interdisciplinary or ganization oriented to various natural sciences like biology, physiology, pharma cology, and psychology. Social sciences like sociology, political science, and social philosophy deal with this topic within the context of research on all kinds of conflicts and conflict resolution. The aim of this volume is to provide a per spective on social psychology as something between the behavioral and social sciences, concerned with aggression as a particular kind of social interaction - be it between two or more individuals or between two or more groups or larger social units. The fundamental characteristics of this interaction transcend indi vidual behavior as described in strictly observational terms, i. e., they are related to constructions of social reality like norms and norm violations, intention and responsibility or accident, and injustice or legitimation of criticism. The various disciplines in the social sciences deal with these different aspects, each in their own way; their contributions could be fruitful for the further elaboration of so cial psychological concepts of aggressive interaction. The present volume contains contributions from different disciplines like psy chology, social psychology, sociology, and social philosophy, which represent work done in various European countries as well as in Canada and the United States of America. It is based on discussions at a conference held at the Zentrum fUr interdisziplinare Forschung (ZIF) at the University of Bielefeld in October 1982. I gratefully acknowledge the generous support provided by the ZIF, which made it possible for participants from various countries on each side of the Atlantic to attend the meeting. Due to the very efficient organization of the meeting and the very friendly cooperation of Springer-Verlag, it turned out to be a real pleasure and an easy task to realize the plan of editing this book. I want to thank, therefore, especially Joan Goldstein, Stephanie Benko, and Thomas Thiekotter. A particular ac- VIII Preface knowledgement goes to Michael Wilson; he had the hard task of transforming the contributions by the non-English-speaking authors into comprehensible English versions. If the aim has not been completely reached, this should not be attributed to him. Last but not least, I thank Sibylle Cla13en for doing a large part of the typing and Birgitta Stieher for accurately assisting in the preparation of the index. Munster, March 1984 Amelie Mummendey Contents Introduction Amelie Mummendey 1 1. A Social Psychological Interpretation of Human Aggression James T. Tedeschi ........ . 5 Current Concepts of Aggression. . . . 5 The Study of Threats and Punishments 10 Laboratory Research on Aggression. . 17 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 19 2. Motivation Theory ofA ggression and Its Relation to Social Psychological Approaches Hans-Joachim Komadt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Motivation Theory of Aggression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Relationship Between Motivation Theory and Social Psychological Approaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..... . 27 Essentials of the Motivation Theory .. 28 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3. Individual Differences and Aggressive Interactions Horst Zumkley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 33 Social Psychological Perspective: "Aggressive" Is Always the Other Person 33 "Aggressive" Is Always the Other Person?: Some Research Gaps. . . . 34 Retaliation Norm in Aggressive Interactions and Individual Differences .. 35 X Contents Causal Ambiguity in Aggressive Interactions and Individual Differences. 41 Concluding Remarks .............................. 47 4. Aggression as Discourse Kenneth 1. Gergen . . . . 51 Aggression as Linguistically Grounded . . . . . . . 54 The Structural Unpacking of Aggression Discourse . . 57 On the Negotiation of Aggression . 64 Summary ..................................... 67 5. Aggression: From Act to Interaction Amelie Mummendey, Volker Linneweber, and Gabi LOschper 69 Mutually Interpreting Behavior in Aggressive Interactions ....... 76 The Context of Aggressive Interactions: Taxonomy of Social Situations 84 The Actor-Victim Divergence in Aggressive Interactions. . . . . . . . . 92 Conceptions About the Progress of Aggressive Interactions . . . . . . . 98 Conclusion .................................... 100 6. Patterns ofA ggressive Social Interaction Richard B. Felson ........ . · 107 Theoretical Approaches . . . . . . . . . . · 108 A Description of Aggressive Incidents .. · 113 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 123 7. Frustration, Aggression, and the Sense of Justice Jorge da Gloria ................................ 127 Reactions to Failure, Obstruction, and Attack ................. 132 Coping with Failure . . . . . . . . . . 134 Coping with Obstruction and Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 8. The Relations Among Attribution, Moral Evaluation, Anger, and Aggression in Children and Adults Brendan G. Rule and Tamara J. Ferguson. . . . . . . . . . . . · 143 The Role of Norms and Causality in Blame, Anger, and Aggression. . . · 143 Biasing Conditions . · . 148 Conclusions . · . 150 General Issues . . . · . 151 Contents XI 9. Social Justice and the Legitimation ofA ggressive Behavior Dieter Bimbacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Three Uses of the Concept "Aggression" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Principles ofSociaiJustice and Their Role in Aggressive Interaction ..... 159 The Utilitarian Way Out ............................. 168 Author Index . . 171 Subject Index . 174
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