Violence and Aggression“Violence is the antithesis of creativity and wholeness. It destroys community and makes humanity impossible.” ---Martin Luther King, Jr.
“There can be no peace as long as there is grinding poverty, social injustice, inequality, oppression, environmental degradation, and as long as the weak and small continue to be downtrodden by the mighty and powerful.”
---Dalai Lama
A Funny Little Introduction!
Solutions to Violence and Aggression
Reduce exposure to media violence and aggressive role models, especially for children and adolescents.A large body of literature now shows that violent media can have many effects:
Perception of world as a violent placeReduction of inhibitions toward
aggressionImitation of specific aggressive actsDesensitization to the severity of
violenceDecreased empathy for victims of
violenceEndorsement of violence to solve
problems
Source: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~psyb10/lecture21/lecture21
Reduce Exposure to Media Violence
Source: http://www2.sfu.ca/media-lab/research/safeschool.pdf
The effect of TV/Video Violence on Aggression
“The strength of the correlation between media violence and aggressive behaviour found on meta-analysis is greater than that of calcium intake and bone mass, lead ingestion and lower IQ, condom non-use and sexually acquired human immunodeficiency virus infection, or environmental tobacco smoke and lung cancer, which clinicians accept and on which preventive medicine is based without question.”
American Academy of Paediatrics, 2001
Comparisons of the effect of TV/Video violence on aggression with other effects (Bushman and Anderson, 2001)
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Effect Size
Smoking andlung cancer
TV andaggression
Video gamesand
aggression
Calciumintake andbone mass
Source: info.wlu.ca/~wwwpsych/rbuehler/Teaching/week%2010.post.f08
Solutions to Violence and Aggression
Replace the use of corporal punishment with more positive child control techniques.
In the US 74% of parents say the spank their children (aged 17 and under)Of those parents with 3-4 yr olds, 94% say they use corporal punishmentStudies on corporal punishment suggest spanking tends to lead to immediate compliance of the child, but
•associated with decreased internalization of morals, poorer parent-child relationships, poorer mental health of child and adult, more delinquency and antisocial behaviour• at risk for abuse or abusing one’s child or spouse•more angry, aggressive and stressed
Source: www.ualberta.ca/~carmen/325a1/Family%26Parenting.ppt
Positive Child Control Techniques
Positive Child Control TechniquesMost researchers contend that the relationship between spanking and antisocial behavior is bidirectional and causal.This means that antisocial behavior already present in children, such as aggression, typically leads to more spanking by the caregiver.Then, frequent and long term spanking is associated with more antisocial behavior such as delinquency, noncompliance and aggression.Consequently, antisocial behavior is related to more spanking, which in turn is related to more antisocial behavior.Source: http://adoptionthroughpropitiation.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/to-spank-or-not-to-spank.pdf.
Solutions to Violence and Aggression
Reduce social rewards for aggressive activities, including those previously thought to be cathartic.Indulging in aggression generally serves to make future aggression more likely. Why?Acting aggressively may be rewarding (i.e., it makes
us feel better or lets us get our way)It may create an aggressive habit (cycle of priming
violence and behaving violently)We may start to blame the victim for being the target
of our aggression
Source: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~psyb10/lecture21/lecture21
Reduce Social Rewards for Aggressive Activities
Solutions to Violence and Aggression
Increase social rewards and social support for nonaggressive pro-social activities.Seeking out apologies (and giving them)
instead of rumination on transgressionsPracticing empathy for othersRewarding non-aggressive behavior instead
of punishing aggressive behaviorSocial modeling of non-aggressive behaviorMonitoring and discussing media portrayals
of violence (i.e., realism, consequences, etc.)
Source: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~psyb10/lecture21/lecture21
Increase Rewards for Nonaggressive Pro-social Activities
Solutions to Violence and Aggression
Annual estimates US $ billions:Additional amount of money needed each
year to provide reproductive health care for all women in developing countries: 12
Amount of money spent annually on perfumes in Europe and the United States: 12
Additional amount of money needed each year to provide water and sanitation for all people in developing nationspet food costs in USA & Europe: 9
Amount of money spent annually on cosmetics in the United States: 8
Additional amount of money needed each year to provide basic health an nutrition needs universally in the developing world: 13
Amount of money spent each year on pet food in Europe and the United States: 17
Additional amount of money needed each year to provide basic education for all people in developing nations: 6
Amount of money spent each year on militaries worldwide: 780
Source: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/764
Change Spending Priorities – Increase the quality of social programs designed to decrease difficulties that interfere with normal learning and socialization processes (e.g. adequate health care, education, social supports).
Learning and Socialization Processes
Source: Source: www.ualberta.ca/~carmen/325a1/Family%26Parenting.ppt
Solutions to Violence and AggressionIncrease the quality of parenting by providing instruction, social support and economic support.Parenting Factors and Risk for Aggression & ViolenceProblem relationships with parents in elementary school -- 2 to 4
times increased risk for bullying across adolescence to age 17Low parental trust, low parental monitoring and high parent-youth
conflict related to high risk for bullying across adolescence to age 17Parenting that is sensitive and respects children’s autonomy
provides an ideal context for moral development, empathy and respect for others
Parenting that focuses on managing or controlling child behaviour, in the absence of an appreciation of the child’s autonomy and experience, restricts opportunities to promote moral and pro-social reasoning
Source: www.cyhrnet.ca/documents/MorrettiConnectSupportingCaregiversofAggressiveandAntisocialTeens.ppt.
Sourceshttp://www.haverford.edu/library/reference/mschaus/ICPR281/anderson_violence_acs.pdf
Support anti-violence education and anti-bullying along with peace efforts & personal responses
Acknowledge the male gender of violence: keyRedefine theories by including social contextTake profit/pleasure out of pain: cruelty numbs Destroy weapons and use of force: end fighting
culture and refuse it as a solution to all conflict Admit negative role of media: inform investorsSeek partnerships & promote health through
absolute insistence on all essential human rights
What to Do?
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