Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

608 Chapter 
17 
Social Psychology
Liking and loving clearly show a positive side of human social behavior. Now 
we turn to behaviors that are just as much a part of social behavior: aggression and 
helping behavior.
Aggression and Prosocial 
Behavior: Hurting and 
Helping Others
Drive-by shootings, carjackings, and abductions are just a few examples of the vio-
lence that seems all too common today. Yet we also fi nd examples of generous, unself-
ish, thoughtful behavior that suggest a more optimistic view of humankind. Consider, 
for instance, people such as Mother Teresa, who ministered to the poor in India. Or 
contemplate the simple kindnesses of life: lending a valued compact disc, stopping 
to help a child who has fallen off a bicycle, or merely sharing a candy bar with a 
friend. Such instances of helping are no less characteristic of human behavior than 
the distasteful examples of aggression.
 HURTING OTHERS: AGGRESSION 
We need look no further than the daily paper or the nightly news to be bombarded 
with examples of aggression both on a societal level (war, invasion, assassination) 
and on an individual level (crime, child abuse, and the many petty cruelties humans 
are capable of infl icting on one another). Is such aggression an inevitable part of the 
human condition? Or is aggression primarily a product of particular circumstances 
that, if changed, could lead to its reduction? 
The diffi culty of answering such knotty questions becomes apparent as soon as 
we consider how best to defi ne the term aggression . Depending on the way we defi ne 
the word, many examples of infl icted pain or injury may or may not qualify as 
aggression (see Figure 3). For instance, a rapist is clearly acting with aggression 
toward his victim. On the other hand, it is less certain that a physician carrying out 
an emergency medical procedure without an anesthetic, thereby causing incredible 
pain to the patient, should be considered aggressive. 
Most social psychologists defi ne aggression in terms of the intent and the purpose 
behind the behavior.  Aggression  is intentional injury of or harm to another person. 
By this defi nition, the rapist is clearly acting aggressively, whereas the physician 
causing pain during a medical procedure is not (Berkowitz, 2001).
We turn now to several approaches to aggressive behavior developed by social 
psychologists.