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610 Chapter
17
Social Psychology
door for the day. Even though the clerk can see you gesturing and beg-
ging him to open the door, he refuses, shrugs his shoulders, and points
to a sign that indicates when the store will open the next day. At that
moment, the feelings you experience toward the sales clerk probably
place you on the verge of real aggression, and you are undoubtedly seeth-
ing inside.
Frustration-aggression theory tries to explain aggression in terms of
events like this one. It suggests that frustration (the reaction to the thwart-
ing or blocking of goals) produces anger, which leads to a readiness to
act aggressively. Whether actual aggression occurs depends on the pres-
ence of aggressive cues, stimuli that have been associated in the past with
actual aggression or violence and that will trigger aggression again
(Berkowitz, 2001).
What kinds of stimuli act as aggressive cues? They can range from
the most explicit, such as the presence of weapons, to more subtle cues,
such as the mere mention of the name of an individual who behaved
violently in the past. For example, angered participants in experiments
behave signifi cantly more aggressively when in the presence of a gun
than in a comparable situation in which no guns are present. Similarly,
frustrated participants who view a violent movie are more physically
aggressive toward a confederate with the same name as the star of the
movie than they are toward a confederate with a different name. It
appears, then, that frustration does lead to aggression—at least when
aggressive cues are present (Berkowitz, 2001; Marcus-Newhall, Pederson,
& Carlson, 2000).
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING APPROACHES:
LEARNING TO HURT OTHERS
Do we learn to be aggressive? The observational learning (sometimes called social
learning) approach to aggression says that we do. Taking an almost opposite view
from instinct theories, which focus on innate explanations of aggression, observa-
tional learning theory emphasizes that social and environmental conditions can teach
individuals to be aggressive. The theory sees aggression not as inevitable, but rather
as a learned response that can be understood in terms of rewards and punishments.
Observational learning theory pays particular attention not only to direct rewards
and punishments that individuals themselves receive, but also to the rewards and
punishments that models—individuals who provide a guide to appropriate behavior—
receive for their aggressive behavior. According to observational learning theory,
people observe the behavior of models and the subsequent consequences of that
behavior. If the consequences are positive, the behavior is likely to be imitated when
observers fi nd themselves in a similar situation.
Suppose, for instance, a girl hits her younger brother when he damages one of
her new toys. Whereas instinct theory would suggest that the aggression had been
pent up and was now being discharged, and frustration-aggression theory would
examine the girl’s frustration at no longer being able to use her new toy, observational
learning theory would look to previous situations in which the girl had viewed others
being rewarded for their aggression. For example, perhaps she had watched a friend
get to play with a toy after he painfully twisted it out of the hand of another child.
Observational learning theory has received wide research support. For example,
children of nursery school age who have watched an adult model behave aggressively
and then receive reinforcement for it later display similar behavior themselves if they
have been angered, insulted, or frustrated after exposure. Furthermore, a signifi cant
amount of research links watching television shows containing violence with subse-
quent viewer aggression (Winerman, 2005; Greer, Dudek-Singer, & Gautreaux, 2006;
Carnagey, Anderson, & Bartholow, 2007).
Is road rage a result of frustration? According to
frustration-aggression approaches, frustration is a
likely cause.
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