Deck 16: Development of Antisocial Behavior

Question 1

When aggression is motivated by the aim of achieving a specific goal, it is called ______ aggression.

A)Means-end
B)Purposeful
C)Goal-directed
D)Instrumental
E)Cynical

Answer 1

Instrumental

Question 2

Imagine that a 13-year-old girl feels hatred toward another girl in her class and for this reason she says that the other girl is fat and that nobody likes her. In the context of research into the psychology of interpersonal aggression, this would be defined as an example of:

A)Spite
B)Instrumental aggression
C)Hostile aggression
D)Interpersonal conflict
E)Teasing

Answer 2

Hostile aggression

Question 3

The theory that seeks to explain aggression with reference to imitation of examples modeled by other people is known as:

A)Role play
B)Imitation theory
C)Catharsis
D)Social learning theory
E)Identification

Answer 3

Social learning theory

Question 4

In the studies conducted by Bandura and colleagues in the early 1960s, young children witnessed an adult hit a large doll with a hammer. What happened next?

A)The children were distressed
B)The children played peacefully
C)The adult was arrested
D)The children called the police
E)The children also hit the doll with a hammer

Question 5

What would Freud's theory predict about children's behavior in Bandura et al.'s study? That children would:

A)Imitate the adult
B)Play peacefully with the available toys
C)Be aroused by the display of aggression
D)Fear castration
E)Experience feelings of guilt, leading to anxiety

Question 6

What are the implications of Bandura et al.'s findings with respect to children's TV viewing?

A)Watching violent TV programs could cause children to be violent toward other children in everyday contexts
B)Watching violent TV programs has a cathartic effect, which helps to curb aggression in real life
C)Censorship should be abolished
D)There is a relation between watching a violent model and being violent, but we don't know about the direction of causality
E)The findings in themselves have no implications

Question 7

Eron and colleagues conducted a longitudinal study into the relation between TV viewing and aggression. What does the term "longitudinal" mean?

A)The design had a "Latin Square" configuration, which included longitude as well as latitude
B)Participants were tested over several days
C)Participants were recruited from different geographical regions, but all of the same longitude
D)Many different age groups were tested
E)Participants were tested at several points in time over a long period, in this case several decades

Question 8

Eron's study revealed that children who judged violent TV programs to be ______ were the same who were judged by peers to be violent.

A)Silly
B)Life-like
C)Frightening
D)Normal
E)Popular

Question 9

Eron and colleagues found a correlation between watching violent TV at age 8 and ______ at age 30.

A)Criminal convictions
B)Soccer hooliganism
C)Being socially dominant
D)Attendance at the movie theater
E)Number of sexual partners

Question 10

Why does the study conducted by Eron and colleagues fall short of demonstrating that watching violent TV causes violent interpersonal behavior?

A)A shortage of research funding meant that the study had to be halted before it was completed
B)The studies had serious methodological flaws that render the results uninterpretable, especially with respect to drawing conclusions about cause and effect
C)Innate violent tendencies may have motivated children to watch violent TV programs, and this same tendency may also explain violent interpersonal behavior
D)The children had extremely violent parents and this was responsible for children's violent interpersonal behavior rather than watching violent TV
E)It is necessary to replicate the finding before we can be confident enough to draw conclusions about causality

Question 11

Eron suggests that there is a ______ between the ages of 8 and 12 years, when watching violent TV programs has a marked impact on social development.

A)Impressionable phase
B)Critical period
C)Sensitive period
D)Imitation stage
E)Period during which an internal working model is established

Question 12

The longitudinal study conducted by Eron and colleagues involved:

A)A single dependent variable
B)Experimental intervention
C)A predominance of children from disadvantaged backgrounds
D)Naturalistic observation
E)Procedures that are deemed to be unethical

Question 13

In one study, Eron and colleagues helped 10-year-old children to understand how TV programs create an illusion of violence when in fact nobody gets hurt. What effect did this have?

A)It desensitized the children
B)It seemed to help the children to become less violent
C)The children became more violent on the belief that violence doesn't really hurt anybody
D)The children developed a special interest in the techniques of making TV programs
E)There was no measurable effect; the children's violent tendencies were so deep-seated that they could not be curbed by rather brief interventions such as this

Question 14

Liebert and Baron (1972) allowed children to watch either a violent TV program or a film of an exciting sporting event. What did they observe in children's subsequent behavior during play?

A)Children's levels of aggression decreased after watching the program or film, though the decrease was less marked specifically among those who watched the violent program
B)Children's levels of aggression increased after watching, irrespective of whether they saw the violent program or the sporting event
C)Children who watched the sporting event were even more violent in their play than children who watched the violent program
D)Watching the program or film had no effect of children's aggression during play, but those who watched the violent program were more aggressive during classroom activities
E)Only the children who watched the violent program displayed elevated levels of aggression during play

Question 15

The study conducted by Thomas and colleagues (1977) suggests that watching violent TV programs might:

A)Have an adverse effect on cognitive development
B)Cause children to derive an unhealthy pleasure from watching violence
C)Cause children to lose interest in violence
D)Increase children's arousal to aggression
E)Desensitize children to violence

Question 16

In the study by Thomas et al. (1977), children aged 9 years witnessed:

A)Preschoolers squabbling
B)A Batman movie
C)Peers being rebuked for displays of aggression
D)An adult model being violent toward soft toys
E)Children playing peacefully

Question 17

Huesmann et al. (2003) investigated variables that could compete with TV viewing in explaining children's aggression. Which of the following variables was not investigated?

A)Parental style
B)Social class
C)Intelligence
D)Quality of schooling
E)Level of family income

Question 18

According to studies led by Eron, what is the effect of administering corporal punishment?

A)Children punished in this way tend to be more aggressive than children who do not receive corporal punishment
B)Children who receive corporal punishment are less aggressive than children who are kept in check merely with verbal admonitions
C)Corporal punishment keeps children under tight control and prevents them from "running riot"
D)Corporal punishment is beneficial when administered judiciously
E)Corporal punishment is ideal for restoring traditional values in society

Question 19

To investigate the causal relation between corporal punishment and aggression, a researcher might consider dividing children into two groups, subjecting one to corporal punishment and the other to verbal admonitions. After a while, the researcher might find it revealing to observe the groups' behavior for signs of aggression, say, in a free-play session. Why has no such study been conducted to date?

A)There is no money available to fund such a project
B)It would be unethical
C)Such a study has not yet occurred to researchers
D)The study would not tell us anything that we don't already know
E)The study is too complicated

Question 20

Barker, Dembo, and Lewin (1941) investigated which of these causes of aggression?

A)Receiving corporal punishment
B)Watching violence on TV
C)Intelligence
D)Being socially disadvantaged
E)Frustration

Question 21

A study conducted by Mallick and McCandless (1966) identified which circumstance in which frustration does not necessarily give rise to aggression?

A)Children received a reward for not behaving aggressively
B)Children had been exposed to a regime of corporal punishment and knew that they would be punished if they were aggressive
C)Children were helped to understand that there was a good reason as to why they were obstructed in trying to attain a goal
D)Children of parents who have an authoritarian style are able to curb aggressive impulses
E)If children's aggressive impulses are dissipated by engaging in a vigorous sporting activity

Question 22

Brown and Elliot (1965) investigated ______ as a cause of aggression in children.

A)Attention seeking
B)Reward
C)Frustration
D)Watching violent programs on TV
E)Corporal punishment

Question 23

A study by Dodge et al. (1990) identified a relationship between ______ and aggression

A)Social class
B)Parental style
C)Scholastic failure
D)Peer rejection
E)ADHD

Question 24

How is gender relevant to aggression?

A)Aggression expressed by girls tends to be more spiteful
B)It isn't
C)The factors that predict aggression in boys also predict aggression in girls, though aggression is generally more common in boys than in girls
D)There is a similar level of aggression in boys and girls, but aggression is expressed differently in girls and the causal factors tend to be different as well
E)Boys derive more satisfaction from being aggressive toward girls than to other boys

Question 25

Anderson and Bushman (2001) investigated the effect of ______ on aggression.

A)Watching violent TV programs
B)Playing violent computer games
C)Temperament
D)Social exclusion
E)Aberrant development of neurological substrates, especially the amygdala