Explanations of Institutional Aggression

•Prisons•Educational Settings• Healthcare Settings

What is a Hierarchy and how does it influence aggression?

Prisons

• The Guardian in 2003 highlighted abuse of inmates in Wormwood Scrubs.

• Beatings, mock executions, death threats, choking, racist abuse.

Educational Settings

• Both teachers and students victims of rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault and verbal threat.

• School shootings – Columbine, Dunblane, Germany.

Healthcare Settings

• Carers and mental health nurses most at risk.

• Patients also easy targets for killers such as Beverley Allitt and Harold Shipman.

Using post-it notes

• Write your views on these on each statement across the room. Then people are to choose the statements that they agree with and why.

EXPLANATIONS

• De-individuation - anonymity

• Identification with a role - uniform

• Situational variables – overcrowding, ‘us and them’ norms

Examples of institutional aggression in prisons

• Zimbardo (1973) – Stanford prison experiment / Abu Ghraib

• Lockwood (1980) – 2/10 prisoners sexually assaulted.– Both victim and assailant ‘heterosexual’– Sexual assaults used as degradation and

punishment

In prison, rape is about social control, not sexual gratification and does not count towards sexual identity.

Examples of institutional aggression in educational

settings

A prisoner is tortured by guards in Abu Ghraib.

A ‘pledge’ takes part in initiation into an American college fraternity.

Educational settings cont…

• Fraternities and sororities were established as support networks for U.S. college undergraduates.

• ‘Hazing’ - ritualistic harassment / abuse of an individual or group involving burning, branding, kidnapping, sexual abuse to prove their ‘worth’.

• Nuwer (1990) hazing contributed to death and serious physical injury including paralysis and is now illegal in most states.

Use your psychological knowledge to

explain this phenomenon.

What else might influence aggression in institutions?

• Power struggle• Maintaining status• Conforming to subculture

• Martin & Hummer (1989) studied sexual assault in fraternities.

• Discovered that sexual violence against women was actively encouraged.

• Postal questionnaires were sent to sororities – only 28% response rate.

• Half respondents had experienced sexual coercion, 24% victims of attempted rape, 17% victims of full rape.

• Rapes had occurred in frat houses or frat functions.Why was the

response rate so low?

Why is deindividuation NOT a good

explanation for this?

Ecological Explanation • Blyth (1980) gave

questionnaires to 13 yr old students to assess perception of anonymity and danger levels within school.

• 34% of sample had been victims of bullying.

• More of these children were at junior high, where they would be the youngest in large, crowded institutions.

• Fewer children at elementary school (where they were the eldest) felt such isolation and fear.

Explain the significance of hierarchy from

different psychological approaches.

In groups:

• Read through the model answer of institutional aggression, highlight the key points of what is good about this essay and why. How could you add to the essay?

Examples of institutional aggression in healthcare settings.• Most commonly

associated with psychiatric units.

• Biological, social and environmental influences.

• Rosenhan (1973) ‘On Being Sane in Insane Places’

Research real life examples of institutional aggression in

educational and healthcare settings and apply the following

explanations accordingly:Deindividuation, identification,

situational variables.

Situational variables explainedMatthews et al (1979)

Crowding

Aggression

As crowding increases, so does aggression, but only up to a point. After this, further increases in crowding lead to decreases in aggression.

Homework:

• Research a study that investigates aggression within an institution.

• Look at explanations and possible reasons as to why aggression happens within this type of institution.

• Try and criticise the research using a theory and evaluative points. See me if you need help on this.

• You may present this in the form of a poster, collage, power point, movie or slideshow. Any other ideas are welcome.

• Due on Friday the 30th