Adolescent years are a time period in a human beings life where we search for a place that we are most comfortable. It is a time where we try to find friends with similar interests and those who will easily accept us for who we are. Once we are accepted by those friends, we tend to do more things with hopes of getting approval from “the group.” Trying to fit in during adolescence is a significant factor for self-motivation because it determines the level of being accepted and popularity amongst our peers. Through our year of adolescence we experiment and try to discover oneself as a person, but we also find what our strongest traits are that are used in order to be accepted, or to feel more popular. Popularity is defined as a state of being liked or accepted by a group of people (cite). As the group of people gets larger, so does that person’s popularity. For some people, popularity may come easy due to their charisma or looks, but there are those children who feel lonely due to their lack of popularity.
Psychologists have studied, in the recent years, about being accepted or being popular in the adolescent years of a person’s life. This research has led them to an interesting question: how does aggression affect popularity or being accepted socially by others? Aggression is an act that may be considered negative when used in most cases. Crick and Grotpeter in 1995 defined aggression “as behaviors to hurt or harm others” (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995, p.710). There are two main types of aggression: relational aggression and overt/psychical aggression. Relational Aggression is “harming others through purposeful manipulations and damage of their peer relationships,” while Overt aggression is “harming others through physical aggression, ...
... middle of paper ...
...atus. Child Dev 75:147–163.
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710–722.
Mayeux, L., & Cillessen, A. N. (2008). It’s not just being popular, it’s knowing it, too: The role of self-perceptions of status in the associations between peer status and aggression. Social Development, 17, 871–888. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00474.x.
Rose, A. J., Swenson, L. P., & Waller, E. M. (2004). Overt and relational aggression and perceived popularity: Developmental differences in concurrent and prospective relations. Developmental Psychology, 40(3), 378-387. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.3.378
Vaillancourt, T., & Hymel, S. (2006). Aggression and social status: The moderating roles of sex and peer-valued characteristics. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 396–408. doi:10.1002/ab.20138.
In many high schools, there is an unspoken social order amongst peer groups; teenagers are either included in the popular group or the unpopular group. These social standings are determined by the popular group whether they will accept certain people based on shared interests and values but mainly on appearance. For example, some groups may isolate a student who does not have clothing considered attractive enough. Teenagers belonging to the popular clique label individuals as outcasts who do not fit the clique’s standards of a perfect appearance. This repression can cause a build up of anger if an outcast seeks to be accepted into that popular group.
Witvliet, M., Olthof, T., Hoeksma, J. B., Goossens, F. A., Smits, M. I., & Koot, H. M. (2010). Peer Group Affiliation of Children: The Role of Perceived Popularity, Likeability, and Behavioral Similarity in Bullying. Social Development, 19(2), 285-303. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2009.00544.x
One of the most researched topics in the history of psychology is aggression. One goal of social scientists has been to define aggression. Some believe that aggression is biologically preprogrammed, others look toward situational factors and this study suggests that aggression is learned. This study was conducted by Albert Bandura and his associates in 1961 at Stanford University. The researchers proposed that the children be exposed to adult models with either aggressive or nonaggressive ways, they would then be tested without the models present to determine if they would imitate that aggression they observed in the adult.
The experience of being socially excluded leads to increases in aggressive behavior. Research has found that when people are excluded by others, they are more likely to behave aggressively, even to people who did not initially exclude them (Twenge, Baumeister, Tice, & Stucke, 2001).
Aggression is a sub-field under social psychology because social psychology is the study of how individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior changes in groups while interacting with other people. In comparison, aggression falls directly under this category because psychologist’s main goal is to try to understand how aggressive people tend to change in their behavior and mentality when their objective is to cause pain. People who are aggressive either physically or psychological educe pain and suffering upon an individual by verbally assaulting someone, berating them, spreading vicious rumors, or even name calling. Everyday schoolchildren are getting bullied, spouses are facing domestic violence, families encounter arguments, and the list continues because everyday aggressors react negatively to these scenarios. However, they are levels of extreme aggressive behavior compare to the others, such as violence being the highest form of aggression. Kassin et al. states compared to violence, the other forms of aggression, such as anger and hostility are less harmful compare to violence because “people can be angry with others and regard them with great hostility without ever trying to harm them” (2014). When someone is angry, they are usually experiencing irritation, hate, or other displeasing feelings. Similarly, those who express hostility, which are negative feelings the aggressor
Snyder, J., Dishion, T. J., & Patterson, G. R. (1986). Determinants and consequences of associating with deviant peers during preadolescence and adolescence. The Journal of Early Adolescence.
The evolution of human aggression can be said as a reproductive response from our ancestors. It includes jealousy, infidelity, as well as group displays of aggressive behaviour. According to Daly and Wilson (1988), male sexual jealousy and paternal uncertainty leads to vigilance to violence as strategies to avoid their partners from committing adultery. Sexual jealousy is the most common reason for aggression in a relationship. Male sexual jealousy
Boys reported using significantly more physically aggressive behaviors at school than girls and higher overall exposure to physically aggressive programs than girls. They also reported higher overall television exposure than girls but this data fell short of significance. Girls reported higher overall exposure to socially aggressive programs than did boys, but there was no significant sex difference in the perpetration of socially aggressive behaviors (Martins & Wilson, 2011, p. 59).
In addition to playing difficult games, children start to become part of a social world. School is age graded, meaning that students are placed in grades based on their age. Children tend to only talk to those in their grade. Children in the same age tend to form their own social status. It is in this social aspect of middle childhood where popularity comes...
10. M. Lefkowitz, L. Eron, L. Walder, and L. Huesmann, Growing Up to Be Violent: A longitudinal Study of the Development of Aggression, Pergamon, New York, 1977.
Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: a Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature." Psychological Science (2001). EBSCO. DePaul Library. 7 Mar. 2008.
This assignment will evaluate two theories of aggression; Lorenze’s ethological approach and the Social Learning Theory. It will then determine the role of media on pro and anti-social behavior and will finally discuss individual, social and cultural diversity in pro and anti-social behavior.
When researching the following question, I intend to find multiple resources which depict different perspectives such as life stories, articles and statistics that show the connection between anti-social behavior and relationships in both a positive and negative light. It is best to consider both perspectives that help formulate an objective answer to the question, giving readers a unbiased response. While researching, there will be a multi-disciplinary approach, as I expect to find information regarding the three social sciences including anthropology, psychology, and sociology which gives a fair response to the question. This can include links on how brain development during prenatal development, or how socialization of the child can impact
different from others, since these variables often serve at risk factors for bullying” (Jvonen and
The popularity that the close friends have among the friends is the main reason on how much influence it has on prosocial behavior and overt aggression that is shown in childhood. It was mentioned that girls are likely to engaged in prosocial behavior than boys when their close friends are popular. Having the understanding from earlier that girls are more affectionate as compared to boys prefer to demonstrate more power could be the possible linked for this finding. As for overt aggression, it is arguable as other children might choose to walk away from participating in such act as it does not fit their personality. Therefore, from these findings it shows that close friendships do have an influence on the social development in