Literature Map Example: Catharsis Hypothesis

RESEARCH_Literature Map_E.g.

Re: “Catharsis Hypothesis”

Fr: Myers, D. G. (1999). Social Psychology (6^th ed.). McGraw-Hill College (Excerpts from Ch 10. “Aggression: Hurting others”, pp. 421-425.)

>PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY 

--Catharsis Hypothesis = "we can purge emotions by experiencing them" (e.g., viewing classic tragic plays) -- [Aristotle], and by recalling and reliving past events (extension of the hypothesis) (p. 421).

                                = to excite an emotion is to release it (Butcher, 1951).

>versus SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

--"Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis, expressing aggression more often breeds than reduces further aggression.

--The social learning approach suggests controlling aggression by counteracting the factors that provoke it -- by reducing aversive stimulation, by rewarding and modeling nonaggression, and by eliciting reactions incompatible with aggression" (p. 424).

>Areas of Dispute

--Pros

-->2:1 Americans agree that "sexual materials provide an outlet for bottled up impulses" (Niemi et al., 1989) (p. 421).

--Cons

-->Most Americans agree that "sexual materials lead people to commit rape" (p. 421).

-->viewing erotica does not lead to diminished sexual desire and viewing and treating women as sexual objects (Kelly et al., 1989; McKenzie-Mohr & Zauma, 1990).

-->American and Canadian spectators of football, wrestling, and hockey games exhibit more hostility after viewing the event than before (Arms et al., 1979; Goldstein & Arms, 1971; Russell, 1983).

-->After a war, a nation's murder rate tends to jump (Archer & Gartner, 1979).

-->When Florida State University students were allowed to counterattack someone who had provoked them, their arousal (as measured by blood pressures) did more quickly return to normal, BUT only when the target is the actual tormentor, not a substitute. Moreover, for the person not to feel guilty or anxious afterwards, (a) the retaliation must be justifiable, and (b) the target is nonintimidating.

-->100 laid off engineers and technicians, when given opportunity for verbal ventilation of hostility against their employer or supervisor (through interview questions like "What instances can you think of where the company has not been fair to you?"), increased their hostility (c/o Questionnaire assessing attitudes toward company and supervisors) (Ebbesen et al., 1975).

-->cruel acts [A] beget cruel attitudes [T/F] (cf. Ch 4).

-->little aggressive acts can lead to rationalizing / justifying further aggression (Milgram's obedience experiments) (p. 422).

-->Even if retaliation sometimes (in the short run) reduces tension, in the long run it reduces inhibition" (p. 422).

>Areas of Consensus

-->[Alternative: Assertion]

----Across cultures, those who reframe accusation "you| messages as "I" messages (e.g., "I'm angry" or "When you talk like that I feel irritated.") -- communicated their feelings in a way that better enables the other to make a positive response (Kubany et al., 1995) (p. 422).

-->[Conclusion]

----"Catharsis ... used to be a mainstay of psychoanalytic therapy, but no longer. Its main appeal is its afterglow. Its main drawback is that there is no evidence that it works" (Seligman, 1994, pp. 238-239) (p. 422).

----"It is time to put a bullet, once and for all, through the heart of the catharsis hypothesis. the belief that observing violence (for 'ventilating it') gets rid of hostilities has virtually never been supported by research" (Carol Tavis, 1988, p. 194) (p. 421).

----"The near consensus among social psychologists is that catharsis does not occur as Freud, Lorenz, and their followers supposed (Geen & Quantry, 1977)" (p. 421).