Skill Practice : Making Inferences
While most information in academic texts is stated directly, it is also important to be able to identify and understand inferences. When we infer, we draw conclusions, based on direct information, about the writer’s opinion, possible consequences, or the reasoning behind their statements. Inferring can also be considered ‘reading between the lines’ in that we look beyond simple words into the author’s intentions or logic. This skill is useful when reading for pleasure as well as for homework and exams.
In order to make inferences, it is essential to actively ask questions. This way we can more deeply understand what we read. The following questions can be used when inferring:
- What does this sentence imply about…?
- How does the writer feel about…?
- What does this mean?
- Why did the author write that?
- What could be the reasons behind the author’s statement?
- Is this inference logical or illogical?
Practice
Read the following sentences taken from “Reading 4” and answer the inference questions about them.
- “Men are more likely than women to show aggression (Wilson & Daly, 1985). From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, human male aggression, like that in nonhuman primates, likely serves to display dominance over other males, both to protect a mate and to perpetuate the male’s genes. Sexual jealousy is part of male aggression; males endeavor to make sure their mates are not copulating with other males, thus ensuring their own paternity of the female’s offspring.”
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- What do these sentences imply about human males? Do you agree with this?
- “Boys tend to engage in direct, physical aggression such as physically harming others. Girls tend to engage in indirect, social forms of aggression such as spreading rumors, ignoring, or socially isolating others…In cyberbullying, it is more common for girls to be the bullies and victims because cyberbullying is nonphysical and is a less direct form of bullying (Hoff & Mitchell, 2009).”
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- What could be the reasons for the author suggesting that boys and girls tend to bully in different ways? Do you think this is true?
Pre-Reading
Pre-Reading Activity
Discuss the following questions with a partner.
- Why do you think aggression exists in society? What are the reasons?
- How do you think bullying negatively impacts adolescents?
- Have you ever witnessed bullying or cyberbullying? Did you help the person who was being bullied or cyberbullied?
The words in bold in the chart are from the following reading. Complete the chart with the different forms of each word.
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NOUN |
VERB |
ADJECTIVE |
ADVERB |
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aggression |
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dominance |
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____ |
inflict |
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____ |
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____ |
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cognitively |
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accessible |
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Reading 4: Aggression [1]
Throughout this chapter we have discussed how people interact and influence one another’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in both positive and negative ways. People can work together to achieve great things, such as helping each other in emergencies: recall the heroism displayed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. People can also do great harm to one another, such as conforming to group norms that are immoral and obeying authority to the point of murder: consider the mass conformity of Nazis during WWII. In this section we will discuss a negative side of human behavior—aggression.
Aggression
Humans engage in aggression when they seek to cause harm or pain to another person. Aggression takes two forms, depending on one’s motives: hostile or instrumental. Hostile aggression is motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain; a fight in a bar with a stranger is an example of hostile aggression. In contrast, instrumental aggression is motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain (Berkowitz, 1993); a contract killer who murders for hire displays instrumental aggression.
There are many different theories as to why aggression exists. Some researchers argue that aggression serves an evolutionary function (Buss, 2004). Men are more likely than women to show aggression (Wilson & Daly, 1985). From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, human male aggression, like that in nonhuman primates, likely serves to display dominance over other males, both to protect a mate and to perpetuate the male’s genes (Figure 11). Sexual jealousy is part of male aggression; males endeavor to make sure their mates are not copulating with other males, thus ensuring their own paternity of the female’s offspring. Although aggression provides an obvious evolutionary advantage for men, women also engage in aggression. Women typically display instrumental forms of aggression, with their aggression serving as a means to an end (Dodge & Schwartz, 1997). For example, women may express their aggression covertly, for example, by communication that impairs the social standing of another person. Another theory that explains one of the functions of human aggression is frustration aggression theory (Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, & Sears, 1939). This theory states that when humans are prevented from achieving an important goal, they become frustrated and aggressive.
Bullying
A modern form of aggression is bullying. Socializing and playing with other children is beneficial for children’s psychological development. However, as you may have experienced as a child, not all play behavior has positive outcomes. Some children are aggressive and want to play roughly. Other children are selfish and do not want to share toys. One form of negative social interactions among children that has become a national concern is bullying. Bullying is repeated negative treatment of another person, often an adolescent, over time (Olweus, 1993). A one-time incident in which one child hits another child on the playground would not be considered bullying: Bullying is repeated behavior. The negative treatment typical in bullying is the attempt to inflict harm, injury, or humiliation, and bullying can include physical or verbal attacks. However, bullying doesn’t have to be physical or verbal, it can be psychological. Research finds gender differences in how girls and boys bully others (American Psychological Association, 2010; Olweus, 1993). Boys tend to engage in direct, physical aggression such as physically harming others. Girls tend to engage in indirect, social forms of aggression such as spreading rumors, ignoring, or socially isolating others. Based on what you have learned about child development and social roles, why do you think boys and girls display different types of bullying behavior?
Bullying involves three parties: the bully, the victim, and witnesses or bystanders. The act of bullying involves an imbalance of power with the bully holding more power—physically, emotionally, and/or socially over the victim. The experience of bullying can be positive for the bully, who may enjoy a boost to self-esteem. However, there are several negative consequences of bullying for the victim, and also for the bystanders. How do you think bullying negatively impacts adolescents? Being the victim of bullying is associated with decreased mental health, including experiencing anxiety and depression (APA, 2010). Victims of bullying may underperform in schoolwork (Bowen, 2011). Bullying also can result in the victim committing suicide (APA, 2010). How might bullying negatively affect witnesses?
Although there is not one single personality profile for who becomes a bully and who becomes a victim of bullying (APA, 2010), researchers have identified some patterns in children who are at a greater risk of being bullied (Olweus, 1993):
- Children who are emotionally reactive are at a greater risk for being bullied. Bullies may be attracted to children who get upset easily because the bully can quickly get an emotional reaction from them.
- Children who are different from others are likely to be targeted for bullying. Children who are overweight, cognitively impaired, or racially or ethnically different from their peer group may be at higher risk.
- Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender teens are at very high risk of being bullied and hurt due to their sexual orientation.
Cyberbullying
With the rapid growth of technology, and widely available mobile technology and social networking media, a new form of bullying has emerged: cyberbullying (Hoff & Mitchell, 2009). Cyberbullying, like bullying, is repeated behavior that is intended to cause psychological or emotional harm to another person. What is unique about cyberbullying is that it is typically covert (concealed or done in private) and the bully can remain anonymous. This anonymity gives the bully power, and the victim may feel helpless, unable to escape the harassment, and unable to retaliate (Spears, Slee, Owens, & Johnson, 2009).
Cyberbullying can take many forms, including harassing a victim by spreading rumors, creating a website stating lies about the victim, and ignoring, insulting, laughing at, or teasing the victim (Spears et al., 2009). In cyberbullying, it is more common for girls to be the bullies and victims because cyberbullying is nonphysical and is a less direct form of bullying (Figure 12) (Hoff & Mitchell, 2009). Interestingly, girls who become cyberbullies often have been the victims of cyberbullying at one time (Vandebosch & Van Cleemput, 2009). The effects of cyberbullying are just as harmful as traditional bullying and include the victim feeling frustration, anger, sadness, helplessness, powerlessness, and fear. Victims will also experience lower self-esteem (Hoff & Mitchell, 2009; Spears et al., 2009). Furthermore, recent research suggests that both cyberbullying victims and perpetrators are more likely to think about suicide, and to attempt suicide than individuals who have no experience with cyberbullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). What features of technology make cyberbullying easier and perhaps more accessible to young adults? What can parents, teachers, and social networking websites, like Facebook, do to prevent cyberbullying?
The Bystander Effect
The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds. This story became famous because reportedly numerous residents in the apartment building heard her cries for help and did nothing—neither helping her nor summoning the police—though these have facts been disputed.
Based on this case, researchers Latané and Darley (1968) described a phenomenon called the bystander effect. The bystander effect is a phenomenon in which a witness or bystander does not volunteer to help a victim or person in distress. Instead, they just watch what is happening. Social psychologists hold that we make these decisions based on the social situation, not our own personality variables. Why do you think the bystanders didn’t help Genovese? What are the benefits to helping her? What are the risks? It is very likely you listed more costs than benefits to helping. In this situation, bystanders likely feared for their own lives—if they went to her aid the attacker might harm them. However, how difficult would it have been to make a phone call to the police from the safety of their apartments? Why do you think no one helped in any way?
Social psychologists claim that diffusion of responsibility is the likely explanation. Diffusion of responsibility is the tendency for no one in a group to help because the responsibility to help is spread throughout the group (Bandura, 1999). Because there were many witnesses to the attack on Genovese, as evidenced by the number of lit apartment windows in the building, individuals assumed someone else must have already called the police. The responsibility to call the police was diffused across the number of witnesses to the crime. Have you ever passed an accident on the freeway and assumed that a victim or certainly another motorist has already reported the accident? In general, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely any one person will help.
Reading Comprehension
Complete the summary of “Reading 4” using keywords or concepts from the reading.
Aggression is seeking to cause another person harm or pain. (1)___________________ aggression is motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain, and (2)_____________________ aggression is motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain Bullying is an international public health concern that largely affects the (3)_____________________ population. Bullying is repeated behaviors that are intended to inflict harm on the victim and can take the form of physical, psychological, emotional, or social abuse. Bullying has negative mental health consequences for youth including suicide. (4)_____________________ is a newer form of bullying that takes place in an online environment where bullies can remain anonymous and victims are helpless to address the harassment. Despite the social norm of helping others in need, when there are many bystanders witnessing an emergency, diffusion of responsibility will lead to a (5)_____________________ likelihood of any one person helping.
Choose the best answer to the following questions.
- Typically, bullying from boys causes ________ while bullying from girls causes ________.
- emotional harm; physical harm
- physical harm; emotional harm
- psychological harm; physical harm
- social exclusion; verbal taunting
- Which of the following adolescents is least likely to be targeted for bullying?
- a child with a physical disability
- a transgender adolescent
- an emotionally sensitive boy
- the captain of the football team
- The bystander effect likely occurs due to ________.
- desensitization to violence
- people not noticing the emergency
- diffusion of responsibility
- emotional insensitivity
Answer the questions in your own words.
- What theory does the author give for the existence of aggression?
- How does aggression usually vary by gender? Why might that be?
- Why do you think bullies are attracted to emotionally reactive victims?
- Why might the perpetrators of cyberbullying be more likely to think about suicide compared to someone with no experience of cyberbullying?
Vocabulary Practice
Read the paragraph, and notice the bold academic words. Then, match the bold words with their definitions below.
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Bullying is an international public health concern that largely affects the adolescent population. It is especially common in schools where children inflict harm on the victim by repeatedly subjecting them to physical, psychological, emotional, or social abuse. The consequences of such bullying can be severe, including suicide. Cyberbullying is a newer form of online bullying where bullies can remain anonymous, and victims are helpless to address the harassment. School authorities are trying to reduce the incidence of bullying in schools. They have begun a number of interventions. For example, they have started to do bystander training. This training helps students learn to intervene when they witness bullying; it actively tries to prevent the diffusion of responsibility people feel when they witness aggression in public. |
- _______________________ (v) to cause someone to suffer
- _______________________ (n) effect, usually negative
- _______________________ (n) person who is not involved by witnesses something
- _______________________ (adj) unnamed or unidentified
- _______________________ (n) rate or number of occurrences
- _______________________ (n) physical or verbal attack
- _______________________ (n) spreading of something to a larger area or group
- _______________________ (n) person or group with power
- _______________________ (n) teenager
- _______________________ (n) action done to prevent or influence another event
Reading Discussion
Discuss these questions with your classmates.
- Compare and contrast hostile and instrumental aggression.
- What are the reasons for the existence of aggression?
- Why do you think boys and girls display different types of bullying behavior?
- What evidence discussed in this reading suggests that cyberbullying is difficult to detect and prevent?
- Imagine you are witnessing someone being bullied or cyberbullied. Keeping in mind the advice from this reading, what would you do?
- Download the original, un-adapted version for free at https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology ↵