ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how social psychology can help people understand the disturbing incidents and the many acts of aggression that occur in the United States and throughout the world. It discusses different specific aspects of interpersonal violence. The chapter looks at the causes and consequences of sexual assault and examines the impact of pornography on sexual assault. It also discusses whether television programming and video games contribute to violence. The chapter explores four target characteristics related to aggression: gender and race, attributions for the aggressor's attack, and retaliatory capacity. Aggressive cues in the environment can increase the likelihood of an aggressive response. These cues may intensify the aggressive motivation or lower inhibitions even if they are not directly involved in the immediate situation. The frustration-aggression hypothesis implies that the nature of the frustration influences the intensity of the resulting aggression.
