...cues associated with aggression amplify aggression. Berkowitz and others have found that the sight of a weapon is such a cue. In one experiment, children who had just played with toy guns became more willing to knock down another childs blocks. In another, angered University of Wisconsin men gave more electric shocks to their tormenter when a rifle and a revolver (supposedly left over from a previous experiment) were nearby than when badminton rackets had been left behind. Guns prime hostile thoughts and punitive judgments. Whats within sight is within mind. [...] Berkowitz was not surprised that in the United States, a country with some 200 million privately owned guns, half of all murders are committed with handguns, or that handguns in homes are far more likely to kill household members than intruders. Guns not only permit violence, he reported, they can stimulate it as well. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger. David Myers Exploring Social Psychology, The Nature and Nurture of Aggression
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 18:56:45 +0000
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