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otohara

(24,135 posts)
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 07:47 PM Apr 2013

Research Shows That The Mere Presence of Weapons Increases Aggression.

So much for "Guns Make For A Polite Society"

The "Weapons Effect"

“Guns not only permit violence, they can stimulate it as well. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger.”

—Leonard Berkowitz, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin

In 1967, Leonard Berkowitz and Anthony LePage conducted a fascinating study.[1] First, participants were angered by a person pretending to be another participant (called a confederate). Next, participants were seated at a table that had a shotgun and a revolver on it—or, in the control condition, badminton racquets and shuttlecocks. The items on the table were described as part of another experiment that the researcher had supposedly forgotten to put away. The participant was supposed to decide what level of electric shock to deliver to the confederate who had angered them, and the electric shocks were used to measure aggression. The experimenter told participants to ignore the items on the table, but apparently they could not. Participants who saw the guns were more aggressive than were participants who saw the sports items. This effect was dubbed the “weapons effect.”

The weapons effect occurs outside of the lab too. In one field experiment,[2] a confederate driving a pickup truck purposely remained stalled at a traffic light for 12 seconds to see whether the motorists trapped behind him would honk their horns (the measure of aggression). The truck contained either a .303-calibre military rifle in a gun rack mounted to the rear window, or no rifle. The results showed that motorists were more likely to honk their horns if the confederate was driving a truck with a gun visible in the rear window than if the confederate was driving the same truck but with no gun. What is amazing about this study is that you would have to be pretty stupid to honk your horn at a driver with a military rifle in his truck—if you were thinking, that is! But people were not thinking—they just naturally honked their horns after seeing the gun. The mere presence of a weapon automatically triggered aggression.

Research also shows that drivers with guns in their cars more likely to drive aggressively.[3] A nationally representative sample of over 2,000 American drivers found that those who had a gun in the car were significantly more likely to make obscene gestures at other motorists (23% vs. 16%), aggressively follow another vehicle too closely (14% vs. 8%), or both (6.3% vs. 2.8%), even after controlling for many other factors related to aggressive driving (e.g., gender, age, urbanization, census region, driving frequency).

Weapons can even make people aggressive when they cannot “see” them because they are presented subliminally. In a study conducted in our lab[4], for example, participants who were exposed to weapon words (e.g., gun) for only 17/100 second were more aggressive afterwards than were participants exposed to nonaggressive words (e.g., water).http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-psyched/201301/the-weapons-effect

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Research Shows That The Mere Presence of Weapons Increases Aggression. (Original Post) otohara Apr 2013 OP
You're a big man if you carry a gun. onehandle Apr 2013 #1
and the dinner plates suffer neverforget Apr 2013 #11
Not at all surprising. Zoeisright Apr 2013 #2
just look at how snarky and bullying the promoters of weapons proliferation are on this site villager Apr 2013 #3
especially with cowards Skittles Apr 2013 #4
K&R Progressive dog Apr 2013 #5
Ahhhh, the smell of nearly 40 year old psychobabble in the evening air just makes me want to... Ghost in the Machine Apr 2013 #6
brass knuckles & a switchblade knife newmember Apr 2013 #7
Welcome to DU, newmember Ghost in the Machine Apr 2013 #8
It just sounded a little scary reading your post newmember Apr 2013 #12
Not at all! No harm, no foul :-) Ghost in the Machine Apr 2013 #15
You sound pretty pumped to me Fumesucker Apr 2013 #10
No, sorry, but if I was "pumped" on either adrenaline or anger, that post would have been a cuss Ghost in the Machine Apr 2013 #14
Wow. That's powerful. nt Ilsa Apr 2013 #9
OVER THE LINE!!!!!!!! Initech Apr 2013 #13

Zoeisright

(8,339 posts)
2. Not at all surprising.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 07:50 PM
Apr 2013

And one of the big reasons guns are so popular. Gives the nuts a false sense of being a "big man".

 

villager

(26,001 posts)
3. just look at how snarky and bullying the promoters of weapons proliferation are on this site
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 07:59 PM
Apr 2013

it's no accident

Ghost in the Machine

(14,912 posts)
6. Ahhhh, the smell of nearly 40 year old psychobabble in the evening air just makes me want to...
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 10:29 PM
Apr 2013

.. well... Honestly! I *really* liked this part:

The weapons effect occurs outside of the lab too. In one field experiment, a confederate driving a pickup truck purposely remained stalled at a traffic light for 12 seconds to see whether the motorists trapped behind him would honk their horns (the measure of aggression). The truck contained either a .303-calibre military rifle in a gun rack mounted to the rear window, or no rifle. The results showed that motorists were more likely to honk their horns if the confederate was driving a truck with a gun visible in the rear window than if the confederate was driving the same truck but with no gun. What is amazing about this study is that you would have to be pretty stupid to honk your horn at a driver with a military rifle in his truck—if you were thinking, that is! But people were not thinking—they just naturally honked their horns after seeing the gun. The mere presence of a weapon automatically triggered aggression.


I liked it because it's so absurd that it's funny as hell. I actually laughed out loud! An unarmed person, upon seeing an armed person, actually triggers the unarmed person to the point of aggression?? That has *got* to be one of the dumbest statements I've ever read.

If this article is anywhere close to correct, I should be in a homicidal rage right now given the fact that I have an SKS with fully loaded 20 round magazine, a pair of brass knuckles & a switchblade knife all sitting in a range from six inches to 18 inches away from me, yet here I sit, as cool and mellow as the bowl of ice cream I'm eating.

Now you might be asking yourself "Ghost, *WHY* do you have all this sitting within reach of you?" Well, the answer is quite simple, really.

My 19 year old niece, who is all of 4' 10" and 90 lbs, recently dumped her boyfriend of almost two years. Come to find out, he was a closeted, casual meth user who kept his dirty little secret hidden for over a year, then started being more flagrant about it. My sister tried talking to her, my son tried talking to her, I tried talking to her... but nothing got through to her. She thought she could help him get clean and turn his life around. One thing I will say is that HE told her she "better not EVER touch that shit, or he'd kill whoever gave it to her". However, he was using more and more, and eating up his brain as he did.

They argued a lot, but the final straw came one day as she was driving him somewhere. She was doing about 60mph, in the rain, they were arguing.. and he reached over and pulled the Emergency Brake up on her car, causing her to spin out of control, go off the road and ended up between two trees. Then he told her if she told the cops anything other than "a deer ran out in front of us and I slammed on the brakes" that he would kill her *and* her mother. So, that's what she told the cops.. there was, miraculously, no damage to the car. They got pulled back to the road, and she proceeded to take him to his mothers house and dropped him off. As he got out of the car, he punched her in the face and stole her phone, wallet and smokes.

She came back home and got my son to ride with her to go back and get her phone and stuff. My son went along, even though he was in a cast due to a broken hand. On the way there, my son called him and told they were coming for her belongings, didn't want any trouble, and didn't want to get the police involved. He agreed to it and was supposed to meet them outside. When they pulled up, he was waiting alright... he jumped out of the bushes with a pipe wrench and tried to attack them. My son, in an instinctive act to protect his cousin, smashed the guy in the face with his hand with the cast on it and knocked him out. They took her wallet and phone and left him laying in the drive way.

Later that night, and on into the next day, is when he start TEXTING threats, plus leaving voice mails with threats, saying he was going to burn our houses down while we were sleeping. Threatening to kill us! My sister and niece live 2 doors down from us. My sister, niece and son went to the Sheriffs Department the next day, showed them the texts and let them hear the voice mails. We all got Orders of Protection immediately. The guy is well known to the cops, too. Being a small town, with a small police force, and given that we live out in the sticks 15 miles from town, the Sheriff himself, along with the Lead Detective and 2 deputies, told us that if he showed up here, "do us a favor and put a bullet in his head. We'll come take him off in the meat wagon, and you WILL NOT have to worry about being charged for anything".

Last month, I ran him off with a gun in the middle of the night 3 times. The dogs let us know when SOMEONE is out there. They don't bark at the stray and/or feral cats and dogs that people drop off out here, they bark ONLY when they see a person. Period. Down at my sisters house, we found cigarette butts outside my niece's window, and that her window had been pried open. I woke up around 3:30 this morning to the dogs raising hell. 2 minutes later, my sister is calling me saying she heard something outside, turned her outside lights on, went out with a gun...and saw someone run down toward my house. I threw some pants on and ran out with my gun, just in time to see someone jump in a truck parked at the top of our hill and haul ass down the hill. Needless to say, I didn't sleep again until daylight.

I'm not one of these gun nutters just waiting for a chance to shoot someone. If I catch him out there and he is not close enough to be a threat, I'll tell him to get his ass out of here or he WILL get shot if he tries to come at me, but on the other hand, if I go out and catch him pouring gasoline on and around my house, he's gonna be shot, no questions asked. He has already made that threat, to burn our house down with me and my son in it.

If you've read this far and are wondering... yes, we DID call 911 last night. The officer that took the original complaint recognized the address and called my sister right away. She was told that they were "geared up, getting ready to serve a high risk warrant and raid on a meth house, but he would try to get someone out here asap if we needed them". My sister calmly replied "it's ok, we're ALL armed up here, we'll handle it and let you know if we need you". This is just the way it is where we live. 4th smallest county in the State... and usually 3 officers on duty to patrol over 220 square miles. We *HAVE* to protect ourselves, and wait for the cops to show up when they can and clean up after the fact.

Now flame away if you feel you must. Call me all the names you want, it doesn't bother me. I'll protect myself and the lives of my family even if it costs me MY life. The question anyone has to ask & answer themselves is: Are you willing to risk YOUR LIFE by fucking with my family and THEIR lives???

Ghost

Ghost in the Machine

(14,912 posts)
8. Welcome to DU, newmember
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 10:56 PM
Apr 2013

Yes, brass knucks and a switchblade! I would rather fight someone than have to shoot them, but this psycho methhead is known for carrying a wrench up his sleeve, with a rope tied to the wrench and around his wrist. Hell, I did a tattoo of it on his arm for him about a year and a half ago. He's also known to carry a knife, too. I collect pocket knives, and before all this shit happened, we've even traded some knives around. The way I figure it, if he's fighting dirty and I'm fighting dirty, well, that makes it a fair fight, right?

Death is forever... black eyes and busted lips heal in time, and you live to fight another day....

Ghost

 

newmember

(805 posts)
12. It just sounded a little scary reading your post
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:20 PM
Apr 2013

I wasn't judging you and I hope it didn't come off like that.

Fumesucker

(45,851 posts)
10. You sound pretty pumped to me
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:10 PM
Apr 2013

Hell, I got an adrenaline rush just reading your post.

The same guy that made the "an armed society is a polite society" quip also said that having a gun will sometimes cause you to shoot at things you really should be running away from.

I believe the study in the OP, it doesn't mean that every single person acts like that, it means that *on average* people will act more aggressively with a weapon available.

Ghost in the Machine

(14,912 posts)
14. No, sorry, but if I was "pumped" on either adrenaline or anger, that post would have been a cuss
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:44 PM
Apr 2013

word filled rant that would have made a sailor or construction worker blush, trust me on that. I just go on about my business as usual, and never give it a second thought... until the dogs start barking in the middle of the night, or I get a call from my sister saying she's hearing something outside her house. I might get a little pumped when I have to go outside, but that's because it's dark, and for all I know, HE could have a gun this time and be hiding behind a tree in my yard, or vehicle in my driveway, and shoot me as soon as I step out the door.

I'm not going to cut down all my trees, nor will I get rid of my vehicles. I can't dwell on it and let it consume me, all I can do is keep on living my life normally and see how it plays out.

Peace,

Ghost

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