Comparison Of Two Theoretical Explanations Of Violence

The general aggression model (GAM) is the most contemporary theory of aggression as of 2015. The GAM, as discussed by Anderson and Bushman (2002), focuses on addressing and discovering the biological, environmental, psychological, and social factors that influence aggression. This aggression model “accounts for both short- and long-term effects of an extensive range of variables of aggression (Warburton & Anderson, 2015, p.375)” due to its biosocial-cognitive approach. Benjamin (2016) describes the opportunity for appraisal presented within this theory. GAM articulates the influences on a person’s immediate appraisal of the situation. “This immediate appraisal occurs automatically, and includes an interpretation of the situation and an

If human beings are a part of nature, it can be assumed that they too have violent tendencies; in that respect, violence is a natural and innate response. Though we pride ourselves on being able to control these urges, they are always lurking somewhere beneath the surface of our most serene and civilized moments.

Violence is one of the most exaggerated forms of physical aggression and it can exist for a series of reasons. It involves a person or a group of persons acting against another person or groups of persons with the purpose to achieve one or several diverse goals. In many cases violence results from individuals perceiving the acts of other people as hostile and thus wanting to act against these people before it is too late. Depending on the situation, more or less individuals might get involved in an act of violence, especially when they consider that it would be essential for them to do so.

amount of the violence. My children at times were abused for defending me. I knew

“According to Kaj Bjorkqvist, a pioneer in the field of human aggression, the development of social and verbal skills allows for "sophisticated strategies of aggression," "with the aggressor being able to harm a target person without even being identified: Those strategies may be referred to as indirect aggression” ("Sex Differ- ences," 179).”

You must also take a look at the reasons for violent acts and what constitutes as such. In the “Meanings of Violence” by Dov Cohen and Joe Vandello, they examine the difference in the meaning of insults between the Southerners and Northerners in the United States. They talk about the importance in social status and the concept that anthropologist have called “Culture of Honor”. With the concept individual is based on their social position and how tough they are or what courage they carry. There is also the idea that if a persons social standing in reduced for whatever reason that there is belief that violence could be used to restore their position. The idea of culture-of-honor is that an incident may occur over something as “trivial” as being glanced at wrongly, or showing a threatening insult. The individuals may not see it as being a trivial circumstance but a threat to stand their ground and prove their

In the next lecture, Allan Wade immerses into how people react and resist violence, why it is significant to understand it and what difference it can make. In addition, Mr. Wade asserts that the details are essential in all contexts in order to get a tangible image of how human beings respond to violence. Several of the examples he presents later comes from his own experiences as a therapist.

Violence has a tendency to attract people's attentions and produce a strong emotional reaction (Getting par. 4).

The main focus will be on the historical ideas, concepts and theories that explain the creation of social violence as well as hate crime. Many factors contribute to social violence, while some of them come from

Lorenz and Freud have, in a large section of their work labelled aggression as mostly negative and destructive, but looking at its positive side, aggression is necessary as it contributes to our growth and development, independence, self-assertion, can address and remedy inequality and social injustice and above all promotes the survival of many

The conditions to model this violent behavior includes “attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation” which can be interpreted as the attention to the fact that violence is an adult’s response causes a child to model the behavior of the adults around them resulting in more violence (Bandura).

Aggression is distinguished in two forms, affective aggression and instrumental aggression. Affective aggression is aggression that is caused by emotions such as anger and frustration whereas instrumental aggression is aggression that is used as a means to some other goal. In the below, I will discuss both using the example of a child bullying another as instrumental aggression and a recent fatal stabbing of a young girl as both instrumental and affective aggression.

The first way to limit violence is through the idea of non-complementary behavior. There is a pattern of human behavior, treating

These theories of aggression are the most plausible because they account for both types of aggression, reactive and instrumental. People learn how to act from society, and use what is believed to be the most efficient way to achieve desired results. This can be a reaction to coerce someone into stopping an action, or instrumental, to force one to do something. Cues from the past, such as seeing a weapon that has been seen countless times on T.V. instead of a badminton racket, increases the aggressive reactions from people (Anderson).

The Bobo doll study found that children were more likely to imitate violent behaviour they witnessed in a film if they perceived the behaviour would generate positive outcomes (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963). Later findings across three decades of cognitive research on the effects of learning and priming concluded thoughts are connected by similar association, with media stimuli cognitively relating to memories and responses to trigger violent schemata retrieval in real- world situations (Berkowitz, 1984; Bushman & Geen, 1990; L Rowell Huesmann & Eron, 2013). Findings in two general aggression model (GAM) studies that complement cognitive frameworks, both monitored increases in physical arousal as potential determinants for short- term violent behavior. Again, positive correlations were found following exposure to media violence.(Bushman & Anderson, 2001; Thomas, Horton, Lippincott, & Drabman, 1977).