The Psychological Theories Of Aggression And Violence

Sigmund Freud(1915), also developed a theory of aggression asserted that aggression arose when the ego-instincts, or the ego’s struggle for self-preservation, are impeded. He said: “The ego hates, abhors and pursues with the intent to destroy all objects which is a source of pain” (Freud, 1915).

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

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.

Social Psychological Theories of Aggression Social learning theorists propose that behaviour, such as aggression is learnt through observation, imitation and behaviour shaping. This behaviour is learnt automatically through observation of male and female role models, for example parents, peers and media characters. Whether or not this behaviour is imitated depends on the type of reinforcement that the role model receives. Vicarious reinforcement involves the outcome of a role models behaviour, for example if a child observes a parent acting aggressively and receiving positive rewards for they are more like to be imitate this behaviour in the future, than they would be if the role model

Dance is the beginning of the unit and therefore serves as an introduction to mental and emotions.

Aggression is defined as behaviour directed towards another living being with the intent of harming or injuring them in someway, and can be defined as either

Two psycho-biologically distinctive modes of aggression, affective and predatory, have received substantial experimental and clinical attention during the past 30 years. Affective aggression in humans is a defensive mode of violence that is accompanied by high levels of sympathetic arousal and emotion, usually anger and fear, and is a time-limited reaction to an imminent threat. Predatory aggression in humans is an attack mode of violence that is accompanied by minimal automatic arousal, and is planned, purposeful, and emotionless.

There are many different ways that behavior can be explained, especially on the terms of nature vs. nurture. Aggression is a behavior that has been extensively analyzed in a complex manner and the causes of it can be explained many different ways. Aggression can be defined as hostile or destructive behavior that can cause injury or destructive outlook especially when caused by frustration. Nature can be defined as aspects of behavior that have been inherited or are genetic, while nurture is all aspects that are influenced by environmental characteristics and experience. Many factors, both biological and environmental, influence and promote aggressive behaviors, such as hormones and neurotransmitters, genetics, family life, past experiences, and hobbies.

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

Meyers and Dewall 2015, has defined aggression as “any act intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.” Ferguson and Beaver 2009 defines aggression as “behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of the organism relative to the dominance position of other organisms.” This definition is more directed towards the evolutionary influences of violence. Human ancestors lived in a survival of the fittest world. In order to survive, they needed to be the strongest, smartest and most dominant. Another definition from The World Health Organization (2009) states that violence is “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual against oneself, another person pr against a group or community, that either results in or has high like hood of resulting injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.” Aggression does not always have to be negative. Violence is accepted in some forms such as for sport, self-defense, defense of others, war, etc. For the purpose of this paper, aggression will be looked at in a negative way. To try to understand violence, the Nature verse Nurture lens will be

Sigmund Freud proposed that aggression was an inborn instinct or drive, as compared to later theorists who felt aggression was a reaction or a response to a situation (Meyer, 1996). Freud postulated that all human beings have two basic drives: aggressive and libidinal. The two drives were thought to appear in human behavior in a fused state. The aggressive drive was seen basically as destructive. Thus, it was referred to as thanatos, or the death instinct. This destructive aggression could be directed toward others or could be turned in on the self. If the latter occurred, a person would engage in self-punitive behaviors or suicide. The aggressive drive, Freud felt, could also be diverted into positive channels. Social psychologists disagree with the instinctual theory of aggression primarily on the basis that there is no empirical evidence to substantiate aggression as a drive. The instinctual theory of aggression is also criticized on the basis that if this were a universal trait in all human beings, then all humans would display aggression (Meyer, 1996).

Physical assault and aggression is the second leading cause of death among 14 to 17 year olds, next to vehicular accidents (Loeber). But why are humans so aggressive in the first place? There are two sides of the debate: Nature, and Nurture. Some say that it’s human nature, genetics that cause most behaviors, while others say that we act as we learned during childhood. This argument applies to aggression as well. Aggression is mainly caused by things during childhood and adolescence where people learn from various sources about aggression, although, human psychology plays a slight factor.

Chapter 1 explains the work of a Harvard psychologist named William James. William published the article “What is an Emotion?” in a philosophical journal entitled Mind in 1884. His paper is an argument for the primacy and necessity of bodily systems in producing emotional feelings. James-Lange theory states that physiological arousal instigates the experience of emotion. A Harvard physiologist, Walter Cannon, roundly criticized James’ theory, claiming that, according to the Cannon Bard theory, physiological changes follow emotional expression.

In everyday life there is a constant evidence of interaction between cognition and emotion. If we see something funny we laugh, if we fear we run or hide, if we are distressed we find it hard to concentrate. However we do not need to present any of the emotions to others, we can regulate them, think about situations and consequences and estimate the outcome. We are able to control our emotions. Ochsner and Gross(2005,p.242) argues that capacity to control emotion is important for human adaptation. The question is to what extent does cognition control emotion?

For many people, they live their lives based on emotions. Emotions of happiness, love, success, and many more, could possibly be the most satisfying feelings. Except we commonly experience unpleasant emotions. There are emotions of anger, hatred, sadness, and disgrace. A very important question in the understanding of the human mind and highly related to cognitive science, is how do these emotions affect human cognition and the impact on our abilities to be rational? To tackle this question, we need to understand what emotions are, but not solely in the manner we are all familiar with, we need to understand them from a cognitive nature involving our physiology, psychology, and environment. Cognition, according to the Oxford definition