Theories of Aggression Essay

On April 20, 1999, the unimaginable occurred at Columbine High School in the small town of Littleton, Colorado. A school shooting, perpetrated by, then senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took the entire community by storm. With 15 deaths, including the perpetrators, and 24 non-fatal injuries, the memories of this horrific massacre will forever resonate in minds of all. With a meticulously, thought out plan, the two shooters prepared guns and bombs before performing the sickening act. Families, the FBI, local officials, psychologists,

It was 11:19 am when the first set of gunshots pierced through the walls of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In 49 short minutes, two high school seniors, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and 1 teacher, and then killed themselves. Months prior, the pair planned out the attacks in a series of journal entries and video diaries. The attack at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 raised many questions; the biggest one being, why did they do it? While the common media misconception is that the Columbine shooting was a war against jocks and outcasts, the shooting was actually perpetuated by psychopathy and depression in the shooters.

day two seniors Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris carried out a full blown assault on the school during school hours with hundreds of kids and teachers present” (Levy, 1999). These two had a plan to kill as many people as they possibly could. They had multiple guns and explosives as they patrolled the halls looking for their victims. By the time the situation was resolved they had murdered 12 students and 1 teacher before they killed themselves.

On Tuesday, April 20 1999, Columbine High School located in Columbine Colorado an unfortunate massacre happened and many teens lost their lives. The two students responsible for this incident were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. These two senior students were responsible for killing twelve students and one teacher; they were also responsible for injuring an additional twenty one students on their rampage. A few other students were injured while trying to escape the school. Columbine is considered the fourth deadliest school massacre in history. It was said to be that there was not one target but everyone was a target on Eric and Dylan’s rampage through the high school

On a Tuesday in 1999, two armed teenagers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, entered their high-school and began shooting classmates. They shot and killed 13 and injured 21 before taking their own lives. The Columbine High School massacre made history. They acquired their guns by purchasing them from acquaintances.

The Columbine Massacre that occurred on April 20th, 1999 is one of the biggest shocks to hit the United States at that time. It was centered around two lonely and depressed high school boys, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who had a highly-detailed plan on attending school with explosives and firearms. The perpetrators murdered 12 students and a teacher during the attack along with injuring 21 additional people. The first victim who had their life taken was 17-year-old Rachel Scott who took shots in the head and in the torso when the two gunmen entered the school. “Scott was an energetic, sociable girl, who displayed concern for the well-being of others (About).” Eric and Dylan ended the attack by committing suicide.

During what started like any other day in a small Colorado town on April 20th, 1999 ended in tragedy and death. Seniors Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris wrote about how they would execute the massacre. In the journal found in Harris’s bedroom was written almost every part of their plan. They wrote how they would like to “leave a lasting impression on the world with this kind of violence” as well as how they wanted to “kill mankind” and have no one to survive. Initially they wrote how they were planning for a long time to bomb the school in an attack similar to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, but its failure led to this event. The investigators also found videotapes in which some contained both seniors planning and practicing with their guns for the attack and others

Eighteen years ago on April 20, 1999, two students identified as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold besieged Columbine High School in Colorado. Infamously known now as the Columbine Massacre, it was, at the time, “ the worst school shooting in U.S. history” (Obmascik, 1999, para. 1) with 15 causalities including the perpetrators themselves. Despite occurring in a small town in Colorado, the event shook the entire country. The shooting became a national ordeal as America watched "the murders being broadcast[ed] locally and nationally on live television" (Obmascik, 1999, para. 12). Moreover, as news outlets continuously published reports on the massacre, information unraveled and a story developed in real time.

On April 20, 1999, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who attended Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado went on a shooting spree, leaving thirteen dead and twenty wounded before turning the guns on themselves and committing suicide. This attack would go down as the single worst school shooting in United States history and the shooting spread fear in people across the nation and caused a rise in security. Schools across America introduced new security measures such as metal detectors, dress codes and I.D. badges. Despite the fear left in many people they were still asking several questions: How could two kids do such a horrific act? Was bullying to blame for this attack? Could attacks like these be prevented?

What would drive two seemingly normal high schoolers to try and slaughter everyone they went to school with? Was it the bullying, angst or video games and movies? Or none of the above. As we examine what led up to one of the worst domestic terrorist acts in American history I think we’ll that find Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold weren’t your average teenagers. In my opinion they were cold blooded killers who had every intention to take as many lives as they could.

Craig Scott, a survivor of the Columbine massacre, once said while visiting the well known school, “this is the most famous high school in all of America for the wrong reasons.” On April 20, 1999 two high school students - Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold - opened fire on fellow students and teachers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The two boys killed twelve students, one teacher, and wounded twenty-four others before turning their guns on themselves. That day at Columbine has left an impact on the nation, as well as the American education system. The shocking event lead to enhanced school security, student training, and an emphasis on positive relationships between students, teachers, and members of the community.

April 20, 1999, a day that brought shame and grief to the country of America. It took the nation twelve student deaths, one teacher fatality, two suicides and twenty-one others whom were left seriously injured to finally provoke a close examination of the increasing levels of violence that were occurring countrywide. At 11:19am, after attending their early morning bowling class, eighteen-year-old Eric Harris and seventeen-year-old Dylan Klebold carried out a mass shooting at their own local high school situated in the small town of Columbine in Jefferson County Colorado. Armed with semi-automatic rifles, hand guns and numerous other explosives, the horror inflicted by the two individuals lasted approximately 12 minutes before they concluded by taking their own lives. What intensified the spread of fear across many was the realisation that if such an episode could strike a quiet suburb community such as Columbine, similar occurrences had the capacity to shatter lives anywhere now more so than ever. U.S citizen’s response to the killings was to palpably determine the reasoning behind what could have driven two young teenagers to commit such horrific murders. To no surprise it was for the majority of them and also the government to subsequently conclude from analysed possibilities it was founded from bullying in the classroom and violence portrayed via the media. The scale of such an event and the debate amongst many as to what enabled two such beings to A. be fuelled by such

On April 20th, 1999 at Columbine High School, Colorado, Two students: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebald stormed the school grounds with two semi-automatic rifles and home made explosives, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as injuring 21 others. The pair then committed suicide. This event was the inspiration for Michael Moore’s documentary Bowling For Columbine. In this film he tackles the issue of gun control in America and why they are so different to other countries around the world.

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.

Relational aggression (RA) is defined as nonphysical behaviors that aim to deliberately cause harm to another individual by destroying relationships, harming social status or self-esteem, or public embarrassment (Crick, Werner, Casas, O’Brien, Nelson, Grotpeter, & Markon, 1999). Examples include behaviors such as purposely ignoring a peer, spreading rumors, creating undesirable gossip, and excluding a peer from group activities, (Crick, 1996; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Crick, Ostrov, & Werner, 2006). RA can occur as early as preschool years, and plays a huge role in the interactions among this population with behaviors such as covering one’s ears as a sign of ignoring another peer (Bonica, Arnold, Fisher, Zeljo, & Yershova, 2003; Crick et al.,