The Psychosocial Theories Of Aggression

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Aggression can be referred as a range of behaviors that can result in physical damage to oneself, to others, or objects nearby. Aggressive should not be confused with assertiveness. Being aggressive involves the intent of hurting another (either verbal or physical). Aggression is common in everyday society. We are exposed to aggression every day. It is exposed in the workplace, at home, in school, or just in the neighborhood. The news is filled with horror stories that include rape, murder, assault, abuse, child abuse, sexual harassment and morbid diseases human beings are suffering from. Psychologists have had many approaches and thoughts when it comes to aggression. Psychologists such as Konrad Lorenz (1966) focused on the ethological theory, and Sigmund Freud (1920) analyzed his psychodynamic approach to understand aggression. Then there’s the social/biosocial explanations offered by the frustration/aggression by John Dollard (1939), social learning by Albert Bandura (1961) …show more content…

However, he disagrees that it is a “survival trait”. Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud. According to this theory, human aggression is related to the person and not to this situation, which makes aggression unavoidable in human life. Freud believed that all humans had the drive for aggression and the drive for pleasure. He viewed the aggressive drive as part of the ID (which motivates behavior), while ego is our rational self, and the superego is the ideal image of ourselves. The problem between such creates inner-conflict within the individual, who then uses a coping mechanism to block awareness of such conflict. Anna Freud, Freud’s psychoanalytic heir, believed that emotional attachments in early childhood help to fuse or neutralize aggressive urges later in life. According to Freud’s theory, aggression can never be avoided, but it can be controlled by channeling into symbolic

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