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
This essay will provide an analytical comparison of the approaches of Psychodynamic perspective and Behaviourist perspective, in understanding Aggression. One assumption about human behaviour from the psychodynamic perspective is that all behaviour including aggression is determined by our genes. In contrast, the behaviourist perspective argues that aggression is shaped by our environment.
Aggressive individuals often act in ways that will result in having personal gain, rather than focusing what impact they have on others. Aggression is pervasive. It affects the rich as well as the poor, the upper and lower classes, it defines us. This means that most sole individuals will behave in certain ways to promote their well being, instead of how they affect others. Michael Crichton uses characters in Jurassic Park to portray the negative physical, social and intellectual impact they can have on society. This is evident in everyday life because society has molded individuals into looking out for their well being with no considerations of the impact that it has on others.
Aggression is defined as any behavior intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid the harm according to Baumeister & Bushman (2014). A study was conducted in 1967 by Leonard Berkowitz and Anthony LePage, to determine whether the presence of weapons would elicit aggressive behavior from an individual (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). They hypothesized that participants were likely to associate weapons, particularly firearms, to aggression and violence, which would cause observing a weapon to elicit an aggressive response. The experiment determined that the presence of weapon can elicit an aggressive response from people ready to act aggressively. In the study, participants were shocked up to seven times then given the opportunity to
Most human who sometimes display violent behavior most of the time do it out if or for a reaction. There is no one thing that can tell how or why human are violent, but we know that they are and sometimes it stems from their child and a lot of time it just happens but we know from certain situations such as the one like the Stanford prison experiment that human can be violent. Humans can, and do, engage in a wide variety of aggression. However, being aggressive is not our the first behavior that comes to mind. There is insufficient evidence to argue that we have evolved a suite of specifically aggressive behaviors to succeed in the world. Dr. J Archer says that In fact, it is largely our abilities to get along and to negotiate complex social problems, with and without aggression, that make humans one of the most successful species on this planet. If you really want to think deeply about aggression, violence, abuse, warfare, and human
Researchers have found several social factors that attribute to childhood aggression. Some of these factors include mother infant relationships, neighborhood structure, family structure, and peer influences.
Aggression is defined as a form of animal behavior characterized by an assault or attack by one animal on another. In humans aggression is a learned behavior as opposed to an instinctual behavior, it is learned in childhood, and as one matures into an adult, these aggressive behaviors develop and become part of one's personality traits.
“Relational aggression is defined as behaviors that harm others by damaging (or threatening to damage) or manipulating one’s relationship with his/her peers, or by injuring one’s feelings of social acceptance.” (Ophelia Project, “Issues” par 3). This type of aggression is mainly directed toward the emotions rather than physical behavior. Some examples of relational aggression include:
Sigmund Freud believes that aggressive behavior comes from "original self subsisting intellectual disposition." Freud visualized that two opposed classes of instincts create internal human dynamics. These two classes are the Eros and the Thanatos. Freud believes that each human being contains both the Eros and Thanatos. The Eros represents the good inside man. It symbolizes life, creativity, and reaching out or incorporation. The Thanatos represents the evil that lurks inside of man. It signifies death, destructive be...
Aggression is a sub-field under social psychology because social psychology is the study of how individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior changes in groups while interacting with other people. In comparison, aggression falls directly under this category because psychologist’s main goal is to try to understand how aggressive people tend to change in their behavior and mentality when their objective is to cause pain. People who are aggressive either physically or psychological educe pain and suffering upon an individual by verbally assaulting someone, berating them, spreading vicious rumors, or even name calling. Everyday schoolchildren are getting bullied, spouses are facing domestic violence, families encounter arguments, and the list continues because everyday aggressors react negatively to these scenarios. However, they are levels of extreme aggressive behavior compare to the others, such as violence being the highest form of aggression. Kassin et al. states compared to violence, the other forms of aggression, such as anger and hostility are less harmful compare to violence because “people can be angry with others and regard them with great hostility without ever trying to harm them” (2014). When someone is angry, they are usually experiencing irritation, hate, or other displeasing feelings. Similarly, those who express hostility, which are negative feelings the aggressor
"Two Gunman at Colorado School Reportedly Kill Up to 23 Before Dying in a Siege." On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, of Columbine High School, shocked the nation when they entered the school armed with guns and explosives, killing fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives. Stories of random violence and aggression such as this all too often plague the media. While the attention of the nation has recently been focused on the Colorado slayings, history reveals countless other similar crimes of aggression targeted towards innocent individuals. In both Nazi Germany and the more recent Bosnia conflict, ethnic cleansing has been used to violently eliminate certain races. In the early 1990s, Timothy McVegh's vengeful intentions led him to use a car bomb to kill hundreds of innocent people in the explosion of the Oklahoma City Federal Building.
Freud’s observation that human beings essential boil down to being creatures with innate instincts, including aggressionn, which he call “an original self subsisting instinctual disposition in man…the greatest impediment to civilization” (Freud 118). In Chapter VII of Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud mentions and cultivates the concept of the superego—the embodiment of aggressive tendencies and tying it together with the ego and the result of guilt in individuals, which articulates the requisite to be punished, which Freud believes to the origins of
Famous psychological theorists Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers were both the greatest researchers in our modern time. They both made a lot of advancement in psychological fields, clinical evidence and expertise. They both developed a theory of 'hidden' personality’, in which the psychologists theorized that people have a ‘hidden' personality within them, one which they are not aware of. This concept indicated that the human nature and the role play in rationale behind the human motivation. Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers do have same common in their theories. They were both influenced by working within their patients and shared the familiarity through the many years of clinical performance. Based on their experimental studies, Sigmund Freud believed that the human nature is inherently aggressive, and Carl Rogers sustained that the people are innately are good. Indeed, Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers have diverse opinions and different assumptions on the personality of a human. During the contemporary scientific research, I prefer to agree with Roger’s theory over the Freudian model because it is more in tune with findings of my experiences.
In all of these possibilities--instinct, heredity, hormones, or brain dysfunction--the aggression occurs without apparent provocation from the environment (although there is almost always a "target"). According to some of these theories, the need or urge to be aggressive is boiling within each of us and seeks opportunities to express itself. There is also clear evidence that alcohol consumption and hotter temperatures release aggression, but no one thinks there is something in alcohol or heat that generates meanness. The socialization process, i.e. becoming a mature person, involves taming these destructive, savage, self-serving urges that probably helped us humans survive one million years ago but threatens our survival today.
The first thing to look at is what human aggression is. It is defined as any behavior toward another individual that is carried out with the proximate (immediate) intent to cause harm (Anderson & Bushman 2002). Not to get confused with violence, all violent acts have aggression but not all aggressive acts are violent. For example kids often aggressive behavior towards each other but without the intent to hurt them. So now it’s time to look at the different types of aggression. Affective aggression (also labeled 'hostile' or 'emotional' is usually conceived as impulsive, thoughtless (that is, unplanned), driven by anger, having the ultimate motive of harming the target, and occurring in reaction to some perceived provocation. Instrumental aggression, in contrast, is usually conceived as a premeditated means of obtaining some goal other than harming the victim, being proactive rather than reactive, and resulting from cold calculation rather than hot affect. Impulsive aggression is usually conceived as thoughtless (automatic, fast, and without consider...
Aggression has been linked to significant repercussions in academic and social functioning (Farmer et al., 2011); and studies on youth have concluded that physical aggression was a predicting factor which preceded risky behaviors which developed later on in the adolescents that were studied. Those dicey inclinations included early onset of sexual activity and tendency to unsafe sexual behaviors, as well as substance abuse that incorporated tobacco, alcohol and drugs (Deater-Decard, 2008). This is an indication of how important is to prevent and intervene before aggression can lead to other dangerous and risky behaviors. To Deater-Decard (2008) it is essential that we continue to understand and improve our capability to decrease aggression, and to minimize the impact on our society.