User:MandaG/Tutorial and lecture 4

Aggression

Defining aggression is an interesting and in my opinion impossible thing to do. I don't see how any explanation can cover the myriad of circumastances in what may be percieved to be aggression. Popular theories of aggression include: *An intentional behaviour, that causes harm and has a victim that want's to void harm. *Violence *Behaviour that results in the destruction of property or personal injury. While these explanations may seem plausible on the surface, when you add them together its like 2+2=5. For example two years ago I was participating in a mixed martial arts class and learnt the hard way how not to get out of a headlock. The result of this lesson was a broken neck and a lucky to be alive story. Now I did not interpret this act to be aggressive. The bloke who was my partner had no intention to cause me such personal injury even though the act was violent. So does this count as aggression or not? It meets one of the definitions but not another. Who decides what constitutes aggrassive behaviour and what does not? As aggression is considered to be antisocial behaviour and what is antisocial is decided by societal norms and regulations. So while aggression is taken to be a universal concept, what is considered to be aggresion is not.

Types of Aggression Hostile aggression *Hostile agression is characterised as being impulsive and oriented towards creating harm. I think in real world scenario's this type of aggression is best witnessed during or after a heated, emotional arguement. Instrumental agression *Intrumental aggression is a cold, pre-meditated act. Mob Hits, need I say more? Passive aggression *Passive aggression is the act of harming others by witholding a behaviour. Active Aggression *The act of harming others by performing an act. High school is like a ses pool for active aggression.

Inner Causes of Aggression
 * Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: The text tells us about the frustration aggression theorywhich is basically stating that people become frustrated when something that blocks or interferes with a goal which always leads to aggression. This hypothesis is based on Freud's we seek pleasure and avoid pain. I think this is in part true however, the idea that frustration always leads to some form of aggression is not realistic. The frustration-aggression theory doesn't count for any choices we make. Sometimes to achieve one goal people need to forgoe another, or achieve something for the "greater good" we make sacrafices which sure are frustrating at times but does not lead to aggression (I guess that sort of thing is why we no longer use the words always or never).
 * Being in a bad mood: Baumeister and Bushman say that people who are angry, upset and distraught are more prone to aggressive behaviour. Well duh. More technically though it is due to the the idea that people who are in tose states of emotion may act out in the belief that it will make them feel better.

Interpersonal Causes of Aggression So What to Do To reduce aggression it is highly recommended that the individual is around positive role models in the hopes that perhaps modelling will occur for the better, or at least not give rise to aggressive behaviour. That to release feelings of aggression one finds a healthy outlet in which to do it ie: kick boxing Anger management.
 * Social Learning Theory: One of he most famous social modelling/learning theories is that of Mr. Albert Bandura and his BoBo doll experiment. In this experiment the viewing of aggressive behaviour towards the doll increased the chances of the observer repeating the said behaviour. This experiment was criticisede for its contrived conditions and on its external validity. However, I think we see examples of social modelling everyday, and if we see it other area's why not with aggression?
 * The text looks at displacement aggression or kicking the dog but isn't moving your aggression about something else not a cause?