For instance, a rugby player who accidentally breaks the arm of another player or a driver who accidentally hits a pedestrian would not by our definition be displaying aggression because although harm was done, there was no intent to harm. And not all intentional behaviors that hurt others are aggressive behaviors. A dentist might intentionally give a patient a painful injection of a painkiller, but the goal is to prevent further pain during the procedure.
Because our definition requires us to determine the intent of the perpetrator, there is going to be some interpretation of these intents and there may well be disagreement among the parties involved. The U. Although the player whose arm is broken in a rugby match may attribute hostile intent, the other player may claim that the injury was not intended.
Within the legal system, juries and judges are frequently asked to determine whether harm was done intentionally. Social psychologists use the term violence to refer to aggression that has extreme physical harm, such as injury or death, as its goal.
Thus violence is a subset of aggression. All violent acts are aggressive, but only acts that are intended to cause extreme physical damage, such as murder, assault, rape, and robbery, are violent. Slapping someone really hard across the face might be violent, but calling people names would only be aggressive. The type or level of intent that underlies an aggressive behavior creates the distinction between two fundamental types of aggression, which are caused by very different psychological processes.
Emotional or impulsive aggression refers to aggression that occurs with only a small amount of forethought or intent and that is determined primarily by impulsive emotions. When Nazim yells at his boyfriend, this is probably emotional aggression—it is impulsive and carried out in the heat of the moment.
Other examples are the jealous lover who strikes out in rage or the sports fans who vandalize stores and destroy cars around the stadium after their team loses an important game. Instrumental or cognitive aggression , on other hand, is aggression that is intentional and planned. Instrumental aggression is more cognitive than affective and may be completely cold and calculating. Instrumental aggression is aimed at hurting someone to gain something—attention, monetary reward, or political power, for instance.
If the aggressor believes that there is an easier way to obtain the goal, the aggression would probably not occur. A bully who hits a child and steals her toys, a terrorist who kills civilians to gain political exposure, and a hired assassin are all good examples of instrumental aggression.
Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between instrumental and emotional aggression, and yet it is important to try to do so. Emotional aggression is usually treated differently in the legal system with less severe consequences from cognitive, instrumental aggression. However, it may well be the case that all aggression is at least in part instrumental because it serves some need for the perpetrator. Social psychologists agree that aggression can be verbal as well as physical. Therefore, slinging insults at a friend is definitely aggressive, according to our definition, just as hitting someone is.
Physical aggression is aggression that involves harming others physically —for instance hitting, kicking, stabbing, or shooting them. Nonphysical aggression is aggression that does not involve physical harm. Nonverbal aggression also occurs in the form of sexual, racial, and homophobic jokes and epithets, which are designed to cause harm to individuals. One reason that people may use nonphysical rather than physical aggression is that it is more subtle. When we use these techniques, we may be able to better get away with it—we can be aggressive without appearing to others to be aggressing.
Although the negative outcomes of physical aggression are perhaps more obvious, nonphysical aggression also has costs to the victim. Craig found that children who were victims of bullying showed more depression, loneliness, peer rejection, and anxiety in comparison to other children. One notable recent example was the suicide of year-old Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi on September 22, Cyberbullying can be directed at anyone, but lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered LGBT students are most likely to be the targets Potok, Hinduja and Patchin found that youth who report being victims of cyberbullying experience a variety of stresses from it, including psychological disorders, alcohol use, and in extreme cases, suicide.
There is perhaps no clearer example of the prevalence of violence in our everyday lives than the increase in terrorism that has been observed in the past decade National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, These terrorist attacks have occurred in many countries across the world, in both Eastern as well as Western cultures. Even affluent Western democracies such as Denmark, Italy, Spain, France, Canada, and the United States have experienced terrorism, which has killed thousands of people, primarily innocent civilians.
Terrorists use tactics such as killing civilians to create publicity for their causes and to lead the governments of the countries that are attacked to overrespond to the threats McCauley, How can we understand the motives and goals of terrorists? Blair RJR. The neurobiology of impulsive aggression. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. The general aggression model. Curr Opin Psychol.
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I Accept Show Purposes. Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. Managing Aggression. Frequently Asked Questions. What Is Aggression? How to Identify Emotional Abuse. Childhood Trauma and Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback! Sign Up. What are your concerns? Over half all behaviors rated as problematic included components of aggression against self or others, while one-third included destruction of property. Causes and Risk Factors. Genetic: While the exact mechanism through which this behavior is passed down in unknown, unless there is concordance for a specific disorder, it has been recognized that those with first degree relatives who have aggressive behavior problems are more likely to develop them than those without a similar family history.
The Brain-Behavior Connection — Aggressive behavior is elicited when anger- inciting experiences are encountered, and the frontal lobes process this information. The frontal lobes are associated with functions such as impulse controls, behavioral inhibition, reasoning and decision making.
If there is frontal-lobe damage aggressive behavior may result. Modeling — When children grow up in a home where aggression is a common expression of distress or impulsive reaction to misinterpretations, imagined slights or exaggerations of real circumstance they mimic this behavior pattern until it is internalized. Other Disorders — In addition to the previously listed disorders, there are additional conditions which can lead to aggression including brain tumors and closed head injuries.
Some of these disorders may include bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, schizophrenia, and ADHD. Life Threatening Causes of Aggression — Since there are dangerous causes of aggression, any sudden behavior changes which include this symptoms should be evaluated immediately.
Specific conditions include hypoglycemia acute delirium, mania, meningitis, stroke, alcohol or drug overdose or withdrawal or traumatic brain injury. Signs and Symptoms. Aggression may associated with other symptoms that are determined by the underlying disorder or illness. Ailments that influence behavior often also have psychological, cognitive, and physical symptoms. Some additional signs and symptoms may include:.
Aggression can be the result of numerous causes, some of them serious illnesses.
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