Aggression -- Intentional action aimed at doing harm or causing harm

Aggression?

Injuring someone accidentally?

Swinging a stick at someone but missing?

Insulting someone?

Deliberately failing to prevent harm?

Causes

Inherited or Learned Behaviors

Research on mice suggests that there is a genetic link to aggression.

Research published in 2003 in Neuron suggests that there may indeed be a genetic link to aggressive outbursts. The study, conducted with mice, noted that the animals that lacked a specific gene were far more aggressive than those mice with the gene. Human beings also have this gene, so the research seems to support the idea of a genetic link to aggression. Learned behaviors, unlike inherited traits, are not linked to genetics but acquired through environmental influence. Much research exists supporting the learned behavior cause.

Medical Problems

An adverse reaction to medication may cause aggressive behavior.

Medical reasons corresponding to mental illness or medications are possible causes of aggressive behaviors. If a person has an underlying psychological disorder, it may be causing inappropriate aggressive reactions. Even if the mentally ill individual is aware of his or her condition, serious aggressions can sometimes occur. Medications also have the power to bring about hostile behaviors in people with or without a psychological illness. Prescribed pills or simple over-the-counter medications can cause irritability, nervousness or other aggression-causing feelings.

Inward

People who engage in inward aggressive actions typically have an underlying mental problem.

Inward aggression occurs when individuals direct the belligerent actions towards themselves. Punishment is one motivating factor for hurting oneself and many aggressive people regularly engage in this behavior. Rather than hurt another human being, people who cannot control the impulsive action let it out on their own body. Release is another catalyst for directing aggressions internally. Instead of allowing the aggression to build up inside, the individual releases it through self-mutilation or some other form of aggressive behavior. People who display inward aggressive behaviors should get medical attention, since these actions are often symptoms of an underlying emotional problem.

External

External aggressive outbursts have various causes and differ with each person.

External aggression comes in many forms. From domestic violence and bullying to bar fights and schoolyard brawls, external aggressive behaviors occur when an individual directs the action towards another person. The causes of external aggressions vary and can include social pressure or a reaction to a previous abuse. Research published in 1998 in Psychological Science suggests that other factors, such as the presence of a gun, may also have an impact on aggressive behaviors. Each individual case will differ, and no single cause is linked as the reason behind external aggressive behaviors. . A robbery is an example of external aggression when the person committing it strikes the victim. Calculated plans to act aggressively are less common than hostile acts that occur spontaneously in the heat of the moment.

Types

Instrumental aggression

Immediate conditions

Opportunity for gain with high reward and low perceived risk

Long term conditions

Poverty or other challenging economic factors

Perceive crime as primary means to resources/respect

Norms foster aggression as way to achieve resources

Emotional aggression

Immediate conditions

Threat to self-esteem, status, or respect, particularly in public situations

Aggression to save face

Long term conditions

– Repeated threats to self-worth or status

Physical Violence

Physical aggression often involves acts of violence taken with the intention of causing harm to the recipient, including death, by using weapons or even someone's bare hands. Anger is a frequent source of aggression, but aggressive behavior can also result from intoxication or frustration, according to Wrong Diagnosis andHealthy Children. People suffering from Alzheimer's disease may also manifest aggressive behavior as a result of diminished cognitive capacity, confusion or frustration, according to Healthy Place. Self-mutilation, or physical violence turned against oneself, often occurs in conjunction with serious mental disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health and the Associations to Assist Persons With Emotional Lesions as well as antisocial personality disorder, according to OpenMed.

Verbal Hostility

The children's taunt "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" fails to account for emotional abuse carried out through verbal hostility. Verbal aggression includes behavior such as bullying, threats or yelling. The Mayo Clinic includes name-calling and insults under the category of domestic violence. Put-downs, intentional or perceived, can have profound detrimental effects on the recipients. Musician Karen Carpenter reportedly became anorexic after reading a review that called her "chubby." She died in 1983 of complications from anorexia nervosa at only 32 years old, according to Queen City News and OC Weekly.

Nonverbal Intimidation

Nonverbal intimidation often implies the threat of violence, at least in the perception of the person at the receiving end. Stalking often involves one or more forms of nonverbal intimidation, including following the victim, planting malicious software in a victim's computer, sending unwanted gifts and vandalism against the victim's property, according to Sexual Harassment Support. A famous example

of nonverbal intimidation occurred during the movie "Fatal Attraction," when Alex kills her victim's daughter's pet rabbit.

Passive Aggression

The Mayo Clinic defines passive aggression as an indirect way of expressing displeasure or anger. Passive aggression is often generated by resentment on the part of someone who is unable or unwilling to express this resentment directly. Deliberately or subconsciously performing a task poorly is one form of passive aggression, agreeing to perform a task but failing to do so is another, according to Psychology Today. Procrastination can also be a form of passive aggression.

What physical responses:

The feeling of anger may differ from person to person; women, for example, are more likely to describe anger slowly building through the body rate, while men describe it as a fire or a flood raging within them.

This area controls reasoning and is likely what's keeping you from hurling a vase across the room. These areas generally balance each other out quickly; according to some research, the neurological response to anger lasts less than two seconds [source: McCarthy]. This is why you get a lot of advice about counting to 10 when angry.

Many cite the example of Phineas Gage to explain the importance of the frontal lobe in controlling our rage. In 1848, Gage, a nice, dependable railroad worker suffered an accident in which a rod went through his skull, right above the left eye. From then on, Gage was angry, irritable and unstable, and not just because he'd had a rod driven through his skull. Rather, the rod had destroyed the part of his brain that could inhibit an angry response.

For some of these effects, the key is tempering the triggers that set you off, so that you're not mad at every little thing.

But for some of these diseases, the key is how you're expressing your anger. On the next page, we'll look at whether letting it all hang out is a good idea.

What to look for?

Aggression | Common Signs

Yells, shouts or screams

Physical outbursts against the caregiver

Verbal outbursts against the caregiver

Physically attack others (e.g kicking, punching, hitting)

Verbally attacks others (e.g shouts, insults)

Causes injury to themselves

Causes injury to others or the caregiver

Physically or verbally threatens the caregiver or others

Resists and refuses assistance with verbal outburst

Resists and refuses assistance with physical outburst

Theory

Bobo” doll study

½ kids watched adult beat up doll

½ kids not exposed to the behavior

Kids allowed to play with doll

Results??

When?

When do people aggress?

– Under what conditions are people likely to aggress?

– What situational factors cause people to aggress?

FAT

• Study

• Young children in room with toys

• ½ can’t play with toys, then allowed to play

• ½ can play with toys

• Results: frustrated kids destroyed the toys

Confederate cut in line in front of people

½ time cut in front of 2nd person in line

½ time cut in front of 12th person in line

Results: people standing behind intruder more aggressive when confederate cut 2nd person in line (closer to their goal)

Study

Students hired to call strangers for donations

Students worked on a commission

½ students expected a high rate of contributions

½ students expected far less success

Experiment rigged so donors did not donate

Results: callers with high expectations were more verbally aggressive toward the non-donors

Berkowitz

– Induced Ps to feel angry

– Left in a room with gun (violent) or racket (neutral)

– Ps allowed to administer “shocks” to other P

– Ps gave more shocks to other when gun present

Alcohol

– Results is more extreme, less moderated behavior

– Aggressive response: often powerful and simple

– Inhibiting response: often weaker and more complex