Running head: AGGRESSION 1

Social & Community Psychology Assignment

AGGRESSION

Submitted by-:

Fardeen Rafique (18MPS015)

Farheen Ayesha (18MPS016)
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Introduction
Social psychologists define aggression as behavior that is intended to harm another
individual who does not wish to be harmed (Baron & Richardson, 1994). Aggression is a word
that we use every day to characterize the behavior of others and perhaps even of ourselves
(Stangor, 2012). We say that people are aggressive if they yell at or hit each other, if they cut off
other cars in traffic, or even when they smash their fists on the table in frustration. But other
harmful acts, such as the injuries that sports players receive during a rough game or the killing of
enemy soldiers in a war might not be viewed by everyone as aggression (Stangor, 2012).
Because aggression is so difficult to define, social psychologists, judges, and politicians
(as well as many other people, including lawyers), have spent a great deal of time trying to
determine what should and should not be considered aggression. Doing so forces us to make use
of the processes of causal attribution to help us determine the reasons for the behavior of others.

Theories of Aggression:
There are several theories that seek to explain aggression in one way or the other, taking
into several biological, cognitive, and environmental factors. Some of these well-known theories
of aggression are as follows-:

Instinct Theory of Aggression. The instinct theory of aggression originates from the
instinct of death or destruction (Sharma, n.d.). Physiologically, the death instinct represents the
force which tends to destroy the organic life and to lead organic matter back to the inorganic
state. Psychologically, the death instinct gives rise to hostile and aggressive behaviour, to
aggressive sexual activity or to self and race destruction. Thus, love and hatred, pleasure and
pain, life and death instincts go side by side. The death instinct otherwise known as the instinct
of aggression is also expressed in destructive and aggressive intellectual activities such as
criticism, satire and taunts (Sharma, n.d.).
According to the instinct theory of aggression, aggression is a global instinctive, steam
boiler like force which Freud and his associates argue is urgently required and basically
inevitable for self preservation as well as reproduction. McDougall has also denoted the
phenomenon of aggression in the instinct of combat on the basis of the instinct theory of
aggression first postulated by Freud, Miller, Dollard and others (Sharma, n.d.). The instinct
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theory of aggression holds that aggression is inherited and biological in nature and is expressed
overtly and covertly i.e., outwardly and internally.

The instinct theory of aggression was advanced by Sigmund Freud (1927). In his earlier
writings, Freud was of view that all human behaviour originates either directly or indirectly from
‘EROS’, the life instinct, which helps in reproduction of life. In this background aggression was
considered simply as a reaction to the blocking of libidinal impulses. Thus, it was neither an
automatic nor an inevitable part of life. But in the course of psychoanalysis, and particularly after
the second World War, Freud (1927) gradually came to know the presence of two basic urges
such as Eros and Thanatos or life instinct and death instinct instead of one instinct (Life instinct)
held earlier (Sharma, n.d.). He thus held that all human behaviour including aggressive
behaviour stems from the complex interaction between the instinct of Eros and Thanatos and the
constant tension between them. Freud (1927), further held that the death instinct is unrestrained
and results in self destruction. So he indicated that through other mechanisms like displacement,
the energy of Thanatos i.e. aggression is redirected outward so that it serves as the basis for
aggression against others instead of destructing the self. Thus in Freud’s view aggression
originates primarily from the redirection of self destructive death instinct away from the person
towards others.

Frustration Aggression Hypothesis. Miller and Dollard (1939) define frustration as

“that condition which exists when a goal response suffers interference.” Frustrating events are
those which block the individual’s goal oriented behaviour, threaten his self-esteem or deprive
him of the opportunity to gratify his important motives and immediate goals. When an event or
situation disturbs or upsets the child or the adult, it is considered frustrating. But a situation
which is considered frustrating for one person may not be frustrating for another person. Here,
parental training, social class, economic status and early childhood training for frustration
tolerance play their role (Berkowitz, 1989).

Freud probably for the first time gave the term frustration a scientific basis. Frustration,
in simple terms, may be understood as that state in the organism which exists as a consequence
of interference in the goal oriented behaviour and gives rise to a number of maladaptive or
substituted reactions. The Frustration-Aggression hypothesis proposed by Miller and Dollard
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(1939) is a significant contribution in tracing the causes of aggression. This hypothesis states that
aggression is always a consequence of frustration, and postulates the following (Miller &
Dollard, 1939):

i. A thwarting person’s efforts to reach a goal induce an aggressive drive in him which
in turn triggers off a behaviour to injure or destroy the person or object which has
caused the frustration.

ii. The expression of aggression reduces the desire for it.

The key aspect of the hypothesis is that aggression is the measure and fundamental
reaction to frustration though other responses like regression, withdrawal, reaction formation and
displacement etc. may occur. According to this hypothesis, aggression is not inborn but is a
learned behaviour. Since frustration is found universally aggression is also found universally,
they say, and hence, frustration may be considered as a drive (Miller & Dollard, 1939). In other
words, the proponents of the Frustration Aggression hypothesis advocate that aggression is
always a consequence of frustration of some sort. They further say “although these reactions may
be temporarily compressed, delayed, disguised, displaced and otherwise deflected from their
immediate and logical goals, they are not destroyed. It is, therefore, inevitable that aggression
follows frustration” (Miller & Dollard, 1939).

This theory is still considered as an excellent theory which explains how frustration
produces aggression and if frustration is minimized aggression, violence and crime can be
minimized in the society if not totally uprooted. In-spite of the criticisms that this hypothesis had
to face and in-spite of its limitations it is undoubtedly the starting point of all research in the area
of frustration, aggression and its probable reactions (Berkowitz, 1989).

Social Learning Theory. Bandura, Berkowitz and others (1989), the proponents of
social learning theory views that an arousal which results from frustration does not necessarily
lead to aggression, but only creates a condition for a readiness to cope with a threatening
situation.It can elicit different kinds of responses depending upon the kind of responses an
individual has learned to cope with the frustrating situations in the earlier period of life.
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Bandura (1965) has demonstrated that aggressive responses can be learned by

reinforcement or by imitation or by modeling which come under social learning theory. In a
study on nursery school children it was observed that when an adult showed various forms of
aggressive responses towards a large doll, the children showed similar aggressive responses
through imitation. Thereafter, they were shown film versions of aggressive modeling using dolls
as cartoons. Results showed that the children who had observed life cartoon characters exhibited
greater aggressive behaviour. It was also noticed from follow up studies that children
remembered these aggressive reactions even after eight months.

Crime and violence shown in television and films nowadays help increase aggressive
behaviour, crime and hostility to an enormous extent. This proves that aggressive behaviour is
mostly learnt and imitated from the environment in which the child lives. Social learning theory
relies on the role of modeling, identification and human interactions. According to Bandura
(1965), a person can learn by imitating and observing the behaviour of another person. But at the
same time personal factors also play a role in determining one’s identification with and imitation
of other persons. Thus, if the model is not liked, appreciated or respected by the person, then his
behaviour may not be imitated only when a person identifies with another person and likes him,
he accepts him as a model and imitates him.

Cognitive Neoassociation Theory. Another theory explaining aggression suggests that

experiencing a negative mood or affect activates anger-related thoughts and feelings as well as
aggressive behavior (Berkowitz, 1984). This cognitive-neoassociation theory proposes that any
event that leads to negative affect, such as heat, pain, unpleasant noises and odors, crowding, and
so on, can lead to aggression (Sanderson, 2010). For example, in a classroom, children may
misbehave in each other during summers more than winters. Such triggers to aggressive behavior
could include observing the following types of aggression (Sanderson, 2010):

• aggression in daily life (e.g., watching two children fight on a playground),

• aggression in the media (e.g., watching a television show in which cartoon characters
behave aggressively),
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• reading a story containing aggressive acts (e.g., an action comic book)

Numerous studies demonstrate that as the temperature increases, so does the incidence of
aggressive acts, including murder, rape, domestic violence, and assault (Anderson, 1989).
Aggression is also produced when people experience other bad conditions (e.g., pollution,
threatened self-esteem, crowding, pain, noise, poverty, etc.; Baumeister, Bushman, & Campbell,
2000). According to the cognitive-neoassociation theory, another factor that can trigger
aggressive behavior is the mere presence of an object associated with aggression (Berkowitz,
1984).

Excitation Transfer Theory. According to the arousal-affect/excitation transfer model,

aggression is influenced by both the intensity of the arousal and the type of emotion produced by
the stimulus (Zillman, 1983). In other words, any type of arousal can be interpreted as aggression
if a person is in a situation that cues aggression. This theory also emphasizes that people
misattribute their feelings of arousal caused by other sources to the situation, and hence if there
are cues to aggression in the situation, they interpret their arousal as aggression (Sanderson,
2010).

General Aggression Theory. To integrate the various theories on factors that increase
the likelihood of aggression, Craig Anderson and colleagues have combined these factors into an
overall model called the general aggression model (Lindsay & Anderson, 2000). This model
proposes that both individual difference variables (e.g., genetic factors, personality traits,
hostility) and situational variables (e.g., presence of guns, frustration, negative affect, exposure
to violence in the media) can lead to aggressive-related thoughts, aggressive-related feelings,
and/or physiological arousal (Sanderson, 2010). In turn, these thoughts, feelings, and arousal can
lead to aggressive behavior, depending on how people appraise or interpret the situation.

Types of Aggression:

Since aggression is any behavior that is intended to hurt another person who does not
want to be injured, social psychologists agree that aggression can be verbal as well as physical
(Stangor, 2012). Physical aggression typically refers to aggression that involves harming others
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physically, for instance, by hitting, kicking, stabbing or shooting them (Stangor, 2012). In other
words, it can be understood as causing physical harm or injury to others in and around one’s
surroundings. Non-physical or verbal aggression, on the other hand, is aggression that does not
involve physical harm, and often includes verbal acts such as yelling, screaming, swearing, and
name-calling (Stangor, 2012). Non-physical aggression also involves relational, or social
aggression, which is defined as intentionally harming another person’s social relationships, for
instance by gossiping about another person, excluding others from friendship, or giving others
the “silent treatment” (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). Thus, it involves inflicting insults at or
misbehaving with others present one’s surroundings.

However, because aggression involves the perception of intent, what looks like
aggression from one point of view may not look that way from another, and the same harmful
behavior may or may not be aggressive depending on its intent (Stangor, 2012). Although, in this
sense, aggression seems to be subjective in nature, social psychologists distinguish between two
major types of aggression based on intent, namely; emotional aggression, and instrumental
aggression (Sanderson, 2010).

• Emotional Aggression, also known as impulsive aggression, refers to aggression that

occurs with only a small amount of forethought or intent and that is determined primarily
by impulsive emotions (Stangor, 2012). In other words, it is a type of aggression in which
one inflicts for its own sake (Sanderson, 2010). Emotional aggression is, thus, often a
result of the extreme negative emotions one experiences at the time that one aggresses,
and is not intended to create or lead to positive outcomes. For example, in a typical
Indian scenario wherein people often live jointly, when a homemaker yells at her family
members, it can be understood as emotional aggression because it is impulsive and
carried out in the heat of the moment. Other examples of such aggression could include
lashing out in rage in the workspace, riots in which mass destruction of public and private
property is caused.
• Instrumental aggression is defined as aggression that is intentional and planned
(Stangor, 2012). Unlike emotional aggression, which is affective in nature, instrumental
aggression is cognitive in nature, and may be completely cold and calculating.
Instrumental aggression often involves inflicting harm in order to obtain something of
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value (Sanderson, 2010). It often involves gaining some form of reward, political or
monetary, or attention and power. Examples of such type of aggression include robbery,
car-jacking, or killing others for property, etc. Thus, instrumental aggression is often
carefully planned, and usually involves a means to an end (Rao, 2016).

Thus, whether it is physical or verbal, aggression involves the intention of hurting others.
It is, however, also essential to understand that aggression is culturally influenced. What
comprises an act of aggression in a country like the United States, may not be similar to what is
perceived as aggression in India. For example, in India, talking to someone in a high pitched
voice which often is similar to yelling is quite acceptable, especially in male-dominated
households. However, if someone were to do the same in another country like the United States,
it may be labelled as “yelling”.

Consequences of Aggression:

The effects of aggression are varied and far-reaching. The aggressive acts do not only
impact the individuals around the aggressor but also impact the aggressor himself or herself.
Some of the common consequences of aggression are as follows-:

i. Strained interpersonal relationships- People displaying acts of aggression often find

it difficult to maintain healthy relationships with their family members, including parents, and
spouses. It is often the case that some individuals may inflict pain to their family members when
they are aggressive, thereby, leading to fear among the latter. For example, a wife who sees her
husband hitting their children, when he has had a bad day at work, may start distancing herself
and her children from the husband, and in extreme cases, due to increased intensity and
frequency, may divorce him.

ii. Physical injury or death- Aggression displayed by an individual with the intent of
causing harm to another person within the vicinity can result in physical injury and, in some
extreme cases, death. This is especially so in terms of instrumental and physical aggression,
wherein the perpetrators may cause physical harm for material reward. For instance, a robbery at
a bank can compel the robbers to shoot or otherwise injure the people in the bank just so they
could acquire the money from the bank’s vault.
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iii. Stress- Aggression, as known, often emanates from frustration, especially when one’s
achievement of goals is being blocked. In such cases, it causes distress not only to the people
living with the aggressor, but also to the aggressor himself or herself. For instance, a husband
who yells at his wife because of frustration resulting from delayed promotion can cause distress
to his wife and children as well.

iv. Threat/ Self-harm- The use of aggression in itself is intended to threaten the
wellbeing of others. But many-a-times, an aggressor can be found to be harming his own self as
a way of coping with the aggression. For instance, an aggressive person may punch into the
mirror due to his frustration regarding an intense fight he may have had with his girlfriend the
previous night.

v. Social Isolation- Since an aggressive person often has strenuous relationships with the
people in his or her surroundings, he/she is likely to be rejected by his/her peers and other
significant individuals. One example of such rejection can be seen in high school, wherein, peers
often distance themselves from their aggressive classmates, and sometimes label them as
“outcasts” or “misfits”. However, there could also be instances in which the aggressive person
himself/ herself may distance himself/herself from others because of embarrassment or pride.

vi. Increased substance use- When aggressive, people may also increase their intake of
substances, especially alcohol. In such a case, they may become further intoxicated causing them
to put their violent impulses into action. One such example could be of a man who drinks
because of his frustration at the job simply to come home and inflict physical harm on his wife
and children.

Controlling Aggression:

In order to avoid aggressive-outbursts, accumulation of frustrating experiences should be

discouraged.This can be done by allowing the individual to express his tension and pent up
emotions in between. If the anger, hostility and tension etc. are not released and suppressed, the
aggressive act and violence becomes unmanageable.
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i. Catharsis: Freud has recommended catharsis or outlet of pent up emotions as the most
suitable way of releasing tension. In psychotherapy this principle of catharsis is very
much used even now a day. It is every body’s experience that the principles of catharsis
minimizes aggressive experience. Everyone in day to day life must have found that when
mild anger and feelings of anguish are expressed one feels relieved, otherwise there is
anxiety. For eg, we as teenagers had no better way to show our anger than by playing
music our parents hate extremely loudly or just going to another room and screaming like
our life depends on it.
ii. Talking Therapy: When one feels hostility or annoyance against someone, if he tells this
to some one of confidence like a good friend, a spouse, son or daughter or any well
wisher his aggression is released without harming the enemy or target of aggression. By
talking out one’s suppressed and repressed urges the expression of aggression can be
managed, aggressiveness will be expressed without doing otherwise continuous but
unexpressed aggressive anxiety and mental illness. For eg, when there is frustration due
to incomplete syllabus and multiple assignments, talking to one’s peers and friends calms
one down.
iii. Writing Therapy: Daily diary writing is a kind of writing therapy. Maintaining a diary
allows one to recreate the situations and process their experiences and learn from it.
Using this technique hostile feelings can be relieved without any target of aggression. For
eg, a private book to write quotes, poems, lessons from everyday situations helps one
deal effectively with hostility.
iv. Displacements: Aggression of children can be relieved through displacement or transfer
of aggression to some objects like toy, doll or any non living object. So children are given
toys and big dolls to express their aggression on these objects, instead of expressing,
suppressing and repressing it. Various observations and experimental studies do indicate
that when children are given the chance to express their anger and aggression in course of
their growth, they become less hostile afterwards. Hence, in order to control one’s
aggression which is dangerous for the society, one has to learn to express the pent up
emotions in small degrees as and when the occasion so demands. Non aggression can be
possible through displacement of anger. For eg, a pillow or a stuffed toy in all our homes
has always been the punching bag whenever we get some bad news.
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v. Judicious Early Childhood Training: Aggressive behaviour can be prevented to some

extent by judicious early childhood training, proper parental care, and adequate parenting
style. By trying to fulfill the basic needs of the child, the child can be exposed to less
frustration inducing situations.The child should not be allowed to cry for a continuous
period. He should be given the training from the early child to face frustration in an
adoptive instead of mal adaptive manner. His training should be flexible rather than rigid.
For eg, authoritative style of parenting with strict punishments makes the child to bottle
up frustrations and inculcate the same communication patterns.
vi. Good Parental Model:The child should be exposed to good and normal models. Parents
should try their best not to quarrel in the presence of a child. They should try to be beet
models for the child to imitate. They should do what they preach. There should not be
any gaff between preaching and actual practice. For eg, the more the child sees abuse and
substance abuse in the developing years, the more they inculcate the habits.
vii. Training to Tolerate Frustration: Instead of fulfilling all the required and unnecessary
wishes of the child — under certain cases, he should be trained to tolerate frustration.
Frustration tolerance can be generated in the child by not fulfilling what-ever he wishes.
The genuine needs should be no doubt fulfilled. For eg, when a child starts throwing a
tantrum in the middle of the supermarket for something expensive or shiny to be bought,
the parent should just ignore them and continue with their shopping, the child will calm
down in time.
viii. Observation of Non Aggressive Models: Aggression can be reduced effectively
in highly aggressive boys by allowing them to observe models who behave in a restrained and
non-aggressive manner in the face of provocation. This can be effectively done by the television
and movie industries. Nonviolent movies and serials should be produced more and more and
telecast on television. By controlling the child’s viewing of aggressive and violent models in
T.V., Pictures and video a lot of aggressive behaviour can be controlled. For eg, Most of the
children that watched ‘Chota Bheem’ on POGO were much more aggressive and would get into
pretend fights in playgrounds.
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Research Evidence on Aggression:

Chakrabarty and Reetesh (2013) examined the prevalence of aggression among drivers in
the context of India, wherein they chose drivers randomly across age group, qualification,
profession and driving exposures with the help of experienced traffic police personnel. The
Propensity of Aggressive Driving Scale (PADS) scale was administered, in addition to
interviews, and field observation. The area specifically chosen was Delhi and NCR. The field
observations were carried out in three phases; time-wise, vehicle and weather-wise, and through
PADS. Time-wise observations were made on the basis of number of red light jumping cases,
number of tailgating cases, number of aggressive honking horns, and number of wrong side
overtaking. The observations were made across a period of eight months. The results of the study
showed that there were 24 major cases of aggression, where some types of physical assaults or
aggressive gestures / postures were involved out of the total 100 incidents. In addition, areas
where more road rage incidents took place were observed to have either lack of proper road
capacity leading traffic congestion, lack of working traffic signals or presence of enforcement.
Furthermore, the investigators observed that road rage is just a trigger which brings forth all
frustrations deposited inside the human mind for any minor incidence which may be any form of
violation of traffic rules from either of the parties i.e. victims or aggressor , resulting into
physical harm, fatalities and mental assaults (Chakrabarty & Reetesh, 2013). They further
concluded that road rage incidents were triggered due to high speeding accompanied with wrong
inside overtaking and tailgating by any of the parties (victim or aggressor). Other types of
violence involved during road rage incidents were red light jumping, hitting from the back,,high
speeding with overloaded vehicle, aggressive honking horn, and driving under influence of
alcohol. Thus, it was found that one of the strongest forms of aggression was evident in road
rage, especially in India.

Rodriguez, C (2010) conducted a study on Parent–Child Aggression: Association With

Child Abuse Potential and Parenting Styles.The present investigation predicted that greater use
of corporal punishment as well as physical maltreatment would be associated with child abuse
potential and selected parenting styles. Three independent studies were examined, two with
community samples and a third with a clinical at-risk sample of parents. Parents across all
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studies anonymously completed the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, the Parent–Child Conflict
Tactics Scale to assess physical discipline and maltreatment, as well as the Parenting Scale to
measure dysfunctional parenting styles. Findings support that overall parent–child aggression, as
well as physical maltreatment behaviors specifi cally, were associated with child abuse potential.
Parent–child aggression was also related to dysfunctional parenting styles, particularly an
overreactive, authoritarian parenting style. Permissive parenting was also identified as potentially
associated with physical maltreatment, although the findings regarding such lax parenting styles
are less clear. Intriguing findings emerged regarding the connection of psychological aggression
to both child abuse potential and dysfunctional parenting style. Child abuse potential was also
associated with dysfunctional parenting style, particularly harsh, overreactive approaches.

Mosher and Anderson (1986) conducted a study on Macho personality, sexual

aggression, and reactions to guided imagery of realistic rape. To relate the macho personality
constellation to men's reports of sexual aggression, 175 nineteen-year old, middle-class, college
sophomores anonymously completed the Hypermasculinity Inventory and a newly constructed
Aggressive Sexual Behavior Inventory. A majority of the men used force or exploitation to gain
sex from dates. As hypothesized, the macho personality, and specifically the Calloused Sex
Attitudes subscale, was correlated with a history of sexual aggression. To study the effects of
macho personality, a history of sexual aggression, and the treatment variables of rapist-force and
victim-resistance on men's subjective sexual arousal and emotional experiences during the
guided imagining of a realistic, noneroticized rape, 125 men returned for a second session in
which they were randomly assigned by groups to four conditions, two levels of rapist-force ×
two levels of victim-resistance. Macho personality was related to experiencing less affective
disgust, anger, fear, distress, shame, contempt, and guilt as the men imagined committing a rape,
confirming a portion of the hypothesis. Men with a history of sexual aggression experienced
more interest and subjective sexual arousal, as hypothesized, but they also, contrary to
expectations, experienced more affective anger, distress, fear, shame, and guilt.
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