Discuss the three major psychological theories regarding aggression. Given these accounts, to what extent can we lessen human aggression?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

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Aggression is the intentional injury of, or harm to, another person, both on a societal level (war, invasion, assassination) and on an individual level (crime, child abuse, and the many petty cruelties humans are capable of inflicting on one another). The everyday aggression one encounters in one's daily lives can also take many forms. Not only does one hurt others through direct physical or verbal attacks, but one can hurt people indirectly by doing such things as spreading rumors or by purposely ignoring someone. In fact, some research finds that microaggressions-small, daily slights, put-downs, and insults, often perpetrated against members of marginalized groups based on race, gender, and sexual orientation-may be more harmful in the long run than highly visible acts of aggression. However, the research findings on microaggressions are mixed, and more research is needed to understand how the daily experience of small acts of prejudice impacts recipients.

Instinct Approaches: Aggression as a Release. Instinct theories, noting the prevalence of aggression not only in humans but in animals as well, propose that aggression is primarily the outcome of innate-or inborn-urges.

Sigmund Freud was one of the first to suggest, as part of his theory of personality, that aggression is a primary instinctual drive. Konrad Lorenz, an ethologist, expanded Freud's notions by arguing that humans, along with members of other species, have a fighting instinct, which in earlier times ensured protection of food supplies and weeded out the weaker of the species. Lorenz's instinct approach led to the controversial notion that aggressive energy constantly builds up in an individual until the person discharges it in a process called catharsis. The longer the energy builds up, says Lorenz, the greater the amount of aggression displayed when it is discharged.

Probably the most controversial idea to come out of instinct theories of aggression is Lorenz's proposal that society should provide acceptable ways of permitting catharsis. For example, he suggested that participation in aggressive sports and games would prevent the discharge of aggression in less socially desirable ways. However, little research has found evidence for the existence of a pent-up reservoir of aggression that needs to be released. In fact, some studies flatly contradict the notion of catharsis, leading psychologists to look for other explanations for aggression.

Frustration-Aggression Approaches: Aggression as a Reaction to Frustration. Frustration-aggression theory suggests that frustration (the experience of having one's goals thwarted or blocked) produces anger, which in turn leads to a readiness to act aggressively. Whether actual aggression occurs depends on the presence of aggressive cues, stimuli that have been associated in the past with actual aggression or violence and that will trigger aggression again.

What kinds of stimuli act as aggressive cues? They can range from the most explicit, such as the presence of weapons, to more subtle cues, such as the mere mention of the name of an individual who behaved violently in the past.

Observational Learning Approaches: Learning to Hurt Others. Do we learn to be aggressive? The observational learning (sometimes called social learning) approach to aggression says that we do. Taking an almost opposite view from instinct theories, which focus on innate explanations of aggression, observational learning theory emphasizes that social and environmental conditions can teach individuals to be aggressive. The theory sees aggression not as inevitable, but rather as a learned response that can be understood in terms of rewards and punishments.

Observational learning theory pays particular attention not only to direct rewards and punishments that individuals themselves receive, but also to the rewards and punishments that models-individuals who provide a guide to appropriate behavior-receive for their aggressive behavior. According to observational learning theory, people observe the behavior of models and the subsequent consequences of that behavior. If the consequences are positive, the behavior is likely to be imitated when observers find themselves in a similar situation.

Suppose, for instance, a girl hits her younger brother when he damages one of her new toys. Whereas instinct theory would suggest that the aggression had been pent up and was now being discharged and frustration-aggression theory would examine the girl's frustration at no longer being able to use her new toy, observational learning theory would look to previous situations in which the girl had viewed others being rewarded for their aggression. For example, perhaps she had watched a friend get to play with a toy after he painfully twisted it out of the hand of another child.

Observational learning theory has received wide research support. For example, nursery-school-age children who have watched an adult model behave aggressively and then receive reinforcement for it later display similar behavior themselves if they have been angered, insulted, or frustrated after exposure. Furthermore, a significant amount of research links watching television shows containing violence with subsequent viewer aggression.