Is aggression a learned behavior?
Aggression
Some scholars believe that behaviors like aggression may be partially learned by watching and imitating people's behavior, while other researchers have concluded that the media may have some small effects on aggression. There is also research questioning this view. For instance, a long-term outcome study of youth found no long-term relationship between playing violent video games and youth violence or bullying. One study suggested there is a smaller effect of violent video games on aggression than has been found with television violence on aggression. This effect is positively associated with type of game violence and negatively associated to time spent playing the games. The author concluded that insufficient evidence exists to link video game violence with aggression. However, another study suggested links to aggressive behavior.
Rage (emotion)
Some psychologists, however, such as Bushman and Anderson, argue that the hostile/predatory dichotomy that is commonly employed in psychology fails to define rage fully, since it is possible for anger to motivate aggression, provoking vengeful behavior, without incorporating the impulsive thinking that is characteristic of rage. They point to individuals or groups such as Seung-Hui Cho in the Virginia Tech massacre or Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of the Columbine High School massacre, all of whom clearly experienced intense anger and hate, but whose planning (sometimes over periods of years), forethought, and lack of impulsive behavior is readily observable.
Aggression
In humans, there is good evidence that the basic human neural architecture underpinning the potential for flexible aggressive responses is influenced by genes as well as environment. In terms of variation between individual people, more than 100 twin and adoption studies have been conducted in recent decades examining the genetic basis of aggressive behavior and related constructs such as conduct disorders. According to a meta-analysis published in 2002, approximately 40% of variation between individuals is explained by differences in genes, and 60% by differences in environment (mainly non-shared environmental influences rather than those that would be shared by being raised together). However, such studies have depended on self-report or observation by others including parents, which complicates interpretation of the results. The few laboratory-based analyses have not found significant amounts of individual variation in aggression explicable by genetic variation in the human population. Furthermore, linkage and association studies that seek to identify specific genes, for example that influence neurotransmitter or hormone levels, have generally resulted in contradictory findings characterized by failed attempts at replication. One possible factor is an allele (variant) of the MAO-A gene which, in interaction with certain life events such as childhood maltreatment (which may show a main effect on its own), can influence development of brain regions such as the amygdala and as a result some types of behavioral response may be more likely. The generally unclear picture has been compared to equally difficult findings obtained in regard to other complex behavioral phenotypes. For example, both 7R and 5R, ADHD-linked VNTR alleles of dopamine receptor D4 gene are directly associated with the incidence of proactive aggression in the men with no history of ADHD.
Dog aggression
Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) is a newly publicized treatment option that uses functional analysis and systematic desensitization. With BAT, the dog's original function of increasing (or decreasing) distance is used as a reinforcement for alternate behavior (head turns, ground sniffing, body turns, etc.). This is done by creating set-up situations in which the dog is able to offer alternate behavior, and allowing/encouraging the dog to walk away. With repetition, the dog learns to turn her head, sniff the ground, etc. as a way to increase distance without aggression, and gradually becomes comfortable with the former trigger.
Aggression
According to philosopher and neuroscientist Nayef Al-Rodhan, "fear(survival)-induced pre-emptive aggression" is a human reaction to injustices that are perceived to threaten survival. It is often the root of the unthinkable brutality and injustice perpetuated by human beings. It may occur at any time, even in situations that appear to be calm and under control. Where there is injustice that is perceived as posing a threat to survival, "fear(survival)-induced pre-emptive aggression" will result in individuals taking whatever action necessary to be free from that threat.
Passive-aggressive behavior
Passive-aggressive behavior from workers and managers is damaging to team unity and productivity. In the ad for Warner's online ebook, it says: "The worst case of passive-aggressive behavior involves destructive attitudes such as negativity, sullenness, resentment, procrastination, 'forgetting' to do something, chronic lateness, and intentional inefficiency." If this behavior is ignored it could result in decreased office efficiency and frustration among workers. If managers are passive-aggressive in their behavior, it can end up stifling team creativity. De Angelis says, "It would actually make perfect sense that those promoted to leadership positions might often be those who on the surface appear to be agreeable, diplomatic and supportive, yet who are actually dishonest, backstabbing saboteurs behind the scenes."
Recruit training
Evidence from Australia, the UK and the US shows that recruit training systematically stimulates aggression, particularly in those enlisted for ground close combat roles. Bayonet practice is an example, as the strong language of this instruction from a British army corporal illustrates:"I wanna see it in your eyes that you wanna kill these fuckers. Imagine these dummies are the fucking Taliban and they’ve just killed some of your mates. You wanna fuckin’ kill them. Show me your war face! [recruits yell] You need some fucking more aggression, show me your war face."Another example is milling, an exercise used for infantry training in which pairs of recruits wearing boxing gloves punch each other in the head as aggressively as possible.
Social psychology
Albert Bandura's Bobo doll experiment demonstrated how aggression is learned by imitation. This set of studies fueled debates regarding media violence which continue to be waged among scholars.
Acquired characteristic
Behavior
Fish aggression
Aggression refers to negative behavior or attitudes toward another, mainly by applying physical force. Evolution on the other hand, is any process of formation or development of something like habit, trait or character in a population from generation to generation. Evolution can explain why fish exhibit aggression because it is a simple emotion. This emotion increases an individual’s survival or reproduction. Aggressive behavior can derive in fish species due to territory, sex specific selection and genetic variation. There is no specific fish species who display invasive behavior. Almost all the fish are aggressive sometimes in their lives depending on their surroundings.
Universal code (ethics)
There are several ethical standards that are considered to be self-evident, and seem to apply to all people throughout all of history, regardless of cultural, political, social, or economic context. The non-aggression principle, which prohibits aggression, or the initiation of force or violence against another person, is a universal ethical principle. Examples of aggression include murder, rape, kidnapping, assault, robbery, theft, and vandalism. On the other hand, the commission of any of such acts in response to aggression does not necessarily violate universal ethics.
Abuse
Relational aggression, also known as covert aggression or covert bullying is a type of aggression in which harm is caused through damage to relationships or social status within a group rather than physical violence. Relational aggression is more common and has been studied more among girls than boys.
Social learning (social pedagogy)
Albert Bandura advanced the social learning theory by including the individual and the environment in the process of learning and imitating behaviour. In other words, children and adults learn or change behaviours by imitating behaviours observed in others. Albert Bandura mentions that the environment plays an important role as it is the stimuli that triggers the learning process. For example, according to Bandura (1978), people learn aggressive behaviour through 3 sources: Family members, community and mass media. Research shows that parent who prefer aggressive solution to solve their problems tend to have children who use aggressive tactics to deal with other people. Research also found that communities in which fighting prowess are valued have a higher rate of aggressive behaviour. Also, findings show that watching televisions can have at least 4 different effect on people: 1) it teaches aggressive style of conduct, 2) it alters restraints over aggressive behavior,3) it desensitizes and habituate people to violence and 4) it shapes people’s image of reality. The environment also allows people to learn through another person’s experience. For example, students don’t cheat on exams (at least no openly) because they know the consequences of it, even if they never experienced the consequences themselves
Tina Malti
Malti has conducted extensive research on socio-emotional development, the origins of aggression, and kindness from early childhood to late adolescence. She adopts a clinical-developmental framework to generate new knowledge on why children and adolescents engage in behaviors that are harmful or beneficial to others. Her empirical research focuses on the role of emotional processes in aggression and kindness, as well as how to effectively increase healthy long-term outcomes and reduce negative effects of exposure to violence in children facing multiple forms of adversity.
Psychological behaviorism
Psychological behaviorism is a form of behaviorism — a major theory within psychology which holds that generally human behaviors are learned — proposed by Arthur W. Staats. The theory is constructed to advance from basic animal learning principles to deal with all types of human behavior, including personality, culture, and human evolution. Behaviorism was first developed by John B. Watson (1912), who coined the term "behaviorism," and then B. F. Skinner who developed what is known as "radical behaviorism." Watson and Skinner rejected the idea that psychological data could be obtained through introspection or by an attempt to describe consciousness; all psychological data, in their view, was to be derived from the observation of outward behavior. The strategy of these behaviorists was that the animal learning principles should then be used to explain human behavior. Thus, their behaviorisms were based upon research with animals.
Language and gender
While social aggression has several downfalls, it has also led to a mature social competence of males and females. Being part of an in-group can increase a person's self-worth and contribute to his or her personal identity. In terms of the evolutionary perspective, being able to control definite and indefinite resources can increase a person's social competence. Some research argues that reports of social aggression and bullying can teach students in school what is considered unacceptable behavior. In a 1998 survey, 60% of students found that bullying "makes kids tougher." However, there is additional need for support on this claim.
Aggression
In addition, males in competitive sports are often advised by their coaches not to be in intimate relationships based on the premises that they become more docile and less aggressive during an athletic event. The circumstances in which males and females experience aggression are also different. A study showed that social anxiety and stress was positively correlated with aggression in males, meaning as stress and social anxiety increases so does aggression. Furthermore, a male with higher social skills has a lower rate of aggressive behavior than a male with lower social skills. In females, higher rates of aggression were only correlated with higher rates of stress. Other than biological factors that contribute to aggression there are physical factors are well.
Instinct
In "Information behavior: An Evolutionary Instinct" (2010, pp. 35–42), Amanda Spink notes that "currently in the behavioral sciences instinct is generally understood as the innate part of behavior that emerges without any training or education in humans." She claims that the viewpoint that information behavior has an instinctive basis is grounded in the latest thinking on human behavior. Furthermore, she notes that "behaviors such as cooperation, sexual behavior, child rearing and aesthetics are [also] seen as 'evolved psychological mechanisms' with an instinctive basis." Spink adds that Steven Pinker similarly asserts that language acquisition is instinctive in humans in his book "The Language Instinct" (1994). In 1908, William McDougall wrote about the "instinct of curiosity" and its associated "emotion of wonder", though Spink's book does not mention this.
Genetics of aggression
The heritability of aggression has been observed in many animal strains after noting that some strains of birds, dogs, fish, and mice seem to be more aggressive than other strains. Selective breeding has demonstrated that it is possible to select for genes that lead to more aggressive behavior in animals. Selective breeding examples also allow researchers to understand the importance of developmental timing for genetic influences on aggressive behavior. A study done in 1983 (Cairns) produced both highly aggressive male and female strains of mice dependent on certain developmental periods to have this more aggressive behavior expressed. These mice were not observed to be more aggressive during the early and later stages of their lives, but during certain periods of time (in their middle-age period) were more violent and aggressive in their attacks on other mice. Selective breeding is a quick way to select for specific traits and see those selected traits within a few generations of breeding. These characteristics make selective breeding an important tool in the study of genetics and aggressive behavior.
Hostile attribution bias
Substantial literature has documented a robust association between hostile attribution bias and aggression in youth. Hostile attribution bias is traditionally associated with overt physical aggression (e.g., hitting, fighting), such that higher levels of hostile attribution bias predict more aggressive behavior. In particular, much evidence suggests that hostile attribution bias is especially linked to "reactive aggression" (i.e., impulsive and "hot-blooded" aggression that reflects an angry retaliation to perceived provocation) rather than "proactive aggression" (i.e., unprovoked, planned/instrumental, or "cold-blooded" aggression). Beyond physical aggression, elevated hostile attribution bias is also associated with increased use of relational aggression (e.g., gossip, spreading rumors, social exclusion). This is particularly the case when youth attribute hostile intent to ambiguous relational situations (e.g., not receiving an invitation to a party or not receiving a response to a text).
Workplace aggression
Workplace aggression is a specific type of aggression which occurs in the workplace. Workplace aggression can include a wide range of behaviors, ranging from verbal acts (e.g., insulting someone or spreading rumors) to physical attacks (e.g., punching or slapping).
Genetics of aggression
The field of psychology has been greatly influenced by the study of genetics. Decades of research has demonstrated that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in a variety of behaviors in humans and animals (e.g. Grigorenko & Sternberg, 2003). The genetic basis of aggression, however, remains poorly understood. Aggression is a multi-dimensional concept, but it can be generally defined as behavior that inflicts pain or harm on another.
Aggression
Ethologists study aggression as it relates to the interaction and evolution of animals in natural settings. In such settings aggression can involve bodily contact such as biting, hitting or pushing, but most conflicts are settled by threat displays and intimidating thrusts that cause no physical harm. This form of aggression may include the display of body size, antlers, claws or teeth; stereotyped signals including facial expressions; vocalizations such as bird song; the release of chemicals; and changes in coloration. The term agonistic behaviour is sometimes used to refer to these forms of behavior.
Aggression
In definitions commonly used in the social sciences and behavioral sciences, aggression is an action or response by an individual that delivers something unpleasant to another person. Some definitions include that the individual must intend to harm another person. Predatory or defensive behavior between members of different species may not be considered aggression in the same sense.
Social learning theory
Social Learning Theory has been used to explain the emergence and maintenance of deviant behavior, especially aggression. Criminologists Ronald Akers and Robert Burgess integrated the principles of Social Learning Theory and operant conditioning with Edwin Sutherland's Differential Association Theory to create a comprehensive theory of criminal behavior. Burgess and Akers emphasized that criminal behavior is learned in both social and nonsocial situations through combinations of direct reinforcement, vicarious reinforcement, explicit instruction, and observation. Both the probability of being exposed to certain behaviors and the nature of the reinforcement are dependent on group norms.
Hostile attribution bias
In addition, hostile attribution bias is hypothesized to be one important pathway through which other risk factors, such as peer rejection or harsh parenting behavior, lead to aggression. For example, children exposed to peer teasing at school or child abuse at home are much more likely to develop high levels of hostile attribution bias, which then lead them to behave aggressively at school and/or at home. Thus, in addition to partially explaining one way aggression develops, hostile attribution bias also represents a target for the intervention and prevention of aggressive behaviors.
On Aggression
However, Lorenz does "not" state that aggressive behaviors are in any way more powerful, prevalent, or intense than more peaceful behaviors such as mating rituals. Rather, he negates the categorization of aggression as "contrary" to "positive" instincts like love, depicting it as a founding basis of other instincts and its role in animal communication.
Obedience (human behavior)
The Milgram study found that most participants would obey orders even when obedience posed severe harm to others. With encouragement from a perceived authority figure, about two-thirds of the participants were willing to administer the highest level of shock to the learner. This result was surprising to Milgram because he thought that "subjects have learned from childhood that it is a fundamental breach of moral conduct to hurt another person against his will". Milgram attempted to explain how ordinary people were capable of performing potentially lethal acts against other human beings by suggesting that participants may have entered into an agentic state, where they allowed the authority figure to take responsibility for their own actions.
Dog aggression
"Dominance" based approaches are highly controversial and more formal study is needed to validate these methods. Further, these approaches carry a greater risk of behavioral fallout, such as the escalation of the aggressive behavior and/or redirected aggression on the owner or other family members.
Aggressive Behavior (journal)
Aggressive Behavior is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research pertaining to aggression in, among other fields, psychology, anthropology, and sociology. It was established in 1974 and is published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the International Society for Research on Aggression, of which it is the official journal. The editor-in-chief is John Archer (University of Central Lancashire). According to the "Journal Citation Reports", the journal has a 2015 impact factor of 2.469.
Language and gender
Aggression can be defined by its three intersecting counterparts: indirect, relational and social. Indirect aggression occurs when the victim is attacked through covert and concealed attempts to cause social suffering. Examples are gossiping, exclusion or ignoring of the victim. Relational aggression, while similar to indirect, is more resolute in its attentions. It can be a threat to terminate a friendship or spreading false rumors. The third type of aggression, social aggression, "is directed toward damaging another's self-esteem, social status, or both, and may take direct forms such as verbal rejection, negative facial expressions or body movements, or more indirect forms such as slanderous rumors or social exclusion." This third type has become more common in adolescent, both male and female, behavior.
Aggression
Some recent scholarship has questioned traditional psychological conceptualizations of aggression as universally negative. Most traditional psychological definitions of aggression focus on the harm to the recipient of the aggression, implying this is the intent of the aggressor; however this may not always be the case. From this alternate view, although the recipient may or may not be harmed, the perceived intent is to increase the status of the aggressor, not necessarily to harm the recipient. Such scholars contend that traditional definitions of aggression have no validity.
Observational learning
Observational learning is learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others. It is a form of social learning which takes various forms, based on various processes. In humans, this form of learning seems to not need reinforcement to occur, but instead, requires a social model such as a parent, sibling, friend, or teacher with surroundings. Particularly in childhood, a model is someone of authority or higher status in an environment. In animals, observational learning is often based on classical conditioning, in which an instinctive behavior is elicited by observing the behavior of another (e.g. mobbing in birds), but other processes may be involved as well.
Behavioral communication
Aggression is defined as an unplanned act of anger in which the aggressor intends to hurt someone or something. Aggressive communicators typically create avoidable conflict by engaging in personal attacks and put-downs. Aggressive communicators create a win-lose situation and use intimidation to get their own needs met, often at the expense of others. Aggressive communicators typically feel a strong sense of inadequacy, have a lack of empathy, and believe the only way to get their needs met is through power and control. Aggressive communicators are usually close-minded, are poor listeners, and tend to monopolize others.
Aggression
The operative definition of aggression may be affected by moral or political views. Examples are the axiomatic moral view called the non-aggression principle and the political rules governing the behavior of one country toward another. Likewise in competitive sports, or in the workplace, some forms of aggression may be sanctioned and others not (see Workplace aggression). Aggressive behaviors are associated with adjustment problems and several psychopathological symptoms such as Antisocial Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Intermittent Explosive Disorder.
School bullying
Proactive aggression is a behavior that expects a reward. With bullying each individual has a role to defend. Some children act proactively but will show aggression to defend themselves if provoked. These children will react aggressively but tend to never be the ones to attack first.
Aggression
The pattern of male and female aggression is argued to be consistent with evolved sexually-selected behavioral differences, while alternative or complimentary views emphasize conventional social roles stemming from physical evolved differences. Aggression in women may have evolved to be, on average, less physically dangerous and more covert or indirect. However, there are critiques for using animal behavior to explain human behavior. Especially in the application of evolutionary explanations to contemporary human behavior, including differences between the genders.
Escape response
Research has found that habituation, the process that allows individuals to learn to identify harmless events, has a significant impact on the perception of fear in the presence of a predator. Habituation allows animals to discriminate between false alarms and real, dangerous events. While many do not consider habituation a form of learning, many researchers are beginning to suggest that it could be a form of associative learning. For example, zebra danios who are habituated to predators are more latent to flee than those who were not habituated to predators. However, habituation did not affect the fish's angle of escape from the predator.
Workplace safety in healthcare settings
Aggression was, in 1968, described by Moyer as "a behaviour that causes or leads to harm, damage or destruction of another organism" (Weinshenker and Siegel 2002). Human aggression has more recently been defined as "any behaviour directed toward another individual that is carried out with the proximate intent to cause harm" (Anderson and Bushman 2002).
Relational aggression
Relational aggression is defined as a type of aggression that is "intended to harm others through deliberate manipulation of their social standing and relationships". Relational aggression, according to Daniel Olweus is a type of bullying. Bullying in general, is defined as physically or psychologically violent re-occurring and not provoked acts, where the bully and victim have unequal physical strength or psychological power. These key conditions apply to all types of bullying: verbal, physical and relational.
The Politics of Nonviolent Action
Next, "Nonviolent Action: An Active Technique of Struggle" (chapter 2) explains that nonviolent action may be used for a diverse mixture of motives that are religious, ethical, moral, or based on expediency. "Passivity, submission, cowardice [have] nothing to do with the nonviolent technique," which is correctly understood as ""one" type of "active" response." Nonviolence has suffered scholarly neglect. Nonviolence may involve both "acts of omission" and "acts of commission", does not rely solely on persuading the opponent, and "does not depend on the assumption that man is inherently 'good'." These and other characteristics of nonviolence are explained and illustrates through examples from ancient Rome, colonial United States, Tsarist Russia, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Latin America, India, Czeschoslavakia, and the Southern United States.
Workplace aggression
Aggression, in general, is any behavior an individual carries out with the intent to harm another person or group of people. The aggressor must believe that their behavior is harmful to their target, and that the target is motivated to avoid this behavior. A defining feature of aggression is the intent or motivation to harm. For a behavior to be considered an aggressive act, the individual committing the behavior must intend harm. In other words, if they inflict harm on another without that specific intent, it is not considered aggression.
Applied behavior analysis
Operant behavior is the so-called "voluntary" behavior that is sensitive to, or controlled by its consequences. Specifically, operant conditioning refers to the three-term contingency that uses stimulus control, in particular an antecedent contingency called the discriminative stimulus (SD) that influences the strengthening or weakening of behavior through such consequences as reinforcement or punishment. The term is used quite generally, from reaching for a candy bar, to turning up the heat to escape an aversive chill, to studying for an exam to get good grades.
Genetics of aggression
In determining if a trait is related to genetic factors or environmental factors, twin studies and adoption studies are used. These studies examine correlations based on similarity of a trait and a person's genetic or environmental factors that could influence the trait. Aggression has been examined via both twin studies and adoption studies.
Abuse
In their review of data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (a longitudinal birth cohort study; n = 941) Moffitt et al. report that while men exhibit more aggression overall, gender is not a reliable predictor of interpersonal aggression, including psychological aggression. The study found that whether male or female, aggressive people share a cluster of traits, including high rates of suspicion and jealousy; sudden and drastic mood swings; poor self-control; and higher than average rates of approval of violence and aggression (in American society, females are, on average, excused when violent against males). Moffitt et al. also argue that antisocial men exhibit two distinct types of interpersonal aggression (one against strangers, the other against intimate female partners), while antisocial women are rarely aggressive against anyone other than intimate male partners.
Loreen Olson
Olson also published the book chapter, "Violence, Aggression, and Abuse", in the "International encyclopedia of interpersonal communication". The text looked into interpersonal aggression which includes acts of violence, emotional/psychological abuse, verbal aggression, rape, battering, bullying, incest, neglect, stalking, coercion, entrapment, and harassment. Interpersonal aggression is considered to be different examples of the dark side of interpersonal communication. Many times the terms abuse, aggression, and violence are used interchangeably. Due to this, Olson examined the different ways in which scholars understand and form ideas about abuse, aggression, and violence.BooksJournals
Aggression
Other questions that have been considered in the study of primate aggression, including in humans, is how aggression affects the organization of a group, what costs are incurred by aggression, and why some primates avoid aggressive behavior. For example, bonobo chimpanzee groups are known for low levels of aggression within a partially matriarchal society. Captive animals including primates may show abnormal levels of social aggression and self-harm that are related to aspects of the physical or social environment; this depends on the species and individual factors such as gender, age and background (e.g. raised wild or captive).
Reciprocal determinism
Researchers believe there is a genetic link to impulsive aggression through the impact of a gene on the production of an enzyme called Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA). The MAOA gene reduces the production of MAOA, leading to increased incidents of impulsive aggression. A 26-year study in New Zealand found strong correlation between experience of childhood abuse and criminal or violent behavior in males with the MAOA gene. In that study, impulsive aggression was found to be nine times more likely to manifest in males with the gene who were abused than in abused males without the gene or males with the gene who had not been abused.
Relational aggression
Sociometric status, commonly referred as popularity, is one of the most significant predictors of victimization or bullying as differences in popularity can be associated with differences in social power. It is commonly believed that aggressive adolescents belong to rejected social groups. However, some research shows that they can be popular among their peers. Rodkin et al. (2000), for example, describes two types of popular boys: "model" boys, who are "physically and academically competent, friendly and neither shy nor aggressive." Second type is described as "tough" and such adolescents are "aggressive, physically competent, and average or below average in friendliness, academic competence, and shyness." Usually the more popular aggressive adolescents use instrumental aggression and not reactive aggression. Instrumental aggression is defined as behavior that is deliberate and planned while reactive aggression is unplanned and impulsive.
Relational aggression can be greatly instrumental for maintaining the popularity status of a group among other groups, as well specific relationship and status dynamics inside a group. Ojala and Nesdale (2004) found that both victims and bullies normally come from rejected groups. Bullies chose to bully students, who are members of their social out-groups that are similar to their own in-group as a result of threatened distinctiveness. Hence, the need to maintain a unique social identity and status can be one of the causes to engage in bullying.
Using relational aggression to maintain a particular social order inside the group has been mostly observed in girl groups: if some member of the group becomes too popular and this causes imbalance in the group, other members might start rumors about the overly popular girl to diminish her status.
Amanda Rose (2004) claims that the main purpose of using relational aggression in first place is to enhance or maintain one's social status. Many skills that are needed to be popular are also essential for being "successful" at employing relational aggression, e.g. ability to "read" people and adjust one's behavior accordingly, etc. The researcher suggests that some aggressive boys are popular because they are also good at using relational aggression, and, therefore, their primary reason for popularity is not their physical but relational aggression.
Research on the effects of violence in mass media
Social cognitive theories build upon social learning theory, but suggest that aggression may be activated by learning and priming aggressive scripts. Desensitization and arousal/excitation are also included in latter social cognitive theories. The concept of desensitization has particularly gotten much interest from the scholarly community and general public. It is theorized that with repeated exposure to media violence, a psychological saturation or emotional adjustment takes place such that initial levels of anxiety and disgust diminish or weaken. For example, in one recent study, a sample of college students were assigned at random to play either a violent or non-violent video game for 20 minutes. They were then asked to watch a 10-minute video of real life violence. The students who had played the violent video games were observed to be significantly less affected by a simulated aggressive act than those who didn't play the violent video games. However the degree to which the simulation was "believable" to the participants, or to which the participants may have responded to "demand characteristics" is unclear (see criticisms below). Nonetheless, social cognitive theory was arguably the most dominant paradigm of media violence effects for many years, although it has come under recent criticism (e.g. Freedman, 2002; Savage, 2004). Recent scholarship has suggested that social cognitive theories of aggression are outdated and should be retired. Some scholars also argue that the continuous viewing of violent acts makes teenagers more susceptible to becoming violent themselves.
Aggression
Pain and discomfort also increase aggression. Even the simple act of placing one's hands in hot water can cause an aggressive response. Hot temperatures have been implicated as a factor in a number of studies. One study completed in the midst of the civil rights movement found that riots were more likely on hotter days than cooler ones (Carlsmith & Anderson 1979). Students were found to be more aggressive and irritable after taking a test in a hot classroom (Anderson et al. 1996, Rule, et al. 1987). Drivers in cars without air conditioning were also found to be more likely to honk their horns (Kenrick & MacFarlane 1986), which is used as a measure of aggression and has shown links to other factors such as generic symbols of aggression or the visibility of other drivers.
Popularity
Overt aggression is aggression that involves individuals physically interacting with each other in acts such as pushing, hitting, kicking or otherwise causing physical harm or submission in the other person. This includes threats of violence and physical intimidation as well.
The Goodness Paradox
According to Paleoanthropologist John D. Hawks, Wrangham follows scholars including Kenneth A. Dodge in dividing human aggression into two types. The first type, “reactive aggression” is when individuals who attack in response to provocation. The second, type, “proactive aggression” is planned, premeditated, and involves deliberate tactical strikes. In an elegant metaphor, Wrangham invited readers to imagine a commercial airline flight. Other primates crowded into such a space would react by, in Hawks' words, ""ripping one another limb from limb." Humans do not because they have a comparatively very low tendency to reactive aggression. Proactive aggression, by contrast, is so highly developed in humans that we much put elaborate security measures in place to prevent others from carrying out plans to bring the plane down.
Relational aggression
Relational aggression or alternative aggression is a type of aggression in which harm is caused by damaging someone's relationships or social status. Although it can be used in many contexts and among different age groups, relational aggression among adolescents in particular, has received a lot of attention.
Behavior mutation
Aggression is a survival trait that can be favoured by Natural Selection in nearly any species. Aggressive individuals can be better able to compete for resources including food, territory and mates, as well as more successful in protecting themselves and their progeny from predators. It can also be energetically costly, and extreme or out of context aggression can be disadvantageous or deleterious, especially in social organisms. Aggression is a complex trait that is regulated by many interacting genes and gene expression is highly variable depending on environment (phenotypic plasticity). Mutations in genes that influence aggressive behaviours can potentially increase aggression or passivity.
Primate
Both humans and nonhuman primates, such as chimpanzees, exhibit proactive aggression, a type of preplanned aggression with a reward. This aggression is expressed between neighboring groups. Proactive aggression ultimately increases the fitness of the community as a whole as the size of the community increases. Unlike proactive aggression, reactive aggression is low in humans but high in chimpanzees. Reactive aggression is a result of anger in order to cease a stressful stimulus. Low reactive aggression in humans can be attributed to tolerance and cooperation. Wrangham found “evolution of within-group tolerance, such as individual selection for cooperative breeding, group selection for parochial altruism, and cultural group selection for prosocial norms”. Ranking in nonhuman primates stems from the most aggressive male, while nomadic hunter-gatherers are respected for their prestige and ability to form alliances and negotiations. Boehm proposed the “execution hypothesis”, or the approval by the community of killing group members who violate the norm of the group or are deemed a bully. Hunter-gatherers who attempted to utilize aggression were viewed as a threat and removed from the group. The removal of community threats can be likened to modern capital punishment, more specifically the death penalty.
Learning
"Episodic learning" is a change in behavior that occurs as a result of an event. For example, a fear of dogs that follows being bitten by a dog is episodic learning. Episodic learning is so named because events are recorded into episodic memory, which is one of the three forms of explicit learning and retrieval, along with perceptual memory and semantic memory. Episodic memory remembers events and history that are embedded in experience and this is distinguished from semantic memory, which attempts to extract facts out of their experiential context or – as some describe – a timeless organization of knowledge. For instance, if a person remembers the Grand Canyon from a recent visit, it is an episodic memory. He would use semantic memory to answer someone who would ask him information such as where the Grand Canyon is. A study revealed that humans are very accurate in the recognition of episodic memory even without deliberate intention to memorize it. This is said to indicate a very large storage capacity of the brain for things that people pay attention to.
Dog training
Animal behaviorists assert that using dominance to modify a behavior can suppress the behavior without addressing the underlying cause of the problem. It can exacerbate the problem and increase the dog's fear, anxiety, and aggression. Dogs that are subjected to repeated threats may react with aggression not because they are trying to be dominant, but because they feel threatened and afraid.
Aggression
Culture is one factor that plays a role in aggression. Tribal or band societies existing before or outside of modern states have sometimes been depicted as peaceful 'noble savages'. The ǃKung people were described as 'The Harmless People' in a popular work by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas in 1958, while Lawrence Keeley's 1996 War Before Civilization suggested that regular warfare without modern technology was conducted by most groups throughout human history, including most Native American tribes. Studies of hunter-gatherers show a range of different societies. In general, aggression, conflict and violence sometimes occur, but direct confrontation is generally avoided and conflict is socially managed by a variety of verbal and non-verbal methods. Different rates of aggression or violence, currently or in the past, within or between groups, have been linked to the structuring of societies and environmental conditions influencing factors such as resource or property acquisition, land and subsistence techniques, and population change.
Crime of aggression
A Crime of Aggression is a specific type of crime where a person plans, initiates, or executes an act of aggression using state military force that violates the Charter of the United Nations. The act is judged as a violation based on its character, gravity, and scale.
Bullying and emotional intelligence
Bullying is abusive social interaction between peers can include aggression, harassment, and violence. Bullying is typically repetitive and enacted by those who are in a position of power over the victim. A growing body of research illustrates a significant relationship between bullying and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EI) is a set of abilities related to the understanding, use and management of emotion as it relates to one's self and others. Mayer et al., (2008) defines the dimensions of overall EI as: "accurately perceiving emotion, using emotions to facilitate thought, understanding emotion, and managing emotion". The concept combines emotional and intellectual processes. Lower emotional intelligence appears to be related to involvement in bullying, as the bully and/or the victim of bullying. EI seems to play an important role in both bullying behavior and victimization in bullying; given that EI is illustrated to be malleable, EI education could greatly improve bullying prevention and intervention initiatives.
Observational learning
Albert Bandura, who is known for the classic Bobo doll experiment, identified this basic form of learning in 1961. The importance of observational learning lies in helping individuals, especially children, acquire new responses by observing others' behavior. Albert Bandura states that people’s behavior could be determined by their environment. Observational learning occurs through observing negative and positive behaviors. Bandura believes in reciprocal determinism in which the environment can influence people’s behavior and vice versa. For instance, the Bobo doll experiment shows that model, in a determined environment, affects children’s behavior. In this experiment Bandura demonstrates that one group of children placed in an aggressive environment would act the same way, while the control group and the other group of children placed in a passive role model environment hardly shows any type of aggression.
Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness is behavior that occurs when the subject endures repeatedly painful or otherwise aversive stimuli which it is unable to escape from or avoid. After such experiences, the organism often fails to learn or accept "escape" or "avoidance" in new situations where such behavior is likely to be effective. In other words, the organism learned that it is helpless. In situations where there is a presence of aversive stimuli, it has accepted that it has lost control and thus gives up trying, even as changing circumstances offer a method of relief from said stimuli. Such an organism is said to have acquired learned helplessness. Learned helplessness theory is the view that clinical depression and related mental illnesses may result from such real or perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation.
Dobermann
In addition to the studies of canine personality, there has been some research to determine whether there are breed differences in aggression. In a study published in 2008, aggression was divided into four categories: aggression directed at strangers, owner, strange dogs, and rivalry with other household dogs. This study found that the Doberman Pinscher ranked relatively high on stranger-directed aggression, but extremely low on owner-directed aggression. The Doberman Pinscher ranked as average on dog-directed aggression and dog rivalry. Looking only at bites and attempted bites, Doberman Pinschers rank as far less aggressive towards humans and show less aggression than many breeds without a reputation (e.g., Cocker Spaniel, Dalmatian, and Great Dane). This study concluded that aggression has a genetic basis, that the Dobermann shows a distinctive pattern of aggression depending on the situation and that contemporary Doberman Pinschers are not an aggressive breed overall. In regards to Dobermanns attacking owners, it is rare and usually in the case of overdiscipline. Dobermanns accept physical punishment to an extent. However, when they consider it to no longer be punishment, but an attack on themselves, they will defend themselves.
Emotional competence
Humanistic approaches to assertiveness, as, for instance, outlined by Anne Dickson emphasise the importance of working with emotions. In particular it recognises the need to address manipulative or passive (the person does not say what they want) – aggressive (they try to force the other person to do what they want) behaviour in which the manipulator exploits the feelings of the other to try to get what they want. Building up emotional competence is a way of learning to handle such behaviour.
Corporal punishment in the home
In examining several longitudinal studies that investigated the path from spanking to aggression in children from preschool age through adolescence, Gershoff concluded: "In none of these longitudinal studies did spanking predict reductions in children’s aggression [...] Spanking consistently predicted increases in children’s aggression over time, regardless of how aggressive children were when the spanking occurred". A 2010 study at Tulane University found a 50% greater risk of aggressive behavior two years later in young children who were spanked more than twice in the month before the study began. The study controlled for a wide variety of confounding variables, including initial levels of aggression in the children. According to the study's leader, Catherine Taylor, this suggests that "it's not just that children who are more aggressive are more likely to be spanked."
Dog training
Strictly following the model set out in the "Koehler Method of Dog Training", some 50 years later, the Koehler method continues to be taught in both class and private training formats. The method is based in the philosophy that a dog acts on its right to choose its actions. Koehler explained that a dog's learned behavior is an act of choice based on its own learning experience. When those choices are influenced by the expectation of reward, the behavior will most likely be repeated, and when those choices are influenced by the anticipation of punishment, they will most likely cease. Once the dog has learned that its choices result in comfort or discomfort it can be taught to make the correct decisions. Action→Memory→Desire encapsulates the learning pattern used by the method; the dog acts, remembers the consequences, and forms the desire to repeat or avoid those consequences. Adherents believe that once the behavior has been correctly taught, it should be performed, thus making any correction, fair, reasonable, and expected. While the model has been used consistently since 1962, some of the punishment procedures described in the book are now not considered necessary, humane, or appropriate by many trainers.
Psychological abuse
When considering the emotional state of psychological abusers, psychologists have focused on aggression as a contributing factor. While it is typical for people to consider males to be the more aggressive of the two sexes, researchers have studied female aggression to help understand psychological abuse patterns in situations involving female abusers. According to Walsh and Shluman, "The higher rates of female initiated aggression [including psychological aggression] may result, in part, from adolescents' attitudes about the unacceptability of male aggression and the relatively less negative attitudes toward female aggression". This concept that females are raised with fewer restrictions on aggressive behaviors (possibly due to the anxiety over aggression being focused on males) is a possible explanation for women who utilize aggression when being mentally abusive.
Agonistic behaviour
Some forms of agonistic behaviour are between contestants who are competing for access to the same resources, such as food or mates. Other times, it involves tests of strength or threat display that make animals look large and more physically fit, a display that may allow it to gain the resource before an actual battle takes place. Although agonistic behaviour varies among species, agonistic interaction consists of three kinds of behaviours: threat, aggression, and submission. These three behaviours are functionally and physiologically interrelated with aggressive behaviour yet fall outside the narrow definition of aggressive behaviour. While any one of these divisions of behaviours may be seen alone in an interaction between two animals, they normally occur in sequence from start to end. Depending on the availability and importance of a resource, behaviours can range from a fight to the death or a much safer ritualistic behaviour, though ritualistic or display behaviours are the most common form of agonistic behaviours.
Aggression
In general, differences in a continuous phenotype such as aggression are likely to result from the action of a large number of genes each of small effect, which interact with each other and the environment through development and life.
Psychology of learning
Edward Thorndike (1874–1949) presented his theory of the "Law of Effect" in 1898. According to this theory, humans and other animals learn behaviors through trial-and-error methods. Once a functioning solution is found, these behaviors are likely to be repeated during the same or similar task. It was his work on learning theory that resulted in operant conditioning within behaviorism. His theory of operant conditioning is learning from the consequences of our actions and behavior. 
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936) was a Russian physiologist, who contributed to research on learning. Knowing that a hungry dog salivates when food is present, he performed a series of experiments and trained dogs to salivate through an arbitrary external stimuli. This was done by pairing natural stimuli (such as food) with a new stimulus (e.g., a metronome) to provoke the desired response in dogs. That proved his thesis that he could make a dog salivate by just the presentation of the sound of a bell. Pavlov's approach to learning was behavioristic and later known as classical conditioning.
Aggression
The frequency of physical aggression in humans peaks at around 2–3 years of age. It then declines gradually on average. These observations suggest that physical aggression is not only a learned behavior but that development provides opportunities for the learning and biological development of self-regulation. However, a small subset of children fail to acquire all the necessary self-regulatory abilities and tend to show atypical levels of physical aggression across development. These may be at risk for later violent behavior or, conversely, lack of aggression that may be considered necessary within society. Some findings suggest that early aggression does not necessarily lead to aggression later on, however, although the course through early childhood is an important predictor of outcomes in middle childhood. In addition, physical aggression that continues is likely occurring in the context of family adversity, including socioeconomic factors. Moreover, 'opposition' and 'status violations' in childhood appear to be more strongly linked to social problems in adulthood than simply aggressive antisocial behavior. Social learning through interactions in early childhood has been seen as a building block for levels of aggression which play a crucial role in the development of peer relationships in middle childhood. Overall, an interplay of biological, social and environmental factors can be considered.
The Bobo doll experiment was conducted by Albert Bandura in 1961. In this work, Bandura found that children exposed to an aggressive adult model acted more aggressively than those who were exposed to a nonaggressive adult model. This experiment suggests that anyone who comes in contact with and interacts with children can affect the way they react and handle situations.Gender is a factor that plays a role in both human and animal aggression. Males are historically believed to be generally more physically aggressive than females from an early age, and men commit the vast majority of murders (Buss 2005). This is one of the most robust and reliable behavioral sex differences, and it has been found across many different age groups and cultures. However, some empirical studies have found the discrepancy in male and female aggression to be more pronounced in childhood and the gender difference in adults to be modest when studied in an experimental context. Still, there is evidence that males are quicker to aggression (Frey et al. 2003) and more likely than females to express their aggression physically. When considering indirect forms of non-violent aggression, such as relational aggression and social rejection, some scientists argue that females can be quite aggressive, although female aggression is rarely expressed physically. An exception is intimate partner violence that occurs among couples who are engaged, married, or in some other form of intimate relationship.
Episodic memory
Events that are recorded into episodic memory may trigger episodic learning, i.e. a change in behavior that occurs as a result of an event. For example, a fear of dogs after being bitten by a dog is a result of episodic learning.
Crime of aggression
Exercise of jurisdiction
Genetics of aggression
These three main experimental types are used in animal studies, studies testing heritability and molecular genetics, and gene/environment interaction studies. Recently, important links between aggression and genetics have been studied and the results are allowing scientists to better understand the connections.
Workplace safety in healthcare settings
The definition can be extended to include the fact that aggression can be physical, verbal, active or passive and be directly or indirectly focussed at the victim–with or without the use of a weapon, and possibly incorporating psychological or emotional tactics (Rippon 2000). It requires the perpetrator to have intent, and the victim to attempt evasion of the actions. Hence harm that is accidental cannot be considered aggressive as it does not incorporate intent, nor can harm implicated with intent to help (for example the pain experienced by a patient during dental treatment) be classed as aggression as there is no motivation to evade the action (Anderson and Bushman 2002). A description of workplace violence by Wynne, Clarkin, Cox, & Griffiths (1997), explains it to involve incidents resulting in abuse, assault or threats directed towards staff with regard to work–including an explicit or implicit challenge to their safety, well-being or health (Oostrom and Mierlo 2008).
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314
The definition makes a distinction between "aggression" (which "gives rise to international responsibility") and "war of aggression" (which is "a crime against international peace"). Article 3 "in accordance with the provisions of article 2", defines certain acts as aggression, such as armed invasions or attacks, bombardments, blockades, armed violations of territory, permitting other states to use one's own territory to perpetrate acts of aggression and the employment of armed irregulars or mercenaries to carry out acts of aggression. Article 2 states that the first use of force in contravention of the UN Charter will be prima facie evidence of aggression, but the Security Council has the authority to determine that given the circumstances aggression has not taken place. A war of aggression is a series of acts committed with a sustained intent. The definition's distinction between an "act" of aggression and a "war" of aggression make it clear that not every act of aggression would constitute a crime against peace; only war of aggression does. States would nonetheless be held responsible for acts of aggression.
Aggression
Aggression can have adaptive benefits or negative effects. Aggressive behavior is an individual or collective social interaction that is a hostile behavior with the intention of inflicting damage or harm. Two broad categories of aggression are commonly distinguished. One includes affective (emotional) and hostile, reactive, or retaliatory aggression that is a response to provocation, and the other includes instrumental, goal-oriented or predatory, in which aggression is used as a mean to achieve a goal. An example of hostile aggression would be a person who punches someone who insulted him or her. An instrumental form of aggression would be armed robbery. Research on violence from a range of disciplines lend some support to a distinction between affective and predatory aggression. However, some researchers question the usefulness of a hostile versus instrumental distinction in humans, despite its ubiquity in research, because most real-life cases involve mixed motives and interacting causes.
Popularity
Relational aggression is nonviolent aggression that is emotionally damaging to another individual. Examples of relationally aggressive activities include ignoring or excluding an individual from a group, delivering personal insults to another person, and the spreading of rumors. Relational aggression is more frequently used by females than males.
Aggression
Nayef Al-Rodhan argues that humans' strong tendency towards "fear(survival)-induced pre-emptive aggression" means that situations of anarchy or near anarchy should be prevented at all costs. This is because anarchy provokes fear, which in turn results in aggression, brutality, and injustice. Even in non-anarchic situations, survival instincts and fear can be very powerful forces, and they may be incited instantaneously. "Fear(survival)-induced pre-emptive aggression" is one of the key factors that may push naturally amoral humans to behave in immoral ways. Knowing this, Al-Rodhan maintains that we must prepare for the circumstances that may arise from humans' aggressive behavior. According to Al-Rodhan, the risk of this aggression and its ensuing brutality should be minimized through confidence-building measures and policies that promote inclusiveness and prevent anarchy.
War of aggression
This definition makes a distinction between "aggression" (which "gives rise to international responsibility") and "war of aggression" (which is "a crime against international peace"). Acts of aggression are defined as armed invasions or attacks, bombardments, blockades, armed violations of territory, permitting other states to use one's own territory to perpetrate acts of aggression and the employment of armed irregulars or mercenaries to carry out acts of aggression. A war of aggression is a series of acts committed with a sustained intent. The definition's distinction between an "act" of aggression and a "war" of aggression make it clear that not every act of aggression would constitute a crime against peace; only war of aggression does. States would nonetheless be held responsible for acts of aggression.
Fish aggression
Evolution of aggression can occur in fish due to their genetic makeup. To examine the relationship between aggression and genetic makeup, a team from CNRS/Laboratoire Neurobiologie et Développement conducted an experiment on zebra fish, spiegeldanio. At the beginning, the team of CNRS organized behavioral tests to quantitatively measure the three characters of aggressive behavior. In the experiment, it turned out that this particular fish has a mutation in its fgfr-1 gene summarizing for a membrane receptor sensitive to FGF (Fibroblast Growth Factor), which is a key for growth factor in those fish. As a reaction to the mutation, this group of fish displays low brain levels of histamine. Histamine is a neurotransmitter that controls appetite, sleep and attention in a species. Due to low histamine levels, zebra fish exhibit aggressive behavior. Therefore, the link between the fgfr-1 genes to histamine regulates the behavioral status of aggression in zebra fish.
Aggressionism
The concept of aggressionism is based on the root word "aggression." In this particular concept, aggression occurs in all species as a form of protection of their own or of their territory in order to keep their young safe. However, though most species protect against their predators, some also protect from their own. For example, lions are very territorial and fight other grown, male lions to keep their status as the alpha. Similar to humans, if an invader attacks, human instinct leads them to defend oneself and fend them off. When necessary, for the sake of survival, most species become aggressive to get food to survive. Yet, aggressionism isn't the same as aggression. Aggressionism is the concept of aggression particularly made for humans, as it is more complex than simply wanting to survive. This is demonstrated in one of its definitions describing it as "the action of a state in violating by force the rights of another state, particularly its territorial rights; an unprovoked offensive, attack, invasion, or the like..." or a "hostile or destructive mental attitude or behavior" which leads to conflict and eventually, bloodshed.
Learned industriousness
Learned helplessness is a term to explain a specific pattern of behavior that occurs in both animals and humans. When an animal or human is consistently exposed to an aversive condition (pain, unpleasant noise, etc.) and is unable to escape this condition, that animal or human will become helpless and stop attempting escape. The animal or human may develop motivational deficits, as demonstrated in learned helplessness experiments. In contrast, learned industriousness theory attempts to explain why some individuals are more motivated than others. In an attempt to merge these two phenomena, Eisenberger, Park, & Frank invoked learned industriousness in children by providing task-contingent verbal approval for a small group of behaviors, contrasting this with a group of children conditioned to exhibit learned helplessness, and a control group. On a subsequent approval-contingent task, children conditioned task-contingent verbal approval outperformed controls. However, the learned-helplessness group performed no differently from controls.
Aggression
Aggression between conspecifics in a group typically involves access to resources and breeding opportunities. One of its most common functions is to establish a dominance hierarchy. This occurs in many species by aggressive encounters between contending males when they are first together in a common environment. Usually the more aggressive animals become the more dominant. In test situations, most of the conspecific aggression ceases about 24 hours after the group of animals is brought together. Aggression has been defined from this viewpoint as "behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of the organism relative to the dominance position of other organisms". Losing confrontations may be called social defeat, and winning or losing is associated with a range of practical and psychological consequences.
War of aggression
In addition to other acts which the Organ of Consultation may characterize as aggression, the following shall be considered as such:
The discussions on definition of aggression under the UN began in 1950, following the outbreak of the Korean War. As the western governments, headed by Washington, were in favor of defining the governments of North Korea and the People's Republic of China as aggressor states, the Soviet government proposed to formulate a new UN resolution defining aggression and based on the 1933 convention. As a result, on November 17, 1950, the General Assembly passed resolution 378, which referred the issue to be defined by the International Law Commission. The commission deliberated over this issue in its 1951 session and due to large disagreements among its members, decided "that the only practical course was to aim at a general and abstract definition (of aggression)". However, a tentative definition of aggression was adopted by the commission on June 4, 1951, which stated:
Habituation
Habituation is a form of non-associative learning in which an innate (non-reinforced) response to a stimulus decreases after repeated or prolonged presentations of that stimulus. Responses that habituate include those that involve the intact organism (e.g., full-body startle response) or those that involve only components of the organism (e.g., habituation of neurotransmitter release from "in vitro" Aplysia sensory neurons). The response-system learns to stop responding to a stimulus which is no longer biologically relevant. For example, organisms may habituate to repeated sudden loud noises when they learn these have no consequences. Habituation usually refers to a reduction in innate behaviours, rather than behaviours acquired during conditioning (in which case the process is termed "extinction"). A progressive decline of a behavior in a habituation procedure may also reflect nonspecific effects such as fatigue, which must be ruled out when the interest is in habituation as a learning process.
Attribution bias
Although certain attribution biases are associated with maladaptive behaviors, such as aggression, some research has also indicated that these biases are flexible and can be altered to produce positive outcomes. Much of this work falls within the domain of improving academic achievement through attributional retraining. For example, one study found that students who were taught to modify their attributions actually performed better on homework assignments and lecture materials. The retraining process specifically targeted students who tended to attribute poor academic performance to external factors and taught them that poor performance was often attributable to internal and unstable factors, such as effort and ability. Therefore, the retraining helped students perceive greater control over their own academic success by altering their attributional process.
Albert Bandura
The initial phase of Bandura's research analyzed the foundations of human learning and the willingness of children and adults to imitate behavior observed in others, in particular, aggression.
Aggression
A number of classifications and dimensions of aggression have been suggested. These depend on such things as whether the aggression is verbal or physical; whether or not it involves relational aggression such as covert bullying and social manipulation; whether harm to others is intended or not; whether it is carried out actively or expressed passively; and whether the aggression is aimed directly or indirectly. Classification may also encompass aggression-related emotions (e.g. anger) and mental states (e.g. impulsivity, hostility). Aggression may occur in response to non-social as well as social factors, and can have a close relationship with stress coping style. Aggression may be displayed in order to intimidate.
Aggression
Early androgenization has an organizational effect on the developing brains of both males and females, making more neural circuits that control sexual behavior as well as intermale and interfemale aggression become more sensitive to testosterone. Thus, aggressive behavior tends to increase with testosterone. There are noticeable sex differences in aggression. Testosterone is present to a lesser extent in females, who may be more sensitive to its effects. Animal studies have also indicated a link between incidents of aggression and the individual level of circulating testosterone. However, results in relation to primates, particularly humans, are less clear cut and are at best only suggestive of a positive association in some contexts.
Workplace aggression
Aggression can occur in a variety of situations. One important domain to understand aggression is in the workplace. Workplace aggression is considered a specific type of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and is defined as "any act of aggression, physical assault, threatening or coercive behavior that causes physical or emotional harm in a work setting."
Relational aggression
Different types of programs have shown to have somewhat different effects: the first type seems to best improve adolescent's ability to get along with others while the second type has shown to improve adolescents' self-conceptions and their acceptance by others. One of the examples of the programs using the third approach is PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) teaches skills needed for successfully analyzing social situations, controlling one's negative emotions, and making more rational social decisions. It has been shown to successfully reduce behavioral problems among elementary school children.
However, it is difficult to prevent relational aggression from happening as often adolescents who use it are seen to be more popular among their peers.
Challenging behaviour
The term "challenging behaviour" has become subject to widespread misuse, most often as a euphemism for violent or aggressive behaviour. In educational settings it is often used to refer to acts of disobedience, defiance, or other non-compliance with authority. This is not what the term was originally intended to refer to. Increasingly professional groups are adopting alternative terms for example "behaviour of concern".
Aggression
Joan Durrant at the University of Manitoba writes that a number of studies have found physical punishment to be associated with "higher levels of aggression against parents, siblings, peers and spouses", even when controlling for other factors. According to Elizabeth Gershoff at the University of Texas at Austin, the more that children are physically punished, the more likely they are as adults to act violently towards family members, including intimate partners. In countries where physical punishment of children is perceived as being more culturally accepted, it is less strongly associated with increased aggression; however, physical punishment has been found to predict some increase in child aggression regardless of culture. While these associations do not prove causality, a number of longitudinal studies suggest that the experience of physical punishment has a direct causal effect on later aggressive behaviors. In examining several longitudinal studies that investigated the path from disciplinary spanking to aggression in children from preschool age through adolescence, Gershoff concluded: "Spanking consistently predicted increases in children's aggression over time, regardless of how aggressive children were when the spanking occurred". similar results were found by Catherine Taylor at Tulane University in 2010. Family violence researcher Murray A. Straus argues, "There are many reasons this evidence has been ignored. One of the most important is the belief that spanking is more effective than nonviolent discipline and is, therefore, sometimes necessary, despite the risk of harmful side effects".
Non-aggression principle
The non-aggression principle (or NAP; also called the non-aggression axiom, the anti-coercion, zero aggression principle or non-initiation of force) is an ethical stance asserting that aggression is inherently wrong. In this context, "aggression" is defined as initiating or threatening any "forcible" interference with an individual or individual's property. In contrast to pacifism, it does not forbid forceful defense.
Attribution bias
Research has also indicated that children can develop hostile attribution bias by engaging in aggression in the context of a video game. In a 1998 study, participants played either a very violent or non-violent video game and were then asked to read several hypothetical stories where a peer's intent was ambiguous. For example, participants may read about their peer hitting someone in the head with a ball, but it is unclear whether or not the peer did this intentionally or not. Participants then responded to questions about their peer's intent (e.g., "Do you think your peer hit someone with the ball on purpose?"). The children who played the violent video game, as compared to participants who played the nonviolent game, were more likely to say that their peer harmed someone on purpose. This finding provided evidence that just playing a violent video game could cause children to develop a short-term hostile attribution bias.
Hawk/goose effect
A Brief History Pointing to Learned Behavior
Passive-aggressive behavior
In psychology, passive-aggressive behavior is characterized by a habitual pattern of non-active resistance to expected work requirements, opposition, sullenness, stubbornness, and negative attitudes in response to requirements for normal performance levels expected by others. Most frequently it occurs in the workplace, where resistance is exhibited by indirect behaviors as procrastination, forgetfulness, and purposeful inefficiency, especially in reaction to demands by authority figures, but it can also occur in interpersonal contexts.
Shock collar
Tortora applied a method called "safety training" to treat aggression in 36 cases exhibiting a form of "instrumental aggression", selected after screening a population of 476 cases. "Instrumental aggression" was defined as describing aggressive acts that "do not have a clear evolutionary significance, are not directly related to emotional arousal, do not have specific releasing stimuli, are not directly modulated by hormones, and do not have an identifiable focus in the brain". Tortora states that in the context of the article "instrumental aggression" was specifically defined as "aggressive responses that have "a specifiable learning history, show a growth function over time and are modulated by their consequences. These dogs had few operant alternatives to gain reinforcement by compliance and were channeled down a path that allowed their innate aggressiveness to come under the control of the negatively reinforcing contingencies in the environment". The dogs initially behaved as though they "expected" aversive events and that the only way to prevent these events was through aggression. The dogs were therefore a highly selected subset that had not learned strategies for coping with threat.
Bullying and emotional intelligence
Bullying is the most prevalent form of violence in schools and has lasting consequences into adulthood. Increased concern regarding school bullying has been raised in part due to publicized suicides of childhood victims. Around 40% of middle school children are directly involved in bullying at least once a week according to the National Center of Education Statistics. Pre-adolescent research confirms such a negative relationship between trait EI and bullying behavior; bullying behavior is negatively associated with total empathy and more specifically, the EI dimension of cognitive empathy, which is the ability to understand or take on the emotional experiences and perspectives of others. It was found that adolescent bullying peer relations are also significantly negatively correlated with the dimension of EI that was conceptualized by Lomas et al. (2012) as Understanding the Emotions of Others. While the term naming the dimension varies within the research, the dimension of EI that appears to have the strongest inverse relationship with enacting bullying behavior throughout the literature is one’s ability to understand the emotional experience of other people. Because bullying behavior in school-aged children is related to lower levels of understanding of other’s emotions, one theory is that children who exhibit bullying behaviors are not able to fully understand the impact that they have on their victims. Indeed, when differentiating between the different components of empathy, it is the cognitive component that bullies seem to have the most deficit in. In addition to the inability to relate to the emotions of others, research also suggests that those who engage in bullying behavior may also lack proper skills in dealing with their own emotions, another aspect of EI often referred to as emotional facilitation or self-efficacy. The poor use of emotions is found to be significant in predicting problem behavior among adolescents, such as aggression, which can be characteristic in bullying behavior. In this way, the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions may play an important role in preventing children from engaging in bullying behavior. For example, in a study among adolescent girls, it was found that better management of stress could prevent the perpetuation of aggression and violence.