AGGRESSION

AGGRESSION
 In humans, aggressive behavior assumes the form of violent
actions against others, who may avoid such treatment or
may fight back.
 the intent to harm or otherwise injure another person, an
implication inferred from events preceding or following the
act of aggression.
 behavior intended to cause physical injury to others, is
descriptive by virtue of its short-term consequence, harm to
others.
 Many behaviours are aggressive even though they do not
involve physical injury.
Fantasies vs. Acts
 Persons may have violent thoughts or fantasies, but unless
they lose control, thoughts do not become acts.
 Situations with combinations of factors include toxic and
organic states, developmental disabilities, florid psychosis,
conduct disorder, and overwhelming psychological and
environmental stress
 Distinguishing fantasies from the threat of a real act is
extremely important.
 Predictors of Aggression
 Most adults with and without mental disorders who commit aggressive
acts are likely to do so against persons they know, usually family members.
 Generally, the probability of aggressive behavior increases when persons
become psychologically decompensated and perhaps also when the
onset of a mental disorder is rapid.
 Episodic decompensation may occur in those who ingest large quantities
of alcohol; more than 50 percent of persons who commit criminal
homicides and who engage in assaultive behavior are reported to have
imbibed significant amounts of alcohol immediately beforehand.
 Researchers have recently turned their attention to sex differences in the
predisposition to, and frequency of, aggression.
ETIOLOGY
 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
• Instinctive Behaviour
 Sigmund Freud
 aggression stems primarily from the redirection of the self-destructive death
instinct away from the self and toward others.
• Lorenz’s view (Konrad Lorenz)
o aggression that causes physical harm to others springs from a fighting instinct
that humans share with other organisms.
• Learned Behaviour
 Albert Bandura
 persons acquire aggression, much like other forms of social behavior, through
either personal experience or by observation of others.
ETIOLOGY
 SOCIAL FACTORS
• Frustration
 The single most potent means of inciting human beings to aggression is
frustration.
 John Dollard's frustration-aggression hypothesis, frustration always leads to a
form of aggression and that aggression always stems from frustration.
 Examination
of the evidence indicates that whether frustration increases or fails
to enhance overt aggression depends largely on two factors:
(1) frustration appears to increase aggression only when the frustration is
intense
(2) frustration is likely to facilitate aggression when it is perceived as arbitrary
or illegitimate, rather than when it is viewed as deserved or legitimate.
ETIOLOGY
 SOCIAL FACTORS
• Direct Provocation
o Physical abuse and verbal taunts from others often elicit
aggressive actions.
• Media Violence
• Media may influence behavior through modelling,
disinhibition, desensitization, the arousal of aggressive feelings,
and the encouragement of risk taking
• Exposure to violent material reportedly increases violent
fantasies, especially in men; youth are very vulnerable to such
exposure.
ETIOLOGY
 ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
• Air Pollution
 Exposure to noxious odors, such as those produced by chemical plants and
other industries, may increase personal irritability and, therefore, aggression,
although this effect appears to be true only up to a point.

• Noise
o Several studies have reported that persons exposed to loud, irritating noise
direct stronger assaults against others than those not exposed to such
environmental conditions.

• Crowding
 Crowding may enhance the likelihood of aggressive outbursts when typical
reactions are negative (e.g., annoyance, irritation, and frustration).
ETIOLOGY
 SITUATIONAL FACTORS
• Heightened Physiological Arousal
 Heightened arousal stemming from such diverse sources as participation in
competitive activities, vigorous exercise, and exposure to provocative films
enhances overt aggression.

• Sexual Arousal
o Effects of sexual arousal on aggression depend strongly on the erotic
materials used to induce such reactions and on the precise nature of the
reactions themselves.

• Pain
 Physical pain may arouse an aggressive drive to the motive to harm or injure others.
ETIOLOGY
 BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
• Neuroanatomical Damage
 Root of the aggressive behavior of certain chronically aggressive persons is
organic brain damage.
 In 1986, Dorothy Lewis reported that every death-row inmate studied by her
team of researchers had a history of head injury, often inflicted by abusive
parents.

• Neurotransmitters
o The catecholaminergic and serotonergic systems evidently modulate
affective aggression. Dopamine seems to facilitate aggression, whereas
norepinephrine and serotonin appear to inhibit it.
ETIOLOGY
 GENETIC FACTORS
• Twin Studies
 monozygotic twins indicates a hereditary component to aggressive behavior.

• Pedigree Studies
o Several studies show that persons with family histories of mental disorders are more
susceptible to mental disorders and engage in more aggressive behavior than those
without such histories.
o Those with low intelligence quotient (IQ) scores appear to have a higher frequency of
delinquency and aggression than those with normal IQ scores.

• Chromosomal Influence
 Behavior research involving the influence of chromosomes has concentrated primarily
on abnormalities in X and Y chromosomes, particularly the 47-chromosome XYY
syndrome.
EPIDEMIOLOGY
o Violent crime rates are highest in large metropolitan areas and lowest
in rural areas.
o Violent acts are most often committed by persons who know or knew
each other.
o Homicide is most prevalent in low socioeconomic groups and is more
commonly committed by men than by women.
PREVENTION & CONTROL
 For physicians, the prevention of death and disability resulting from
aggressive, violent, or homicidal behavior begins at the individual
level.

 Preventive interventions include psychiatric referral, notification of the

proper legal or other authorities (mandatory in such cases as child
abuse and specific threats of harm to persons), and skilled counselling
by appropriately trained therapists.

 Many experts advocate limiting exposure to violence on television

and in movies and computer games as way to decrease violence.
PUNISHMENT
• Punishment is sometimes an effective deterrent to overt aggression.
• The recipients of punishment often interpret it as an attack against
them. To the extent that it is, aggressors may respond even more
aggressively.
• Strong punishment is more likely to provoke desires for revenge or
retribution than to instill lasting restraints against violence.
• Once the punishment is discontinued, the aggressive acts quickly
reappear.
• For these reasons, certain punishments may backfire and actually
encourage, rather than inhibit, the dangerous actions they are
designed to prevent.
CARTHASIS
 The catharsis hypothesis is the belief that the participation in activities,
such as running or kickboxing, allows persons to vent their anger and
hostility and therefore reduces aggressive behavior.
 At present, catharsis is thought to help some persons discharge
aggression.
 Catharsis may not be effective for long-term reduction of aggression.
 TRAINING IN SOCIAL SKILLS
 A major reason why many persons become involved in repeated
aggressive encounters is their lack of basic social skills.
 Their severe social deficits seem to ensure that they experience repeated
frustration and frequently anger those with whom they have direct
contact.
 A technique for reducing the frequency of such behavior involves
providing these persons with the social skills that they sorely lack.
 The results are encouraging and indicate that training in appropriate
social skills can offer a promising approach to the reduction of human
violence
 INDUCTION OF INCOMPATIBLE RESPONSES
• EMPATHY
• When aggressors attack other persons in face-to-face confrontations, the aggressors may
block out, ignore, or deny signs of pain and suffering on the part of their victims.

• HUMOR
• Informal observation indicates that anger can often be reduced through exposure to
humorous material, and some laboratory studies support this hypothesis.

• Other factors
o Many other reactions may also be incompatible with anger or overt aggression.
o As noted, mild sexual arousal sometimes operates in this fashion.
o Similarly, feelings of guilt about the performance of aggressive actions often reduce such
behavior.
o Participation in absorbing cognitive tasks, such as solving mathematics problems, may
induce reactions incompatible with anger and aggressive actions.
PHARMACOTHERAPY
 Several types of drugs and clinical monitoring ”for example, blood pressure
and electroencephalogram (EEG)” are essential for the optimal treatment
of specific aggressive persons.
 Lithium (Eskalith) = delinquent adolescent boys
 Anticonvulsants = reduce seizure-induced forms of aggression
 Antipsychotic = reduce aggression in both psychotic and nonpsychotic
violent patients
 Antidepressants = reducing violence in depressed px
 Anticonvulsants ~ GABAPENTIN (Neurontin) = reducing aggressive outbursts
 Antiadrogenic = aggressive sex offenders
 Beta blockers & stimulants = aggressive children
VICTIMS
 Recent research indicates that many victims of violent crimes
are at increased risk for major psychiatric problems.
 Long-term depressive disorders and phobias

ACCIDENTS
 is an event that occurs by chance or unexpectedly,
without conscious planning.
 Vehicular accidents, industrial accidents, and home
accidents were the most frequent types of injuries.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Victims' psychophysiological states must be considered in all injuries
and accidents.
• A physical condition such as fatigue can lead to either distraction or
an inability to respond sufficiently quickly to avoid an accident.

MOTIVATIONS
 Freud's The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1904)
 Many apparently accidental injuries that happen to such patients are really
instances of self-injuries.
 The concept of an unconscious sense of guilt and a need to atone or to be
punished for such guilt feelings may provide the motivation for many
accidents.