AGGRESSION

•intent to harm or otherwise injure another

person
•behavior intended to cause injury to others
•many behaviors are aggressive even
though they do not involve physical injury
•eg. verbal aggression, coercion,
intimidation, managerial styles, pre-
mediated social ostracism of others
FANTASIES VS. ACTS
•Persons may have violent thoughts or
fantasies, but unless they lose control,
thoughts do not become acts
•Any set of conditions that produce
increased aggressive impulses in the
context of diminished control may
produce violent acts
FANTASIES VS. ACTS
•toxic and organic states, developmental
disabilities, florid psychosis, conduct disorders
and overwhelming psychological environmental
stress
•distinguishing fantasies from the threat of a
real act is extremely important  laws that
require psychiatrists to warn legal authorities
and potential victims when one of their patients
will commit foul play
Predictors of Aggression
- High degree of intent to harm
- Presence of victim
- Frequent and open threats
- Concrete plan
- Access to instruments of violence
- History of loss control
- Chronic anger, hostility or resentment
- Enjoyment in watching or inflicting harm
- Lack of compassion
- Self-view as victim
- Resentful authority
- Childhood brutality or deprivation
- Decreased warmth and affection in home
- Early loss of parent
- Fire setting, bed-wetting, and cruelty to animals
- Prior violent acts
- Reckless driving
Etiology
1. Psychological Factor
 Instinctive Behavior
- Freud: aggression is viewed simply as a
reaction to the blocking of libidinal impulses and
was neither an automative nor an inevitable
part of life
- Lorenz: aggression springs from a fighting
instinct that humans share with other organisms
 Learned Behavior
- Bandura: persons engage in assaults against
others because they acquired aggressive
responses through past experiences
Social Factors
Frustration
most potent means of inciting human beings to
aggression
stems mainly from John Dollard's frustration-
aggression hypothesis
 Frustration always leads to a form of aggression and
that aggression always stems from frustration.
Frustrated persons show a wide variety of reactions:
 resignation, depression, and despair and other
attempts to overcome the sources of their
frustration.
• Not all aggression results from frustration. Persons
(e.g., boxers and football players) act aggressively
for many reasons and in response to many stimuli.
Social Factors
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. When it is
mild or moderate, aggression may not be
enhanced.

2. Frustration is likely to facilitate aggression

when it is perceived as arbitrary or
Social Factors
Direct Provocation
Evidence indicates that physical abuse and
verbal taunts from others often elicit
aggressive actions.
Once aggression begins, it often shows an
unsettling pattern of escalation; as a result,
even mild verbal slurs or glancing blows may
initiate a process in which stronger and
stronger provocations are exchanged.
Social Factors
Media Violence
Media may influence behavior through
modeling, 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.
Social Factors
Television and video games violence is
thought to contribute to violence in children
and adults in the following ways:
It has a short-term stimulating effect on
aggressive behaviors in all ages.
It portrays the world as a more hostile place
than it is.
It justifies violence (e.g., 40 percent of violent
television acts are performed by heroes).
It cues aggressive ideas in children.
Environmental Factors
Air pollution – exposure of
noxious odor increases personal
irritability leading to aggression
Noise- exposure to loud
irritating noise directs stronger
assaults against others
Crowding
Situational Factors
Heighten physiologic arousal -
participation in competitive activities vigorous
exercise and exposure to provocative film
Sexual Arousal – depends on erotic
materials used to induce aggressive reactions
Pain – physical pain arouse aggressive drive –
the motive to harm others
BIOLOGIC

Aggression

-linked in animals with hormones- (testosterone,

progesterone, luteinizing hormone, renin, β-
endorphin, prolactin, melatonin, norepinephrine,
dopamine, epinephrine, acetylcholine, serotonin,
5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and
phenylacetic acid)
- level of aggression can be related to androgen
levels
-androgen insensitivity syndrome: male offspring
with feminine appearance and acts
-androgenital syndrome:inc in adrenal androgen
Alcohols and barbiturates (aerosols and
commercial solvents)
-in small doses: inhibits it.
-in large doses: facilitates it.
 
Opiod dependence (stimulants, cocaine,
hallucinogens, marijuana)
-increases aggression
 
Neuroanatomical Damage
-agression can be affected by organic brain
damage
- victims of severe physical abuse may suffer
neurological sequelae secondary to the abuse
 

*Lewis’ study: death-row inmate studied by her

team of researchers had a history of head
injury, often inflicted by abusive parents
 
Neurotransmitters
-cholinergic and catecholaminergic -can induce
aggression
-serotonergic systems and γ-aminobutyric acid
(GABA):inhibit such behavior
-Dopamine seems:facilitate aggression
-norepinephrine and serotonin:inhibit it
-serotonin: decline causes increased irritability
and in animals: increased aggression
GENETIC
- “Aggressive behavior has genetic
predisposition.”
- mental disorders can be associated with
atypical physiologic functions

Twin Studies
-monozygotic twins indicates a hereditary
component to aggressive behavior
 
Pedigree Studies
-with family histories of mental disorders are
more susceptible to mental disorders and
engage in more aggressive behavior than
those without such histories
 
low intelligence quotient (IQ) scores
-increase delinquency and aggression
Chromosomal Influences
-chromosomes can be involved
- concentrated primarily on abnormalities in X and Y
chromosomes, particularly the 47-chromosome
XYY syndrome
 
Characteristics of the 47-chromosome XYY
syndrome
- tall
-below-average intelligence
-to be apprehended and in prison for engaging in
criminal behavior

* Presence of an extra Y chromosome is correlated

to having aggression.
 
 
Epidemiology
Violent acts are most often commit by
persons who know or knew each other
Homicides are most often prevalent among
strangers; most prevalent in low economic
groups; more commonly committed by men
than by women
Prevention and Control of
Aggression
1. Individual level
2. Punishment –effective deterrent to over
aggression; may only temporary reduce the
strength or frequency of aggressive behavior
3. catharsis – providing angry persons with
an opportunity to engage in expressive but
non injurious behaviors reduces their tension
or arousal and weakens tendency to engage
in overt & potentially aggressive behavior
Cont. Prevention and
Control of Aggression
4. Training and social skills – providing
severe social deficit persons with training
5. Induction of Incompatible response
A. empathy –exposure to signs of pain or
discomfort on the victims part inhibits further
aggression
B. Humor – anger often reduced through
exposure to humorous material
Pharmacotherapy
Lithium
Anticonvulsant
Anti-psychotic
Anti-depressants
Anti- anxiety
Anti-androgenic agents
Victims
Target of another persons aggression
Accidents
Event that occurs by chance, unexpected,
without conscious planning.
Characteristic: anxiety , boredom, fatigue,
ingestion of toxic substances (barbiturates,
alcohol, anti-histamine, marijuana)
Motivations: unconscious sense of guilt
leading to punishment
Grief Period
Manifestation subside over time
Length and intensity depends on the
suddeness of death vs anticipation of death
- sudden: shock and disebelief for a long time
- anticipated: mourning process may have
already occurred by the time of death
- Traditionally last for 6 mos to 1 year
Grief period
Anticipatory grief
- expressed in advance of a loss perceived
inevitably
- Ends with occurrence of anticipated loss
- May increase or decrease intensity
- Anniversary reaction – when the trigger for an
acute grief reaction is a special occasion such
as holiday or birthday
Grief period
Pathologic grief – take several forms ranging
from absent or delayed grief to excessively
intense and prolonged grief associated with
suicidal ideation or frank psychotic symptoms
- denial that includes that the dead person is
still alive
At risk: loss under horrific cirumstances or
sudden, who are socially associated, who
believe they are responsible for the death,
with history of traumatic losses, with intensely
dependent relationship to the person who
died
Grief vs depression
Grief: mood fluctuation
- Shame and guilt involve not having done enough
for the deceased before his/her death
- Time limited
- Less suicidal threats
Depression: pervasive and unremitting mood
disturbance
- Shame and guilt involve the fundamental belief
that one is wicked or worthless
- Lack hope
- More often have suicidal threats