Aggression:
Definitions and Perspectives
Why study Aggression?
• A crime is committed
– every
• A violent crime is committed
– every
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Assault every
A robbery every
A rape every
A murder every
• Regions of the US
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–
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South
West
Midwest
Northeast
• Lets look at “today” - CNN.com
Past
• Court Records
– Not all still exist
– Most pertain to homicide
• Long downward trend since midfourteenth century
– From 20/100,000 in 1200
– To 1.5/100,000 in 1800
• Continued to drop until 1950s
– .3/100,000 in 1951
• Creep back up in last 50 years
– 1/100,000 in 1981
Serious violent crime
levels declined since 1993
What is Aggression?
• The scientific study of affect, behavior, cognition,
and physiology/biology.
- Cognition: Internal mental processes of the individual
- Affect: Subjective feeling states
- Behavior: Any action that can be observed and recorded
- Physiology/Biology: How body/brain influence above
• The scientific study of “people” in “situations”.
• Aggression encompasses many different types
of behaviors in many different kinds of situations
What is Aggression?
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Physical, emotional, psychological
Minor, severe
Human, animal, natural forces
Accidental, intentional
Socially approved, disapproved
Legally approved, illegal
Justification, no justification
Each person perceiving it differently, why?
What is violence?
• Violence
»
• Aggression
»
What causes Aggression?
• Biology/Physiology?
(including neurotransmitters, hormones, personality traits, evolution, genetics
• Cognition?
(including thoughts, attributional bias, threatened egotism, cognitive priming
• Affect?
(emotional reactions including frustration-aggression, excitation-transfer
• Behavior
• Situation?
(external factors such as culture, social learning, media, situational cues like
heat, noise, crowding, etc)