PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY:
Sigmund Freud
Violence: exertion of physical force to injure or
destroy.
 Always accompanied by emotion of anger or
hostility
Which may or may not be consciously
perceived.
Can be expressed, suppressed or repressed
Psychodynamic Theory
• Anger must reach certain intensity before
resulting in violence
• The threshold for violence varies from
individual to individual based upon
biological differences
Psychodynamic Theory
• Violence are instincts or drives
– Drives: implied a state of readiness for
certain types of behavior
– Instincts: implies a set of inborn patterns of
behavior that is complete and autonomic in
response to a given stimulus
Primary Instincts
• Violence is a primary drive:
– Aggressive drives are based upon
– Thanatos: death instinct,
• anti-death wish
– Libidinal: sexual instinct,
• discharging energy
Primary Drives
• Two Subtypes of aggression which result from
primary drives:
– Reactive: reactive and proportional to a frustrating
situation. It's release serves to reduce tension and if
complete permanently discharges the emotion. This
prevents repression.
– Explosive rage: unprovoked and not in proportion
to any event or stimulus. A dangerous form of
primary aggression. Results from a short-circuiting of
this process in lower brain centers (psychotic trigger
syndrome)
•
Psychodynamic Theory
Both of these types of response release the tension.
Blockage
Frustration
Anger
Inflicting pain on
others
(primary aggression)
Pleasure
seeking
New effort
or delay of
gratification
Repression and /or
defense
Secondary Defensive
Aggression
• Secondary (defensive) Aggression: Hostile or violent
behavior that is entirely distortional or even unrelated to
current provocation. "chip on their shoulder", short fuse
This aggression taps on a warehouse of previously
stored hostility. Senseless killings: no apparent
motivation.
Theoretically the release of tension should deplete the
store, but with secondary aggression the
aggressiveness continues to express itself over and
over again in a repetitive compulsive fashion even
when the consequences are disastrous.
Primary Autonomous Ego traits
•
•
•
•
Oral
Anal
Oedipal
Latency
Oral Traits/feelings
• Traits
–
–
–
–
Greed,
insatiability
constant demand for attention
toughness
• Feelings
– Worthlessness
– Vulnerability
– Feelings of deprivation
• Earliest biological and emotional needs are not
met lack of gratification and frustrations
Anal Phase
• Traits
–
–
–
–
Defiant behaviors
Lack of self-control
Impulsive
Lives for the moment, oblivious to future
consequences of their acts
• Feelings
– Hostility
– Fear of own affectionate wishes
– Driving away others
Oedipal Phase
• Traits
– Sexual impulses: rivals and candidates
– Unresolved conflict
– Secondary aggression
• Feelings
– Angry
– Dissatisfied
– Exaggerated fear of castration anxiety
Latency Phase
• Traits
– Peer pressure: we-they thinking
– Alliance to an aggressive group
can create increased aggression
– Father figure
• Strong-silent type, no father present or weak father result
in hostile behavior
• Aggressor: father is cruel tormentor
• Self-concept as a bad person
– Superego “I am bad, ego responds to do bad things
• Cruelty: need to subjugate others, to dominate others