AGGRESSION | BASIC DEFINITIONS

Aggression: Behavior directed towards the goal of harming another living being.

Instinct Theory: View suggesting that aggression stems from innate tendencies that are universal among members of a given species.

Drive theories (of aggression): Theories suggesting that aggression stems from external conditions that arouse the motive to harm others; the most famous of these is the frustration – aggression hypothesis.

Social Learning Theory: Theory emphasizing that aggressive behaviors are learned either through direct experience and practice or through observation of others.

Cognitive theory: Modern theories suggesting that aggression stems from a complex interplay between cognitive factors, affective states and additional variables.

Aggression Machine: Apparatus used to measure physical aggression under safe laboratory conditions.

Frustration – Aggression Hypothesis: The suggestion that frustration is a very powerful determinant of aggression.

Provocation: Actions by others that tend to trigger aggression in the recipient, often because they are perceived as stemming from malicious intent.

Excitation Transfer Theory: Theory suggesting that arousal produced in one situation can persist and intensify emotional reactions occurring in later situations.

Sexual jealousy: perception of a threat to a romantic relationship by a rival for one’s partner.

Type A Behavior pattern: Pattern consisting primarily of high levels of competitiveness, time urgency and hostility.

Type B Behavior pattern: Pattern consisting of the absence of characteristics associated with the Type A Behavior pattern.

Hostile aggression: Aggression in which the prime objective is to inflict some kind of harm on the victim.

Instrumental Aggression: Aggression in which the primary goal is not to harm the victim but rather attainment of some other goal, such as access to valued resources.

Hostile Attributional Bias: Tendency to perceive others’ action as stemming from hostile intent even when this is not clearly the case.

Child maltreatment: Actions that harm children either physically or psychologically.

Familicide: Instance in which an individual kills his or her spouse and one or more of his or her children.

Workplace Aggression: Aggression occurring int work settings.

Punishment: Delivery of averse consequences in order to decrease some behavior.

Catharsis Hypothesis: Theory that if angry persons can express their aggressive impulses in relatively safe ways, they will be less likely to engage in more harmful forms of aggression.

Incompatible responses: In relation to aggression responses that are incompatible with anger or overt aggression against others.