What Causes Aggression?

By Dr. Shari Beecher, PhD.

My latest thought came from watching all the riots on TV. It seems some people disagree with the riots, but some think this is the way to get things changed. Is aggression ok ever? What exactly is aggression? Is it pushing, yelling, or a type of body language? All of us have experienced some type of aggression.

Aggression is not a scientific term. We use it in everyday language. It does have a scientific definition though. Scientifically aggression can be defined as a number of behaviors that have a common goal, to inflict harm upon another person. Does this harm have to be physical? No, it doesn’t.

Buss and Perry break aggression into four different categories: Physical aggression, Verbal Aggression, Hostility, and Anger. Actually, if you look at the four categories just mentioned, only Physical Aggression involves contact. The other three are behaviors not involving physical contact.

Our personality has a lot to do with how much aggressive behavior we tend to display. Individual differences in irritability, rumination, and emotional susceptibility are all positively related to personal aggression levels. Now, we are certainly not robots. Just because an individual may be high of these three individual differences doesn’t mean we will just walk around aggressing against people all the time. We do have something that is called a mind that cognitively processes a variety of variables, including values and social norms, which weigh in on the behaviors we display.

Think of a child at the grocery store. At the register they see a candy bar they want. They ask for it. The parent says no. The child shows anger and may verbally aggress against the parent. They may also be hostile. The parent may give in and buy the candy bar or the parent may punish the child and not buy the candy bar. Either way, the child stores this information for possible use in the future. We are no different. If aggression worked to get what we wanted or didn’t, we will store that information for future use.

Research has concluded that there are many things that can add to the likelihood of displaying aggression. Those variables include and are not limited to alcohol, violent media, weapons, and high temperatures. One variable, to me, is directly related to the riots we are seeing on TV. That variable is Anonymity. When people are in a crowd, they are not seen as individuals, but are seen as a group. It can give a group member the feeling of shared responsibility. The deindividuation can lead to a reduced sense of accountability.

How are the riots contributing to our society? Is it ok to aggress if you feel you have been wronged? Are there other alternatives to get our point across and promote change?