Chapter . Critical Learning Exercises - Interpersonal Aggression

Students’ examples of recent interpersonal violence in the news will vary. However, the ideas they use to help explain it may include the following: person harmed another simply for the sake of doing so (affective aggression); person harmed another in order to serve some other goal (instrumental aggression); testosterone levels; technology has outstripped our natural control on aggression; blockage of a desired goal leads to frustration, which may lead to aggression (frustration-aggression hypothesis), which may be directed toward a target other than the source (displaced aggression); belief that one has been or will be attacked intentionally, either physically or verbally, or suffer from social rejection; and so on. Other causes not discussed in the chapter may vary, such as personality type, prior exposure to violence, mental disorder, and so on.

Students’ opinions and feelings on why little has been done in the United States to control guns and media violence due to their role in aggression will vary. Responses may include a discussion of beliefs on gun laws, freedoms, censorship, government regulation, and so on.

Experiences with aggression in a romantic relationship will differ, but students may include the following in their discussion of the possible factors that contribute to domestic violence: genetic predispositions to irritability and impulsivity, mood swings, overcontrolling, and perfectionism; fragile and unstable self-esteem caused by early shaming, insecure attachment, life failures, and cultural stigmas; overdependency, overcontrol, or proneness to jealousy; anxiety, frustration, and hostility; psychopathy; history of exposure to and reinforcement of violence; and disinhibitors, such as social isolation, networks tolerant of abuse, alcohol, stressors, and abuse-promoting worldviews.

Students’ opinions on which strategies may be most realistic for reducing violence in society will differ but may include a focus on improving quality of life, better control of access to weapons, punishing aggression more effectively, and better addressing media violence. Other approaches may be recommended that are not discussed in the chapter, such as treating violence as a public health concern, a focus on prevention instead of punishment, using nonviolent language, and so on.