Causes of aggression

What are the causes of aggression? Are they strictly biological or are emotional and social factors also involved? What do the most prominent authors in Social Psychology say about aggressiveness and aggression? It is a reality: we have all acted aggressively (to a greater or lesser extent) at some point in our lives. Although not all of us have done it for the same reasons; In fact, the causes can be as different as people are from each other.

According to the RAE, aggressiveness is that tendency to act or respond in a violent manner. Aggression, for its part, would be the consequence of aggressive behavior; that is, the violent act on something or someone. But why do we act aggressively? Is there a clear trigger? Let’s try to shed a little light on these issues.

As we mentioned, the causes of aggressiveness are diverse. Let’s see the most frequent ones.

Low tolerance to frustration

Frustration is an unpleasant feeling, the result of experiencing failure, disappointment, or the imposition of limits, for example. We get frustrated when we have put all our efforts (whether physical, mental…) and hopes into something that doesn’t end up working out.

Also when we do not achieve success in some objective that we had set for ourselves. So, Another cause of aggression is frustration (or a low tolerance for it). Not everyone is able to tolerate the feeling of frustration; This occurs especially in children and adolescents, who are often still learning to manage this feeling or show difficulties in doing so.

Yale frustration-aggression hypothesis

Continuing with frustration as one of the causes of aggression, in 1939, the Yale Group, formed by Dollard et al., began experimental research on aggression within the field of social psychology. Let’s notice that we are no longer talking only about aggressiveness, but about aggression.

These authors established the frustration-aggression hypothesis; According to this energy-based hypothesis, a person is motivated to act aggressively not by innate factors, but by by an impulse induced by frustration.

The authors understood frustration as that necessary condition that arises when the achievement of goals is blocked; For its part, aggression is the action whose purpose is to harm another organism. According to Dollard et al., Frustration always leads to one form or another of aggression, and aggression is always a consequence of frustration.

The wrath

Other authors from social psychology also talk about another possible cause that explains aggressiveness (or aggression): it is anger.

In this sense, Berkowitz (1964, 69, 74) adds an intermediate concept between the concepts of frustration and aggression, which consists of all those conditions or environmental signals appropriate for aggression. According to him, Frustration does not immediately cause aggression, but rather generates a state of emotional activation in the person.: the wrath.

Such anger produces an internal disposition for aggressive behavior; However, this behavior will only take place if in the situation there are stimulating signals that have an aggressive meaning, that is, cues associated with conditions in which anger is discharged, or simply anger itself.

The stimuli will acquire this quality of aggressive cues through classical conditioning processes, and according to Berkwoitz, Any object or person can become an aggressive key in this way.

A learned behavior

Bandura (1973) is another of the authors who talks about the possible causes of aggressiveness; According to him, the first step in acquiring a new form of aggressive behavior is the modeling process. Thus, people acquire new and increasingly complex (and in this case, aggressive) forms of behavior by observing them in other people (or models) along with their consequences.

In this sense, and always according to Bandura, if we see someone acting aggressively and being reinforced for it, we tend to reproduce the same action in similar situations.

In other words: Aggressive habits are acquired through direct reinforcement of aggressive responses. Thus, positive reinforcement (in the form of approval or material rewards) would increase the frequency and maintenance of aggressive responses (especially in children). Furthermore, aggressive behaviors could even be transferred to new situations if they are rewarded.

an innate behavior

Another interesting model from social psychology, which attempts to shed light on the causes of aggressiveness, is the Emotional Calculation Model by Blanchard et al. (1977) (especially applicable to animals, of course). According to this model, At the base of aggression there are innate mechanisms, and would explain offensive/defensive aggression through a cost-benefit analysis.

Thus, the model suggests that Anger is associated with the offensive attack and fear with the defensive attack. The offensive attack (preceded by anger) is usually provoked by the territorial invasion of a conspecific, and the defensive attack (associated with fear) is generally a response to a previous attack by another individual. The two emotions can occur at the same time, since both are important for survival.

an instinct

Freud was the author who first developed the conception of aggression as a servant of the “pleasure principle”; According to him, aggression was a reaction to the frustration experienced in the search for pleasure or satisfaction of the libido. According to other authors, such as Lorenz (1963), Aggression is an innate behavioral disposition that arises from natural selection and, like other provisions, increases the chances of survival and effective conservation of the species.

Both Freud and Lorenz believed that human aggression was inevitable. Thus, for them there was only the solution of self-regulation. To achieve this, they proposed releasing small amounts of energy in a continuous and controlled manner through socially acceptable forms of aggression (for example through participating in competitive sports).

Other possible causes of aggression

We have mentioned some of the most important theories of aggression and aggression in social psychology; however, The causes of aggressiveness continue to be multiple, and on many occasions other factors (of various kinds) not mentioned are involved, such as: drug consumption (and excess), having a neurodevelopmental disorder, manifesting difficulties in emotional self-regulation, internal conflicts, interpersonal conflicts, etc.

On the other hand, an altered physical state can also lead us to act aggressively. How we feel, if we are tired or not, if we have any ailment… All of this can influence when generating aggressive behavior.

Thus, the fact of feeling excessively tired, suffering from a severe migraine or having significant back pain, for example, can generate a state of irritability, which in turn makes it more likely that we will end up developing aggressive behavior towards others.

Understanding aggressive behavior

Aggressive behavior, like any other type of behavior (both in animals and humans) can be analyzed and understood. To do this, we can turn to the famous explanatory theories of this phenomenon, but above all, and most importantly, study and understand the person’s context, the triggers that may have led them to act this way, and their personal and dispositional characteristics.

Not all of us are equally aggressive, it is clear. However, let us remember that there are elements that can increase the probability that we will act in a violent manner, such as: drugs (alcohol, cocaine, heroin…), an irritable, angry or even sad mood, other types of substances ( stimulants), as well as various mental disorders.

From psychotherapy, Knowing the causes of aggressiveness in each specific case will help us understand the person and help them. in case you need it.

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