INTRODUCTION In social psychology, the relationship between self-esteem and aggression has often been cause of debate. So, it is not clear what is the official view about this relation. Initially, the theory that low self-esteem was an important cause of aggression, was the most accepted. Violent episodes as the fights between youth gangs (E. Anderson, 1994), or wife beaters (Gondolf, 1985), were labelled as being caused by a lack of self-esteem. However, recently, several studies and researches are trying to argue the opposite, namely, that high self-esteem is instead cause of violent behaviour. According to this theory, a narcissistic individual, can become violent at the moment in which his point of view is countered or not accepted. The essay will address both theories, analysing studies and research that support them. SELF-ESTEEM AND AGGRESSION How can we define something seemingly abstract as self-esteem? The simplest definition, but which is also the one that gives an immediate idea of it is as follows: Self-esteem is a term used to describe a person's overall sense of self-worth or personal value. It can have a negative or positive dimension. In the former case the individual will …show more content…
According with this new approach, the “traditional” point of view “suffer from ambiguities, inconsistencies, and contradictory empirical evidence” (R. E. Baumeister, 1996). To support this thesis, the article “Relation of Threatened Egotism to Violence and Aggression: The Dark Side of High Self-Esteem” (R. E. Baumeister, J. M. Boden, L. Smart, 1996) will be examined. Contrarily to the previous research, the chosen article does not report an experiment, but it investigates and criticises the fallacious arguments from the theory of the low self-esteem, and gives a theoretical background about the direct correlation between high egotism and
Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 45, pp. 51–74, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.05.007. Accessed 16 May
“What is the psychology behind violence and aggression” from Virginia Commonwealth University by Brian McNeill has come up with a conclusion on why
(Grafeman et al. 92). Those who have narcissistic tendencies tend to appear as though they are warm, charismatic, or even charming, as part of their initial relationships, but lack the empathy to sustain any type of relationship past a given point. For people with higher levels of narcissism, there is a strong desire to maintain a positive concept of self, and will often engage in ego-boosting activities to prove their worth. According to Grafeman et al. , it is “this constant pursuit of proving one’s competency to the self and others that is thought to frequently contribute to relational problems” (92).
In 1939, the world was plunged into World War II. This happened as a result of Germany remilitarizing the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles in the process, leaders in Europe assuming power through intimidation and creating laws depriving citizens of basic civil rights, German expansion into other areas of Europe, an attempt to appease Germany through the Munich Agreement, and political and economic instability in the major European countries. This conflict brought up appeasement and collective security, both of which were used before the war in an attempt to prevent it, as responses to aggression. Of the two, collective security is the most effective response to aggression because it has a great chance of ensuring the maintenance
Following such the essay will align Freudian defence mechanisms of the ego and Social Identity Theory’s intergroup dynamics to scapegoating and its role in a positive self-esteem. From a psychological scope, it is evident that the ego and identity may be influential factors to scapegoating. In such essence, scapegoating is defined as the process of putting blame on another individual in order to release oneself from undesirable responsibility or emotion (Rothschild, Landau and Molina 1). It is for this reason that many of the characters in “Sula” scapegoat. They find it significant because they use it to maintain a positive
Chapter two in the textbook Reflect & Relate an Introduction to Interpersonal Communication by Steven McCornack talks all about what “self” is and how to achieve complete fulfillment for one’s self which is also known as self-actualization. The components of self, as described in the book are, “ . . . self-awareness, self-concept, and self-esteem” (McCornack 39). Self-awareness is the idea in which one can take a moment to move feelings, beliefs, and other external influences aside and just evaluate oneself in a holistic perspective that is not skewed by opinions of others, etc. Having the ability to actually think about who one is brings a lot of power and mental stability in such a way that allows for improvement.
It seems that the general emotions of Jealousy and possessiveness exist merely as a vessel for the act of aggression of which has been a staple of the evolution of man since the dawn of
However, an accumulation of microaggression to victims that are conscious of it could have an adverse effect on the individual self esteem and confidence. (Pierce 1995) illuminated more on this by stating that microaggression as it might appear innocuous, nevertheless, accrual weight of microaggression in the life of an individual could lead to demolishing of individuals self-esteem, increase pessimism and weaken mortality. Research has also shown the impact of microaggression on victims which
Our society is responsible for aggression. Many people argue that aggressive people were born with a predisposition to perform violent acts, but that does not settle with many psychologists’ studies. Other people believe that violent people were made from exposure to aggression during childhood. Both of these perspectives represent points of a larger argument started by Francis Galton 150 years ago most commonly known as “Nature versus Nurture”. After 150 years, and the founding of a new branch of science, epigenetics, scientists now have viable proof that that nurture is more influential in the case of aggression because epigenetics show that environments are responsible for gene expression.
The reasons people act violently is a broad topic of study. Although many psychologists and people in general continue to speculate about what those reasons may be. One of the main reasons people are thought to act in a violent manner is that it is a symptom of how that person uses violence as “a means of coping with life 's problems” (Seifert 1). Another reason that people use violence to express their feelings could be imitating what they see going on around them. Proving this point is this statistic that, “almost all of the bullies, 97 percent, said they were also victims of bullying”.
Aggression is a spoken or physical behavior that causes intentional harm to a person. There are many different theories that argue what the cause of aggression is but this can be divided into two major types: people who think that aggression is inborn and those that view it as a learning behavior. The Social cognitive theory states that we learn behaviors through observation and modeling and this could be implied that we learn aggressive behaviors through observing and imitating others. The Social Cognitive theory claims that people learn behaviors from observation, modeling, and motivation such as positive reinforcement. Psychologists mention that people learn behaviors by imitating models through observational learning; as well as through
Social learning theory will be used to examine the basis of learned behavior, specifically early exposure to violence, and how the behaviors observed by an individual may later become imitated in one’s relationships. Conflict theory will also be used to examine
Esbensin, Peterson, Taylor and Freng (2010) implies that “ young people who have committed serious violent offenses have the highest level of impulsive and risk-seeking tendencies.” Moreover, extreme violent criminal activity being performed in front of youth increases the risk of them performing acts of extreme violence themselves. Because youth see those acts as acceptable so committng those violent activities make youths to become ruthless. Smith and Green (2007) assert that violent activities becoming ruthless and the perpetrators even more ruthless.
In the article “Everyday Aggression Takes Many Forms” the researchers conducted an experiment to see how aggression affects people’s everyday lives. People from different age groups were used to answer many questions pertaining to aggression and conflict. This experiment talks about what aggression is, the types of aggression, and the people affected by aggression. The researchers started this experiment by explaining the meaning of aggression and how it is sometimes misunderstood with the word assertiveness.
Introduction According to Case Study1, Ken suffers from the problems among intra- and interpersonal competencies. After analyzing the case study, Ken is possible get low self-esteem, lack of communication with family, feels alone and stressed. Problems are illustrated below. There are suggestions to solve his problem.