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Instrumental Aggression Research Paper

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AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR IN TEENAGERS When children become teenagers most parents experience aggressive behaviour in their children. Most parents tend to worry if this is normal for a child of such age. Scheneiders (1995) explained aggression as “a flood of emotions in reaction to the failure of an individual that is displayed in the form of destruction of a person or object with the element of intent”. Aggression can be classified into hostile and instrumental aggression. Instrumental aggression is a defence mechanism that people use to get what they want under the disguise of trying to be polite to others, while hostile aggression focuses on harming an individual by behaviour. Hostile and instrumental aggression both can be expressed in verbal …show more content…

Humanistic psychologists have classed aggression into two groups: 1.Natural or positive aggression - “aimed largely at self defence, combating prejudice or social injustice” (Skills You Need n.d.) 2. Pathological aggression - “results when an individual’s inner nature has become twisted or frustrated” (Skills You Need …show more content…

Figure 2. (The development of children 2009, p.330) In a particular study Berkowitz presents how individuals who viewed photographs of guns were more prone to punish another person than those who were shown pictures of neutral objects. However, Anderson and Bushman (2002) presented a broad General Aggression Model (GAM). The General Aggression Model explains that aggressive behaviour results from both personality and interaction of the individual and the situation (Anderson and Bushman: 2002). Psychodynamic approach to aggression One other way of explaining aggression is using the psychodynamic perspective. Psychoanalytic approach views aggression as innate. Sigmund Freud claims that human aggression is innate and it relates to the person and not the situation, and thereby making it unavoidable in human life (Glassman: 2004). Freud regarded that the drive for aggression was because of destructive energy within an individual. Freud also trusted that this destructive energy was expressed as aggression to others, and as well as self destructive actions. Freud perceived aggression as a part of id which the ego and the superego opposed or

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