Management of aggression and disruption

Abstract

Cronson in his book ‘The Social Animal’ defines aggressive behaviour as ‘behaviour aimed at causing harm or pain’. This harm or pain could be caused: a. Physically: when one hits, bullies, fights, quarrels either to show how strong or superior he is, or to defend himself when he is aggressed, or else to vent his instinct of destructiveness. b. Verbally: by using threats, foul language, nicknames associated with some physical or mental defect or offending someone dear. c. Morally: by being dishonest, disrespectful, disruptive, not doing one’s duty, cheating.

There are two kinds of aggressive behaviour : a. Hostile aggression: aggression as an end in itself, when someone beats someone up because he has been previously upset. b. Instrumental aggression: aggression used as a means to an end, when one makes use of aggression to be better off.

Cronson suggests that human beings are the most aggressive species that ever existed. It was common belief that man had learnt to become aggressive ever since he started to hunt for food, but recent studies in archeological excavations show that aggression started with the ownership of property. Since aggression is so much a characteristic of us humans, we have to ask whether it is instinctive or acquired. Way back in the eighteenth-century Jean-Jacques Rousseau put forward the notion that man in a state of nature is essentially good and docile but within society he learns to become aggressive. On the other hand Freud says that besides the instinct for life – Eros, humans also have the instinct for death – Tharatos. This instinct is usually expressed in ‘hostility and destructiveness’ and in extreme cases even in ‘murder’. Aggression is largely acquired or learnt and determined by the culture in which we live. In the Tasady Tribe (a tribe which until recently people in the modern world knew nothing about) natives live in perfect harmony with each other and are also very friendly with neighbouring tribes. This particular tribe does not even have a ward advanced societies, war, murder, rape, stealing, suicide are the main topics of eveyday news transmitted on all means of telecommunications. [...]