The Epidemic of Violence Part 1

The Psychiatric Glossary defined aggression as: a forceful physical, verbal, or symbolic action. May be appropriate and self-protective, including healthful self-assertiveness or inappropriate. Also, may be directed outward toward the environment as in explosive personality, or inward toward the self as in depression. A few noteworthy and different theoretical frameworks on aggression, follow, with a very brief and simplified view. Konrad Lorenz, although an expert in the field of animal behavior, especially that of fishes and birds, wrote a bestseller titled “On Aggression”, depicting the instinctive nature of aggression in man. Succinctly, he thought that aggression was like a bomb or pump primed and ready to explode at any time. Sigmund Freud employed, within a biological framework, his view of aggression. After the First World War, he revised his theory and postulated a “death impulse” which was directed toward self and others, and referred to it as a drive. Sadism and masochism are two such constructs. He also postulated the impulsive, irrational and amoral nature of man that operated, within the unconscious. Freud made it clear that man was not always aware of his motivations. In his theory, he believed society, its institutions and man’s caretakers thwarted man’s pleasure principle needs. Within this model, man’s character was developed and was heavily influenced by early development. Many others added and expanded input into this comprehensive theory. Karen Horney, a Neo-Freudian, influenced by the social sciences described an aggressive character business type as follows: “the person tends to demand power and prestige and personal infallibility as its major mode of coping with a hostile world. There is exaggerated, independence, ruthlessness, cynical realism expressed in a dog eat dog philosophy of life. People are considered as exploitable possessions. If sexual prowess has become important to him, the man, the man’s proves his success by conquering women. Often he wants money or social prestige in his choice of wife and is indifferent consciously to love and her personal merits. Ruthless in business himself, he distrusts his business associates. The Aggressive character type typically assumes that he will be imposed upon unless he watches out for his interests. Outsmarting others is the principal he uses for his own conduct and in his own interpretation of the behavior of others. He may often appear loving, loyal and honest replete with Cardinal virtues. Yet his family and other associates are likely to suffer from the neurotic defensiveness of his life pattern.” To Be Continued