Violence and Aggression in the Modern Society - Annotated Bibliography Example

Violence and Aggression in the Modern Society Introduction Aggression is a disaster in its own form in that it is the reason for the world wars as well as the increased cases of violence in the world. It is also responsible for the problems that are faced in the world such as homicide and violence that is experienced against most people in the world. In the modern Society there are a couple of factors which can be seen as the cause of the increased violence and aggression in the world. Such include the access to information through the media and the internet, the accessibility to weaponry which is responsible for the increased cases of violence others includes frustration at work. Violence is the form of aggression whose sole aim is to cause harm to the other party. Scholars have put in a way that all forms of violence are aggression but not all forms of aggression are violence. Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). HUMAN AGGRESSION. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 27. (Anderson & Bushman 2002) in the annual review of Psychology describe aggression as a range of behaviors and attitudes that when translated into acts cause injury to the victim, either intentionally or unintentionally. In every act of violence there is psychological coercion or a dynamic link that has the effect of "the obligation to do something for the other." As the attacker can do it intentionally or not, the victim can enter this operation inadvertently. Damages for psychological violence are as dangerous as physical violence. There are various forms of aggression which include Verbal, physical, mental as well as emotional (Anderson & Bushman 2002). There are also various purposes of aggression which are to express anger or hostility, to intimidate or threaten an individual, others are aggressive to assert dominance over others, to react to pain or as a response to fear, to express possession over something as well as a reaction to pain. There are also those who engage in affective aggression which in most cases is usually an uncontrolled act and unplanned. The other is the predatory aggression whose role is usually to achieve a certain goal or objective such as to kill. Berkowitz, L. (2003). Aggression: Its causes, consequences, and control. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. (Berkowitz 2003) looks at the causes, consequences as well as measures that can be taken to control aggression. The causes range from factors such as neurosis which is a collection of acts and thoughts that are meant to cause harm to others. The other is desperation where one feels like they are at a point in their lives where they cannot succeed or do better. There are also other factors such as envy where an individual has so much hatred against members of the society who are wealthy and have succeeded. The other factor is greed where an individual feels that they have to achieve their goals and aspirations at whatever cost and this makes them aggressive. These are among the factors that (Berkowitz 2003) identified. Aggression can however be tackled. In addition, measures and mechanism are being instituted to ensure that cases of aggression are minimized. Aggression. CliffsNotes.com.. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/ study guide/topicArticleId-25438,articleId-25408.html> The above website looks at the various theories of aggression. According to Cliff Notes.com, genetics normally play a major role as far as aggression is concerned whereby an aggressive parent is more likely to bear aggressive children. This has also been witnessed in animals whereby animals pass their aggressive nature to their off springs. Social learning theory is also another factor from which aggression develops as witnessed in children who are accustomed to seeing their parents being involved in fights as well as solving their problems aggressively. They pick these habits and implement them in their day to day lives. The other is the Script theory it is related to the Social learning theory and notes that when children watch violent behavior in the mass media they are likely to pick it up. This is majorly because the mass media normally works on scripts and this means that such behavior watched is easily stored in the memory and basically the children practice it for fun and think that violence is normal. In the process they become violent. The cognitive neo association theory is also another where factors such as frustration, unpleasant noises; temperatures make an individual tend to be more violent and aggressive in nature. This means that the unpleasantries of life are directly linked to the aggressive nature of an individual. The more an individual is in conditions they feel are unpleasant, they more they tend to exhibit violent behaviour. Coker, A. L., et al. (2002). Physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol. 23, pp. 260-268. As far as how to detect aggression, (Coker et.al, 2002) notes that psychological violence is to be detected from three perspectives: a) the violence suffered by us. b) The violence suffered by others. c) Violence by ourselves. d) The violence suffered by ourselves. It usually happens that the same defense mechanisms we use to defend ourselves from this traumatic situation prevent us from detecting the discomfort of psychological violence. This situation is particularly distressing because a loved one exercises psychological violence. So can intellectualize, justify, deny, self-blame If these situations circling distressing not understand, try to understand what happens, have no doubt that these being the subject of psychological aggression. If you are silent on what happens, and hope the other changes if you do something against your will, which relates to a claim of another person, these being subject to psychological violence (Coker et.al, 2002). Detecting violence is usually the very first step in making the violence stop. It is usually important in that it will make the aggressor stop doing it. There are usually three main forms of aggression and depending on which one should work to make sure that the violence stop. Brand, P.A. & Kidd, A.H.( 2006). Frequency of physical aggression in Marriage and relationships. Psychological Reports. 59, 1307-1313. The three forms include: Verbal aggression where the words of an individual annoy and upset an individual making them feel disrespected. The dominant aggression where an individual wants to feel like he is the major party and dominates the thoughts of the others The jealous aggression where an individual is suspicious of their partner (Brand & Kidd,2006). In detecting aggression, looking out for the general characteristics of an aggressive partner is another way of detecting an aggressive partner. These characteristics include; poor self control, they are also individuals who have sudden mood swings, highly jealous and suspicious individuals and finally they also approve violent and aggressive behavior. Studies have shown that men are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior than women (Brand &Kidd, 2006). Lindsay J., Anderson C. (2000). From antecedent conditions to violent actions: a general affective aggression model. Pers. SocPsychol. B 26:533–47 (Lindsay & Anderson 2000) propose several stages of handling aggression. The first step in learning how to handle aggression is by learning how to control aggression. Aggressive people are generally noisy and pushy and this can adversely affect their relationship with other people. First, one needs to learn to channel their emotions elsewhere. Aggression comes from factors such as stress, frustration and general feelings of dissatisfaction. Whenever such feelings come up instead of channeling them on an individual embrace dialogue and make them understand how you feel about their actions (Lindsay & Anderson 2000). To do this, place yourself in their shoes and learn what is making you feel annoyed from their actions and thereafter talk to them calmly and peacefully. The other step that helps reduce the emotional distress which leads to aggression is by calming the tone of your voice as well as reducing the speed of your voice which will ultimately make you lower the intonation and this will make an individual calm. Bancroft, L (2002). Why does he do that? Inside the minds of angry and controlling men. Berkley Books. Exercising and therapy are also other steps that can be embraced. Exercise will make an individual relieve off all the tension that may exist and that make an individual feel aggressive and aggrieved. The exercises will make an individual drop all the annoyances as well as make them feel calm and collected. Therapy can also be a choice but when the situation is out of hand and an individual cannot control their emotions (Brancroft,2002). Therapy will make an individual calm down and also make them understand the consequences of their behavior References Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). HUMAN AGGRESSION. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 27. Bancroft, L (2002). Why does he do that? Inside the minds of angry and controlling men. Berkley Books Lindsay J., Anderson C. (2000). From antecedent conditions to violent actions: a general affective aggression model. Pers. SocPsychol. B 26:533–47 Coker, A. L., et al. (2002). Physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol. 23, pp. 260-268. Berkowitz, L. (2003). Aggression: Its causes, consequences, and control. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Aggression. CliffsNotes.com.. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/ study guide/topicArticleId-25438,articleId-25408.html> Brand, P.A. & Kidd, A.H.( 2006). Frequency of physical aggression in Marriage and relationships. Psychological Reports. 59, 1307-1313. . Read More