Aggression

Aggression has been studied many times in Psychology. Among the psychological factors of aggression are:

• Media Violence. Research shows that children who watched violent cartoons became more aggressive in their interaction with their peers than children who watched non-violent cartoons (Does Television Violence Cause Aggression?, 1972). The increase in aggression observed in children who watched violent cartoons persisted for 10 years.
• Aggressive Schemas and Scripts. Schemas and scripts refer to our personal conceptual frameworks. According to the subjectivist perspective in Psychology, violent media introduce schemas and scripts that we can subsequently use in our future interpersonal encounters. For example, if we habitually watch verbal exchanges that lead to physical violence, we may engage in physical violence if we get into a heated conversation with someone.
• Counter-aggression. Research using the behavioral perspective in Psychology shows that children learn to be more aggressive when the object of aggression withdraws (rewarding) than counters (punishing). Thus, if someone is being aggressive, the object of aggression can break the habit by responding assertively.
• Unconscious Impulse. According to Psychoanalysis, aggression is a basic instinct shared by humans and animals, across species. Raw aggressive impulses are hidden in the unconscious because they were forbidden by the society as early as childhood. Unconscious aggressive impulses may creep their way out to consciousness and manifest themselves either positively (e.g., in arts, literature, business, and sports) or negatively (e.g., abuse and murder).