Definition: Agressive Behavior

In psychology and other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior that is intended to cause harm or pain. Aggression can be either physical or verbal, and behavior is classified as aggression even if it does not actually succeed in causing harm or pain. Behavior that accidentally causes harm or pain is not aggression. Property damage and other destructive behavior may also fall under the definition of aggression. Aggression is not the same thing as assertiveness.nnAggression is a perplexing phenomenon. Why are people motivated to hurt each other? How does violence help organisms to survive and reproduce? After two centuries of theories and technological advances, psychologists and other scientists have been able to look deeply into aggression's biological and evolutionary roots, as well as its consequences in society.nnTypes of aggressionnAggression is a complex phenomenon that is composed of a number of more specific types of behavior. Moyer (1968) presented an early and influential classification of seven different forms of aggression, from a biological and evolutionary point of view.nn1. Predatory aggression: attack on prey by a predator. n2. Inter-male aggression: competition between males of the same species over access to resources such as females, dominance, status, etc. n3. Fear-induced aggression: aggression associated with attempts to flee from a threat. n4. Irritable aggression: aggression induced by frustration and directed against an available target. n5. Territorial aggression: defence of a fixed area against intruders, typically conspecifics. n6. Maternal aggression: a female's aggression to protect her offspring from a threat. Paternal aggression also exists. n7. Instrumental aggression: aggression directed towards obtaining some goal, considered to be a learned response to a situation. nnWikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)nThis article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.