Theories of Aggressive Behavior

As Lawrence A. Pervin emphasizes, Freud's theories were colored by the social and cultural context of his time and by the fact that he made observations largely of middle- and upper-class patients of the Victorian era. His view begins with the belief that the person is an energy system, a system in which energy flows, is sidetracked, or becomes dammed up. There is a limited amount of energy, and energy used in one way is not available for use in another. The goal of all energy is pleasure, or the reduction of tension or the release of energy. What drives this energy system are forces called drives, sexual and aggressive instincts. Aggression was seen by Freud as an important element in human behavior, based on his observations of such behavior. Aggression is instinctual and innate and thus is present in every human being. How tha

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ons. The life and death instincts, or sex and aggression, are part of the id, which operates according to the pleasure principle and which seeks total and immediate release. Pervin writes, The id cannot tolerate frustration and is free of inhibitions. It shows no regard for reality and can seek satisfaction through action or through imagining that it has gotten what it wants; the fantasy of gratification is as good as the actual gratification (77, 80). The instincts are aimed at the immediate reduction of tension, and they are gratified by external stimuli or objects. The instincts can be delayed or modified before they are released. The instincts can be blocked, at least temporarily, or they may be changed in terms of quality or direction. The instincts can be combined, mixed, interact, and so on, and psychodynamic theory can account for a wide variety of behaviors with only these two instincts in different proportions. Aggression will dominate in some people and not in others. Some people are blocked in a way that produces aggressive behavior while others are not. Aggression in any case is innate, and what the individual "learns" is to use aggression to satisfy the immediate needs of the id. In social cognitive the
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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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