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Aggression: types, causes and methods of manifestation. Causes of aggression in humans: what is the root of evil? Aggression and its manifestations in adults

Daily reports constantly flash events that occur due to human aggressiveness. In everyday life, everyone is accompanied by quarrels, conflicts, shouting, and so on. In modern realities, aggression is perceived as a negative phenomenon and is therefore condemned. However, this does not in any way affect the existence of enemy groups.

In order to understand how to restrain aggression, you need to understand in more detail the reasons for its occurrence, as well as the concept itself.

What is aggression?

In order to understand the concept of “aggression”, it is necessary to analyze this term. In psychology, this phenomenon represents the commission of destructive actions that can cause harm, both psychological and physical, to objects or living beings.

If we consider the analyzes of various scientists, it should be noted that aggression is called not only a specific behavior, but also a human condition.

The famous psychotherapist Sigmund Freud noted that this phenomenon represents the predisposition of each object. The higher it is, the greater the tendency to show aggression. Therefore, the described reaction can be considered natural to various types of stress and provoking factors. Aggression can be destructive as well as constructive. In the first case, it is reciprocal, and in the second, it allows a person to preserve his individuality, assert himself, or increase self-esteem. Besides the above, aggression is a way to relieve tension.

The described phenomenon can be both an emotional manifestation and an indicator of social behavior. Aggression can be called any action that can cause harm in any way. The victim can be either an inanimate object or a person (animal).

Some psychologists put aggression on the same level as cruelty, but you need to understand that not every action with the phenomenon described can be classified as serious. Aggressiveness is perceived as a personality trait when a person is capable of performing any such actions in order to protect his interests and in order to achieve certain results.

This phenomenon can be considered in two versions: a form of hostility and a characteristic of adaptability. In the first case, a person will be offended by everyone, start quarrels or fights, and deliver destructive “blows.” In the second option, the individual tries to protect himself, his rights and maintain independence.

Thus, aggressiveness can be considered both a negative phenomenon and a condition that allows a person to develop and realize himself. Any leader needs to have at least a small amount of aggression in order to control others.

Characteristics of aggression

As mentioned above, the manifestation of aggression should be considered in two aspects. One of them is the desire to cause harm, and the second is the need, which allows for harmonious development.

The scientific literature indicates that in the absence of aggressiveness, a person can become passive and, as a result, his individuality will be erased, and existence will become unbearable. Every person has this phenomenon, but it has different levels and characteristics. How severe the aggression is, as well as how long it lasts, depends entirely on many nuances. Such negative phenomena should also be considered from the perspective of factors that affect a person, that is, situational, psychological, physiological, and so on. To this we must add that aggression is a person’s reaction to any dissatisfaction associated with the surrounding reality. It can be hidden or explicit, direct or indirect, passive or active, verbal or physical. Let's consider the classification of such actions. There are 5 different forms.

Forms of aggression

Let's take a closer look at the types of aggression.

  • There is a physical one. It lies in the manifestation of power to any living organism.
  • The indirect form indicates that the person is not behaving aggressively towards the cause of the irritation. These emotions are manifested towards the other. Sometimes a person in such a situation can express aggression by slamming doors, banging on the table, and so on.
  • Verbal aggression is manifested by shouting and quarrels, and people often use swearing, obscene words, threats, etc.
  • Negativism is characterized by the fact that aggressive behavior occurs towards people older in age, as well as in social status. That is, in this case, an outbreak of aggression will manifest itself only in the direction of authority.
  • The last form is a person's tendency to irritation. That is, the object becomes aggressive even with the smallest degree of excitability: he is very hot-tempered, harsh and rude.

Causes

Any aggression, as a rule, manifests itself as a result of some factors. They are the ones who provoke a person to have such a reaction. The main reasons that may exist should be considered.

  • Features of character and temperament.
  • Factors of behavioral, social, psychological type and so on.
  • Hatred, which manifests itself in relation to moral beliefs, as well as an attempt to aggressively establish one’s ideals in society.

Description of provoking factors

In order to combat aggression, it is necessary to know what factors contribute to an increase in the level of this phenomenon. Let's look at them separately.

  • Behavioral. We are talking about actions that are aimed at stopping human development. This should also include the lack of desire for self-development, as well as difficulties such as vandalism or the aimlessness of existence itself.
  • Social. A person can be influenced by factors such as politics and the economy of the state itself. In the case when any cult of violence or hostility manifests itself in society, and when certain things begin to be sharply promoted by the media, then anyone can show aggression. It should also be noted the influence of the people who surround the person, as well as the low social position in society itself.
  • Personal factors. It's about a person's character. For example, someone who has increased anxiety, irritability, depression, problems with development, self-esteem, expression of emotions, gender roles, various addictions, and difficulties communicating in society will be aggressive.
  • Situational. This should include conditions of temperature and climate, the influence of culture, stressful situations, the expectation of some kind of revenge or an attack of aggression on the part of another person.

Manifestations in different age categories

How a person expresses his aggressiveness depends on a large number of factors. Among them, it is necessary to note individual development, age category, experience, nervous system, as well as the impact of the above-described nuances on a person’s life. A special role in identifying the causes of aggression is given to the educational system and social environment. At different ages, aggression can manifest itself in different ways.

  • If we are talking about kids, then they cry, scream, do not smile, and do not want to make contact with their parents. In addition, the child can harm younger children and animals.
  • In preschool age, the manifestation of aggression becomes more diverse. Children not only use screaming and crying, but can also bite, spit, use hurtful words, and so on. As a rule, at this age such a reaction is only impulsive.
  • Schoolchildren’s aggression often manifests itself by causing harm to weak children. They may bully others, put pressure on them, make fun of them, and get into fights.
  • During adolescence, aggression can manifest itself due to influence from peers. As a rule, at this age, this phenomenon is a way to establish yourself in a team, as well as to take a special place in society. It should be noted that often aggression in adolescents arises not only because of the situation in which he finds himself, but is also considered a manifestation of character.
  • Separately, it should be noted that aggressiveness appears in adulthood, since a person will be influenced by a greater number of factors, given that the character is already formed. It is worth highlighting the presence of fear, which is aimed at what society may not accept or recognize, strong irritability, impulsiveness, suspicion, and dependence on various signs. Such people, as a rule, experience only fear and resentment. They are unable to feel guilt and responsibility. It is also very difficult for them to adapt to a new society.

Formation conditions

You need to figure out what provokes aggression in children and adults. The most significant conditions that form such a manifestation are the influence of the media, family factors, aggression from others, as well as individual, age and gender characteristics.

As for the mass media, this factor is questionable in psychology. Let's consider conditions that can cause aggression in a child or adult.

Why do negative emotions appear? There are several reasons for this:

  • what is propagated by the media is accepted by a person as a manifestation of aggression;
  • accepting oneself as a negative character from a video or film;
  • identifying oneself as an object capable of harming any victim;
  • The situations shown look too realistic. They can significantly influence a person’s emotional sphere.

Diagnostics

It is very important to correctly diagnose aggression in order to completely overcome it. Considering that this phenomenon is developed differently in each person, it is necessary to accurately study all the features of the psychotype of a particular patient. It is necessary not only to observe behavior, but also to conduct diagnostics, consisting of various techniques. They will allow not only to understand the whole situation from the subjective side, but also to objectively confirm the results that were revealed.

It is quite difficult to examine internal aggressiveness from a medical point of view, since most techniques are aimed only at identifying external manifestations. At the moment, doctors use the Bass-Darkey questionnaire, the Assinger test, as well as some other methods. They allow us to understand how a person feels and what are the reasons for aggression. Let's consider each method separately.

  • Assinger test. It is necessary to identify aggression in relationships. Thanks to it, you can figure out what level of negative emotions a person has when talking with someone else. Thus, it becomes clear whether communication is easy for him, how he builds contacts with people around him, and so on.
  • Eysenck test. Thanks to it, you can check the patient's mental state. There are 4 scales. They describe various mental states: frustration, anxiety, rigidity and aggression itself.
  • Bass-Darka Questionnaire. It consists of 8 scales and allows you to determine which aggression is dominant in a person. You can also understand by calculating the index how pronounced hostility is.

It should be noted that these techniques are not universal. Therefore, it will not be possible to understand with just one test why aggression appears in a person too often. Diagnostics should always consist of a whole complex, which allows us to talk about real results.

Condition correction

It is impossible to talk about a complete cure for aggressiveness, because it is not a disease. This phenomenon is a personality trait that can be enhanced or, conversely, suppressed. It all depends on self-awareness, self-regulation and the characteristics of a particular person. Scientists also talk about the influence of genetic conditions on the formation of aggression. However, it still depends more on social communication skills, as well as those factors that influence a person every day. Therefore, to treat aggression in a child or adult, it is important to use corrective methods. They reduce the level of hostility. It should be noted that the manifestation of such emotion is not an inevitable form of mental response to various difficulties.

It has long been proven that if you work on yourself correctly, as well as create comfortable conditions for existence, you can not only learn to control such attacks, but also completely stop their occurrence. Correction of aggressiveness can be carried out by a psychologist or psychotherapist. A psychiatrist should be contacted if the aggression of adolescents or older people has reached a critical situation when a person is capable of harming himself or other living beings.

Among the main methods of struggle, hypnosis, psychodrama, psychoanalysis, training programs, as well as autogenic training should be noted.

Many psychologists consider training to be very interesting, allowing a person to learn how to communicate in society and acquire certain skills. On it, the specialist simulates situations in which it is maximally shown that a person can calmly react to any conflict or manifestation of aggressiveness on the part of other people. Role-playing games are arranged, which allows you to experience various stressful situations with maximum safety for the human psyche. The training also teaches how to transfer the acquired skills and abilities into your life.

What to do with an aggressive child?

It should be understood that aggression is an emotion that children often experience. The main step in the fight against it is attention to the child. If parents know their child well, they can prevent sudden outbreaks. If we are talking about physical aggression, it will be easier to suppress than verbal aggression. When a child begins to express his emotions in any way, he needs to be distracted. You can come up with some interesting activity. If a child begins to harm another, then he should be punished for this.

When the child does not understand that he needs to stop, it is recommended to explain the mistake to him as clearly as possible and give him a punishment. At the same time, the object of hostility must be surrounded with attention and care. Then the child will understand that his behavior is losing and he will not achieve the desired result.

At first, he will show more aggression, refuse to clean up after himself, follow advice, and so on, but after a while he will realize that such tactics are unprofitable. It is important to make it clear to the child that he is responsible for his actions, including aggression. After the child has completed the necessary actions that were done as punishment, he should be rewarded.

Games for aggressive kids

Aggression is a negative phenomenon that needs to be stopped in time. If we are talking about a child with an overly impulsive and hot-tempered character, then you should come up with methods to help him fight aggression. Psychologists recommend choosing those exercises that will allow him to understand that it is not necessary to mock his younger ones in order to throw out emotions. You can engage with your child through games. A good option would be to buy a punching bag, knock out pillows, run or exercise on the playground (in the section). You can put paper in your child's pocket, which he will tear when stressed. This is how the baby will be able to eliminate his negative emotions and stop projecting them onto the younger ones.

Food for thought

As a result, it is necessary to emphasize everything that was written above. Aggression is considered to be a manifestation of a person’s character, which can be perceived both in a positive and negative light. This phenomenon allows leaders to maintain authority. Aggression also provides an opportunity to control people. Thanks to her, you can establish yourself in society. However, it is only good in moderation.

At the moment, negative emotions appear quite often in society. This affects the development in young children of an unconscious desire to express their feelings in an aggressive form. To prevent negative situations, you need to fight this phenomenon. You should contact a psychologist. The sooner this happens, the better. This is due to the fact that it is easier to suppress aggression only when it begins to manifest itself than after the perception of the world has been formed. Only through corrective measures can various problems in society be prevented.

Human psychology is a rather complex concept, and aggression is considered a negative manifestation of character. You should fight it so as not to conflict with the world and communicate normally with society.

The beginning of the study of the psychological mechanisms of aggressiveness is associated with the name of Sigmund Freud, who identified two fundamental instincts - life (the creative principle in man, manifested in sexual desire, Eros) and death (the destructive principle, with which aggressiveness is associated, Thanatos). These instincts are innate, eternal and unchanging. Therefore, aggressiveness is an integral property of human nature.

Accumulating Energy aggressive drive from time to time must receive release in outbursts of aggressiveness - this is the psychoanalytic interpretation. Psychologists who adhere to it believe: in order to prevent uncontrolled violence and the realization of aggressiveness from occurring, such energy must be constantly discharged (in observing violent actions, destroying inanimate objects, participating in sports competitions, achieving positions of dominance, power, etc.).

There is a theory that likens human aggressiveness to the behavior of animals and explains it purely biologically - as a means of surviving in the fight against other creatures, as a means of protecting and asserting oneself, one’s life through destruction or victory over an opponent. Similar provisions are contained in the ethological theory of aggressiveness.

In this sense, a man, being an active defender of his own life and that of his fellow men, is biologically programmed to be aggressive. Thus, supporters of the ethological theory consider aggressive human behavior as a spontaneous innate reaction. This point of view is reflected in the works of K. Lorenz. According to him, the nature of human aggressiveness is instinctive, as is the mechanism that prohibits killing one’s own kind. But Lorenz admits the possibility of its regulation and places hopes on education and strengthening the moral responsibility of people for their future. At the same time, other adherents of this theory believe that people, no matter how much they want, cannot exercise control over their aggressiveness, therefore wars, murders, skirmishes are inevitable and in the end humanity will die in a nuclear war.

Over time it became the most popular frustration-aggression theory. Its essence lies in the fact that any frustration creates an internal urge or motive to be aggressive (D. Dollard).

Aggressive behavior has been studied in some detail by behaviorists, who have linked aggression with frustration. The latter refers to the emotional state that arises when insurmountable obstacles appear on the way to achieving the desired goal. This is the inability to satisfy needs.

Consequently, any aggression is caused by a specific frustration.

Types of aggression:

  • direct (abuse, fight, etc.) or indirect (mockery, criticism);
  • immediate (currently) or delayed;
  • directed at another person or oneself (blaming oneself, crying, suicide).

Frustration and aggression arise as a result of social comparison: “I was given less than others,” “I am loved less than others.” Frustration can accumulate, strengthening and consolidating a person’s aggressiveness or forming an inferiority complex in him (this is aggression against oneself). Ultimately, this spills over not at all onto the culprit of the frustration (he is stronger, thanks to him it arose), but on those who are weaker (although they are not actually to blame), or those who are considered an enemy.

Aggression- this is a one-sided reflection of reality, fueled by negative emotions, leading to a distorted, biased, incorrect understanding of reality, and inappropriate behavior.

Often analysis shows that aggression pursued some positive goal for a person, but the chosen method of behavior - unsuccessful, inadequate - leads to an escalation of the conflict and a worsening of the situation. The stronger the frustration and neuroticism of the individual, the more and more acutely the inappropriate aggressive behavior is realized.

Berkowitz introduced three significant amendments to the frustration-aggression theory:

  1. Frustration does not necessarily translate into aggressive actions, but it stimulates readiness for them.
  2. Even with readiness for aggression, it does not arise without proper conditions.
  3. Getting out of frustration through aggressive actions instills in a person a habit of such actions.

Moreover, not all aggression is provoked by frustration. It can be due, for example, to a “position of power” and an expression of authority.

A study of the conditions under which frustration gives rise to aggressive actions has shown that the influence is influenced by the similarity/dissimilarity of the aggressors and the victim, the justification/unjustification of aggressiveness, and its presence as a personal characteristic. Currently, aggression is considered as a possible, but not at all inevitable, way out of a frustrating situation (Rosenzweig).

According to social learning theory, frustration and conflict facilitate the manifestation of aggression, being a necessary, but not sufficient condition for its occurrence. For aggressive behavior to occur, a predisposition to it in similar situations is necessary. It is formed and reinforced through social learning - through observation of the behavior of others, and one’s own successful experience of aggression. Thus, the primary role in the formation of a predisposition to aggression is given to the social environment. Currently this theory is dominant.

The most famous proponent of this approach is Arnold Bass. He defines frustration as blocking the process of desired behavior, introducing the concept of attack. It is the act of presenting hostile stimuli to the body. In this case, an attack causes a strong aggressive reaction, and frustration causes a weak one.

Bass pointed to a number of factors that determine the strength of aggressive habits:

  1. The frequency and intensity of instances when a person experienced an attack, frustration, or irritation. People who have been exposed to many angry stimuli are more likely to react aggressively than those who have been exposed to such stimuli infrequently.
  2. Repeatedly achieving success through aggression reinforces the corresponding habits. Success can be internal (a sharp decrease in anger, satisfaction) or external (removing an obstacle or achieving a desired goal or reward). The developed habit of aggression and attack makes it impossible to distinguish situations when aggressive behavior is necessary; a person always tends to react aggressively.
  3. Cultural and subcultural norms acquired by a person facilitate the development of aggressiveness in him (from childhood he watches cartoons and films where there are scenes of aggressive behavior, assimilates his norms).
  4. A person’s temperament has an influence: impulsiveness, intensity of reactions, level of activity provoke the consolidation of aggressive forms of behavior and form aggressiveness as a personality trait.
  5. The desire for self-respect, for protection from group pressure, for independence first causes a tendency to disobedience, and then, with resistance from others, provokes a person to show aggression.

Bass believes that it is necessary to distinguish between types of aggressive behavior. The classification is based on dichotomies. As a result, physical/verbal, active/passive, directed/undirected aggression are distinguished.

Purpose of physical aggression- causing pain or harm to another person. The intensity of aggressive behavior can be assessed by the likelihood that the aggression will result in injury and how severe the injury may be. Shooting a person at close range is more aggressive than kicking him.

Verbal aggression also appears as painful and offensive - as you know, words can kill.

These include:

  • numerous denials;
  • negative reviews and criticisms;
  • expression of negative emotions, such as dissatisfaction (abuse), hidden resentment, mistrust, hatred;
  • expressing thoughts and desires of aggressive content such as: “I need to kill you” or curses;
  • insults;
  • threats, coercion and extortion;
  • reproaches and accusations;
  • irony, mockery, offensive and offensive jokes;
  • scream, roar;
  • aggression in dreams, fantasies, expressed in words, mentally, less often in drawings.

Direct aggression is directly directed against the victim. Indirect does not imply the presence of the first: slander is used, negative reviews or aggression is vented against objects representing the victim’s circle.

According to Bass, a distinction should be made between hostility and aggressiveness. The first is expressed by feelings of indignation, resentment and suspicion. A hostile person is not necessarily aggressive, and vice versa.

Another well-known proponent of the behavioral approach, A. Bandura, emphasized that if a person from childhood sees the aggressive behavior of people, especially parents, then by virtue of imitation he learns similar actions. Research has shown that aggressive boys were raised by parents who used physical violence against them. Such children could behave submissively at home, but towards peers and strangers they showed more aggressiveness than their peers who had a different family situation. That is why a number of researchers consider physical punishment of a child a model of aggressive behavior transmitted by adults. Punishment is effective only if a number of conditions are met, which include a positive attitude of the punisher towards the punished and acceptance by the punished of the norms of the punisher.

Finally, we should mention the latest in time of occurrence coercive force theory. Its essence is quite simple: physical violence (force of coercion) is used to obtain the desired effect when other methods have been exhausted (or absent) (force of persuasion).

In this regard, Fischbach identifies an instrumental type of aggression. This is a means to achieve a goal, in which causing damage is just a way of influence. Hostile aggression, according to Fischbach, causes harm to the victim and can be considered as aggression for the sake of aggression.

However, the role of biological factors in the occurrence of aggressive behavior is not discounted. The subcortical structures of the brain, the hypothalamus, and the limbic system mediate it, imposing their own restrictions on the type of aggressive reactions acquired during the learning process. “One can imagine extreme cases when behavior is determined only by personality traits or only by the situation: in the first case it is something specifically psychopathological (an aggressive psychopath), in the second it is extremely automated behavior of the “stimulus-response” type. But, as a rule, in intermediate cases, behavior is determined by both personal and situational factors and, moreover, is the result of the mutual influence of individual predispositions and characteristics of the current situation” (A. Bandura).

To date, a number of definitions of aggression have been proposed. Firstly, it means powerful activity, the desire for self-affirmation, internal strength that allows a person to resist external pressure (F. Allan). Secondly, it refers to hostile actions and reactions, attacks, destruction, the manifestation of force in an attempt to cause harm or damage to another person, object or society (X. Delgado).

Scientists distinguish aggression(specific form of behavior) and aggressiveness(mental property of personality).

For example, Bass defines the former "as a reaction, a physical action or threat of such action on the part of one person, which reduces the freedom or genetic fitness of another person, resulting in the other person's body receiving painful stimuli."

Currently, there are more and more supporters of the idea of ​​aggression as motivated external actions that violate the norms and rules of coexistence, causing harm, pain and suffering to people.

Not less important consider aggression not only as behavior, but also as a mental state, highlighting cognitive, emotional and volitional components. The first is understanding the situation as threatening. Some psychologists, for example Lazarus, consider the main causative agent of aggression to be a threat, believing that the latter causes stress, and aggression is a reaction to it. But not every threat leads to or provokes aggression.

The emotional component is also important. Being aggressive, a person experiences strong anger and rage. But this is not always what happens, and not all anger encourages aggression. Emotional experiences of hostility, anger, and vindictiveness often accompany aggressive actions, although they do not always lead to them.

The volitional component is no less pronounced in the latter - purposefulness, perseverance, determination, initiative, courage.

Aggressiveness- a personality trait consisting in the willingness and preference to use violent means to achieve one’s goals. Aggression is a manifestation of aggressiveness in destructive actions aimed at causing harm to a particular person.

The degree of aggressiveness varies - from barely noticeable to maximum. Probably, a harmoniously developed personality should have aggressiveness. The needs of individual development and social practice form in people the ability to remove obstacles, and sometimes to physically overcome what opposes this process. A complete lack of aggressiveness leads to pliability and the inability to take an active position in life. At the same time, its excessive development (as accentuation) begins to determine the entire appearance of the personality, turning the latter into a conflict person who does not cooperate with social cooperation. In its extreme expression, it becomes a pathology (social and clinical): aggression loses its rational-selective orientation and turns into a habitual way of behavior, manifesting itself in unjustified hostility, malice, cruelty, and negativism.

Aggressive manifestations are:

  • a means to achieve a certain goal;
  • a way of psychological release, replacing a blocked need;
  • an end in itself;
  • a way to satisfy the need for self-realization and self-affirmation.

Cruelty- a personality trait that consists of indifference to the suffering of other people or the desire to cause it, and conscious actions aimed at causing torment and suffering to other people in order to achieve a certain external goal or self-satisfaction. Unintentional, careless actions (or unconscious ones), even if they lead to the most severe consequences, cannot be called cruel. The nature of cruelty is determined by the motives of the subject, when the infliction of suffering serves as the motive or goal of behavior.

Aggressiveness and cruelty- personality traits - are formed mainly in childhood and adolescence. Initially, they arise as concrete situational phenomena, the source of which is external circumstances. Aggressive, cruel actions of young children are not yet determined by the internal logic of their character, but are caused by momentary impulses without taking into account and understanding their moral significance. However, as a result of repeated repetition of such behavior, when there is no proper assessment and corrective influences, it gradually becomes stable, is no longer associated with the specific situation in which it initially arises, and turns into a personality trait.

Aggressive individuals, even in childhood and adolescence, develop a readiness to perceive, evaluate objects, situations, and the actions of other people as threatening or hostile and act towards them in accordance with this assessment. The attitudinal nature of such behavior is manifested in the fact that it is regulated not only at a conscious, but also at an unconscious level. Often, cruel, aggressive actions are not regarded as such by a person, but are considered natural, morally justified (this is due to the mechanisms of psychological defense and self-rehabilitation).

Murder or suicide, being forms of aggressiveness, are the result of distorted social development and incorrect psychological adaptation. Among those convicted of violent crimes, almost all had disadvantaged living conditions in childhood and adolescence. The moral and emotional situation in the majority of families from which these criminals came did not provide the child with a smooth, calm upbringing, did not allow the formation of a sense of security and self-esteem, or faith in life prospects. In such families, 30% of fathers abused alcohol, serious quarrels between parents were noted in 85%, and in 40% scandals were accompanied by assault. Such children were 7 times more likely than their peers to feel indifference towards them and understand that they were burdened by them; they were punished almost twice as often; 30% of children were severely beaten by their parents.

In many such families, there was an opposition between the mother-child group and the father. The mother, perceiving the child as her ally in the psychological war with the father, justified any behavior of her son, including aggressive behavior. When two hostile camps arise within a family, it is easier for children to learn the skills of aggressive behavior. This is due to the fact that observing and experiencing aggression is combined with a high degree of readiness to use it with immediate reward in the form of approval from the mother. Nobly speaking on the side of a weak woman - a mother, protecting her from the claims of a drunken father, a teenager has reason to consider his actions morally justified, which, naturally, strengthens the emerging stereotype of violent behavior. Thus, a significant role in the formation of violence skills belongs to the emotional conflict of parents and the hostility that arises early between the father and the teenager.

In most cases, parents who raised and raised rapists are of the blaming type. If this is combined with indifference, immoral behavior of the father and mother and their use of physical force both in conflicts between themselves and in relation to the child, then due to children's imitation and the lack of other life experience, the child is convinced that it is easiest to achieve what he wants through the brutal physical coercion of another . This is where the distinctive features of criminals who commit violence are laid down - hot temper, malice, vindictiveness, cruelty.

Children from disadvantaged families are less prepared for systematic school activities, more excitable and irritable, which makes it more difficult for them to master the school curriculum and leads to difficulties and failures in their studies. But instead of help both at school and in the family, they hear accusations of laziness, stupidity, unwillingness to learn, and they are punished. 60% of convicted teenagers noted that it was poor performance at school that most often caused quarrels in their families.

The lack of approval and help from adults (parents, teachers) in the leading activity - study - leads to the fact that the most important needs of a child of this age - the approval of others, self-esteem - begin to be blocked, gradually creating deep internal discomfort. Trying to find a way out of this state, teenagers try to compensate for school problems with bravado, rudeness, disruption of order in lessons and breaks, and fights. Thus, academic failure and rejection from the team is another major defeat in life after the first one inflicted by parents. Failures (frustrations) objectively push one to search for other, accessible means of self-affirmation.

The teenager tries to fill the vacuum formed in the positive communication system with something, he searches and finds peers similar to himself and in this group gains social status, gets the opportunity to satisfy the vital need for communication and recognition. If violent actions are common in an informal teenage group and the teenager has not only been exposed to them, but also responded to them, he runs the risk of strengthening the behavioral skills of aggressiveness. Quarrels, fights among themselves, and the use of physical force when resolving conflicts with strangers strengthen the stereotype of behavior associated with the use of force as a means of resolving disputes.

The purpose of joint actions in teenage hooligan groups is the search for alcohol, as well as ethical and group self-affirmation in artificially created risky situations, a kind of revenge for personal failures, while the most defenseless people turn out to be victims.

An attack is preceded by a psychological readiness to commit violence, which is most often formed by leaders, for example, by declaring: “We need to beat someone up.” The intent to kill is usually not discussed before the attack. This type of aggressive behavior can be called hunting for the defenseless. No reason is required, only one condition is indispensable: confidence in a clear superiority of forces and in impunity, so attacks occur in the evening and at night in deserted places, and the victims are lonely people.

Motives for enrichment, personal revenge, jealousy and self-defense are usually absent; with the help of violence, a teenager usually tries to solve the problem of his self-affirmation. In childhood and at school, his status was extremely low, and with the support of friends like himself, he for the first time feels that he can force himself to be taken into account, at least temporarily turning into the master of the situation, asserting his importance through violence or hooliganism.

Consequently, hooliganism and aggression represent the transfer of a conflict that has developed in the family, the immediate social environment, into a completely different situation: beating a passerby on the street, rowdy behavior, obscene language addressed to strangers. The transfer of unresolved conflicts to an anonymous, defenseless environment is not accidental: it is in these conditions that adolescents can throw out their aggressiveness and achieve self-affirmation with the greatest chance of situational success. For some young criminals, brutal murder, among other things, increases sexual self-esteem and allows them to assert themselves in the role of a full-fledged man - this is typical for rape, especially group rape, manifested in the murder of men who are undressed, deliberately beaten in the genitals, etc.

Youth quickly passes, and with it the need to assert oneself on the street among peers, so the peak of aggressive criminal actions aimed at various anonymous surroundings (strangers) occurs in the “young adults” age group and drops sharply after 24 years. This channel of aggressiveness is exhausting itself, as informal youth groups gradually disintegrate, and their participants develop other interpersonal connections, primarily focused on their own family. For some young people, the appearance of their own family becomes a powerful anti-criminogenic factor, ultimately correcting the deformations that arose in childhood and adolescence. But for many, the family, on the contrary, is a zone of manifestation of aggressiveness and irritation.

It is known that the overwhelming number of serious crimes against the individual are committed in the sphere of family and household relations: as criminal statistics show, for this reason 70% of intentional murders occur, of which, in turn, 38% are committed against relatives, and 62% against spouses .

Answering the question why the family so often becomes the main channel for the implementation of aggressive actions, we will outline four leading reasons for this.

  1. The experience of failures in life in early childhood, in school and in professional development requires a search for new areas of self-affirmation that can “cover up” defeats and compensate for them. Thus, the expectations associated with creating your own family are initially too high in this case.
  2. The choice of a spouse, as a rule, is made from among people of a certain circle, and therefore cannot radically change either the lifestyle of those entering into marriage, or the moral and psychological climate in the family, or the nature of future conflicts.
  3. Members of one's own family are the most vulnerable targets for violent attacks, since it is closed from many forms of social control from the outside.
  4. The frequency, duration and continuity of intra-family conflicts escalate tension for years, sometimes decades, hence the acute, dangerous forms of their resolution.

The reason for criminal conflicts on the part of husbands was reproaches to their wives for immorality and refusal to continue living together, and on the part of wives - reproaches to their husbands for waste of earned money, rudeness, drunkenness and beatings. Jealousy is indicated as the motive for the crime in 78% of cases, but in half of them the fact of treason is not confirmed during a judicial investigation. It seems that many husbands would rather decide to explain their wife’s cooling off by the presence of a lover, rather than admit that the cause of the discord lies in themselves - in their inattention, drunkenness, assault, and sexual rudeness. The wife turns out to be guilty of all the troubles, and the evil is taken out on her. This is all the more natural since wives are twice as likely to initiate conflicts between spouses.

Violence as a way of influencing a wife in dysfunctional families has become a well-mastered means. It ends attempts to resolve conflicts by other means (persuasion, persuasion, threats). When these methods do not help, the extreme phase of the conflict begins - physical violence. It also has its own stages, and how quickly aggression escalates depends significantly on the individual’s previous experience, which is updated in a given situation. The specific role of spouses is to transform violent behavior into everyday, habitual, everyday actions. Their initial ineffectiveness pushes them to more dangerous actions: at first they hit only with their fists, then with everything that comes to hand.

Marital conflicts and intentional murders clearly confirm the thesis “violence is the weapon of the weak.” This refers to the social inferiority of the individual. In fact, how can a man establish his position as a husband, father and head of the family if he cannot serve as an example of personal behavior, does not possess the power of persuasion, is unable to provide material well-being for his family (his career is not going well), and has lost his personal masculine attractiveness? All that remains is the superiority of physical strength; Physical aggression achieves the victim's humility and self-affirmation. With the fall of the last support - the family - the meaning of life is often lost, which is why 30% of criminals made suicide attempts following murder.

Of particular interest is the aggression of adults directed against their parents. This logically follows from family dysfunction, being a kind of continuation of the conflict with parents that emerged in childhood. However, the new situation changes everything. The more acutely a child feels trouble in the family, the more likely it is that, as an adult, he will direct aggression towards his parents. This happens especially often if they are forced to live with others, drink alcohol, or when each party seeks to dictate their own terms.

If the victim is a woman, she resorts to insults, domestic harassment, sometimes provokes violence, and the perpetrator beats her. If the victim turns out to be a man, then the conflicts result in fights. All the same, the outcome is predetermined by the physical superiority of the younger over the elderly and elderly. As a result, a circle closes: brought up in a dysfunctional, conflicting family, unable to find a place in life and unable to create his own prosperous family, acquiring personal skills in violence in informal groups, the subject returns to his parents, because he has nowhere to go, and then criminal aggressive actions against relatives become a consequence of the actual collapse of the “parents - adult children” group.

Staying in places of deprivation of liberty, as a rule, deepens the aggressiveness, anger, and suspicion in the character of convicts, and forms in their minds the image of an aggressive environment. Aggression (in the subjective assessment of criminals) should forestall counter-attack and prevent it. Places of deprivation of liberty influence the personality of the convicted person in such a way that the likelihood of aggressive and violent actions on his part increases.

Taught by experience to constantly fight back and defend himself from attacks in a criminal environment, he involuntarily transfers his attitudes to freedom, hence the inadequacy of his reactions, increased hostility and aggressiveness with minor signs of real or imaginary danger, in any conflicts, which can lead to new crimes and murders . In fact, 30% of the total number of those convicted of premeditated murders had previously been convicted and served a sentence in prison.

Having traced the typical development of aggressiveness realized to an extreme degree (deliberate murder), we see that many different social and family factors enhance its natural level, which initially, for biological reasons (the male hormone testosterone plays a special role), is higher in men than in women.

Criminals who commit violence usually have an internally hidden sense of their own inferiority. It pushes them through aggression to increase the level of self-esteem, to express a clearly inflated sense of self-esteem, to strive for self-affirmation at any cost (through humiliation or destruction of others). This occurs with a negative attitude towards social, ethical norms and requirements of society, as well as with indifference to one’s own future, lack of life plans, and increased emotional impulsiveness.

Among such criminals there is a group of people called aggressive psychopaths, whose antisocial behavior is associated with certain brain dysfunctions, with an insufficiently formed system of internal regulators of behavior, with defective consciousness. As a result of this, they are characterized by impulsive psychopathic aggression, the distinctive features of which are:

  1. Inability to restrain the first impulsive impulse, since self-regulation processes are disrupted.
  2. Inability to imagine the consequences of one's actions.
  3. An extremely limited (usually fist) set of means for resolving interpersonal conflicts, combined with increased cruelty.
  4. Immunity to punishment, i.e., the application of punitive sanctions to a given group of criminals has the opposite effect and causes an outbreak of aggressiveness.

Aggressive psychopaths often commit murders, especially cruel ones, of strangers and children without any reason. This is the most extreme version of male aggressiveness - senseless and impulsive.

Thus, human aggressiveness is heterogeneous, its degree is different - from minimal to maximum, its modality and purpose are different. There are a number of parameters of aggressiveness of various modalities, which differ:

  • the intensity of aggression, its cruelty;
  • targeting a specific person or all people in general;
  • situationality or stability of aggressive personality tendencies. Conventionally, the following can be distinguished types of aggressiveness:
    1. Anti-aggression. Negative attitude towards any aggressive manifestations; a person always tries to reconcile with other people, considers it impossible for himself to beat the weak, a woman, children, a cripple; in the event of a conflict, he believes that it is better to leave, endure it, or contact the police; he defends himself only in the event of an obvious physical attack.
    2. Intense, or conditionally aggressive. It is motivated by the satisfaction received from performing conditionally aggressive activities (games, wrestling, competitions), and does not have the goal of causing harm. Sport is a socially acceptable form of manifestation of aggression, a kind of discharge, and also a way
    3. self-affirmation, increasing social status and obtaining material benefits (for professional athletes).
    4. Undifferentiated. This is a weak aggressive manifestation, expressed in irritability and scandals on any occasion and with a wide variety of people, in hot temper, harshness, and rudeness. Such people can resort to physical aggression and even commit domestic crimes.
    5. Local, or impulsive. Aggression manifests itself as a direct reaction to a conflict; a person verbally insults the enemy (verbal aggression), but also allows for the possibility of using violence, etc. The degree of general irritation is less than in the previous case.
    6. Conditional or instrumental. Associated with self-affirmation; an example of it is boyish fuss.
    7. Hostile. Persistent emotions of anger, hatred, envy; a person shows his hostility openly, but does not strive for a clash. Real physical aggression may not actively manifest itself. Hatred can be directed both at specific individuals and at strangers. There is a desire to humiliate another person, towards whom one feels contempt and hatred, in order to gain the respect of others. In a fight, this type is cold-blooded; if he wins, he remembers it with pleasure. He can initially restrain his aggression, and then takes revenge (in various ways: slander, intrigue, physically). In case of superiority of forces and impunity, he is capable of murder. He is hostile towards people.
    8. Instrumental. They resort to it to achieve any significant goal.
    9. Cruel. Violence and aggression are an end in themselves; aggressive actions are always inadequate, characterized by excessive, maximum cruelty and special anger. A minor reason is enough for its manifestation. Crimes are committed with exceptional cruelty.
    10. Psychopathic. Cruel and often senseless, repeated aggression (this is how an aggressive psychopath or a murderous maniac behaves).
    11. Group solidarity. Aggression or even murder is committed due to the desire to follow the traditions of the group, to establish itself in its eyes, to gain approval, to show one’s strength, determination, and fearlessness. This type of aggression often occurs among teenagers. Military aggression (actions of military personnel in combat conditions, killing the enemy) is a socially recognized and approved form associated with group (or national) solidarity. It implements the social traditions of defending the fatherland or other ideas, for example democracy, law and order, etc.
    12. Sexy. The range of its manifestation is wide - from sexual rudeness to rape or sexual abuse and murder. Freud wrote that in the sexuality of most men there is aggressiveness, a desire to subjugate, therefore sadism is just the isolation and hypertrophy of such a component.

The connection between sex and aggression is confirmed experimentally. Endocrinologists have stated that the aggressive behavior of males and their sexual activity are caused by the influence of the same hormones - androgens, and psychologists have found that pronounced elements of aggressiveness are present in erotic fantasies, and partly in the sexual behavior of men. At the same time, suppression of sexual desires and dissatisfaction increase irritation and give rise to aggressive impulses. Similarly, a woman’s refusal to satisfy a man’s sexual desire causes aggression in him.

Conditioned aggression and sexual arousal appear to interact in humans in a manner similar to that observed in some animals, mutually reinforcing each other. For example, in teenage boys, an erection often occurs during fussing or power struggle, but never in a real fight. A love game, when a man seems to be hunting for a woman, overcoming her apparent resistance, excites him, i.e. the conditional “rapist” also acts as a seducer. But there is a group of men who can experience sexual arousal and pleasure only in the event of actual aggression, violence, beating, or humiliation of a woman. Such pathological sexuality often turns into sadism and leads to murder.

To diagnose the level of aggressiveness, you should use the Bass-Darki questionnaire.

Facts of violence in which harm is caused to specific individuals are called aggression. Every day a person either personally or hears from others about how they have been treated poorly.

If we talk about the moral side of this issue, then aggressive behavior is considered bad, evil, unacceptable. But why does a person allow himself to get angry and hurt himself or others?

What is Aggression?

What is aggression? There are many opinions about what aggression is. Some say that aggression is an instinctive reaction and manifestation of a person. Others argue that aggression is caused by frustration - the desire to discharge. Still others point out that aggression is a social phenomenon when a person learns it from others or is influenced by negative past experiences.

In psychology, aggression is understood as destructive behavior in which a person causes physical harm or creates psychological discomfort to other people. Psychiatry views aggression as a person’s desire to protect himself from an unpleasant and traumatic situation. Aggression is also understood as a way of self-affirmation.

Aggressive behavior is considered to be directed towards a living object. However, the psychological help website claims that smashing dishes or walls can soon develop into violence against living beings. Aggression is often equated with rage, anger or anger. However, an aggressive person does not always experience emotions. There are cold-blooded people who become aggressive under the influence of their prejudices, beliefs or views.

What reasons push a person to such behavior? Anger can be directed both at other people and at oneself. The reasons may be different, as well as the forms of manifestation of aggression. Each case is individual. Psychologists note something else: it is important to be able to cope with one’s own aggression, which manifests itself in every person. If someone needs help, they can get it. This is what a psychological help site does, a site where a person can not only read useful information, but also work through his negative aspects, which often interfere with building favorable relationships with others.

Display of aggression

Aggression manifests itself in different ways. Depending on the goal that is achieved by aggressive actions and the methods of the actions committed, aggression can be benign and malignant:

  1. Benign aggression refers to courage, courage, ambition, perseverance, and bravery.
  2. Malignant aggression refers to violence, rudeness, and cruelty.

Every living creature is aggressive. Every organism contains genes that allow it to show aggression for the sake of survival, to save itself from death. Thus, there is defensive aggression, which occurs at the moment of danger. All living beings have it. When a living organism is in danger, it becomes decisive, runs away, attacks, and defends itself.

In contrast to this aggression, there is a destructive one, which is inherent only to humans. It has no meaning or purpose. It arises only on the basis of the emotions, feelings, thoughts of a person who simply did not like something.

There is another manifestation of aggression – pseudo-aggression. It occurs in situations where a person must make every effort to achieve a goal. For example, during competition, athletes become aggressive to give themselves energy and motivation.

A special manifestation of aggression, which is inherent in all living beings, is the desire to survive. When there is not enough food, there is no intimacy, there is no protection, then the body becomes aggressive. Everything is aimed at survival, which often involves infringement of the boundaries and freedom of other living beings.

Anyone can become aggressive. Often the strong provoke the weak, who then also look for weaker individuals in order to take it out on them. There is no defense against aggression. In everyone it manifests itself as a reaction to an external stimulus. Both the one who caused it and the one who simply came into contact can become a victim of aggression.

The manifestation of aggression is an expression of dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction. It can be either open, when a person knocks on the table or constantly nags, or hidden - periodic nagging.

Types of aggression

As we consider aggression, we can distinguish its types:

  • Physical, when force is used and specific harm is caused to the body.
  • Indirect, when irritation is expressed towards another person.
  • Resistance to established laws and morals.
  • Verbal, when a person verbally shows aggression: screams, threatens, blackmails, etc.
  • Envy, hatred, resentment for unfulfilled dreams.
  • Suspicion, which manifests itself in distrust of persons when it seems that they are planning something bad.
  • Feelings of guilt that arise from the thought that a person is bad.
  • Direct – spreading gossip.
  • Directed (there is a goal) and disordered (random passers-by become victims).
  • Active or passive (“putting spokes in the wheels”).
  • Auto-aggression is hatred towards oneself.
  • Heteroaggression – anger is directed towards others: violence, threats, murder, etc.
  • Instrumental, when aggression is used as a method of achieving a goal.
  • Reactive, when it manifests itself as a reaction to some external stimulus.
  • Spontaneous, when it manifests itself without good reason. Often occurs as a consequence of internal phenomena, for example, mental illness.
  • Motivational (targeted), which is done consciously for the purpose of intentionally causing damage and pain.
  • Expressive when it manifests itself in facial expressions, gestures, and a person’s voice. His words and actions do not express aggression, but his body position and tone of voice indicate otherwise.

It's human nature to get angry. And the most important question that worries everyone who has become a victim of someone else’s aggression is why they yelled at him, beat him up, etc.? Everyone is concerned about the reasons for aggressive behavior, especially if the aggressor has not explained anything. And how different aggression can be has already been discussed.

Causes of aggression

There are many reasons for aggressive behavior. Aggression can be different and happens in different situations, so you often need to look at the complex of everything that happens in order to understand the motives of a person’s actions.

  1. Substance abuse (alcohol, drugs, etc.). Under the influence of drugs, a person cannot adequately respond to a specific situation.
  2. Personal problems that are associated with dissatisfaction in personal relationships, intimacy, loneliness, etc. Any mention of this problem causes a negative reaction.
  3. Mental traumas of childhood. Developed neurosis against the background of dysfunctional relationships with parents.
  4. Authoritarian and strict education that develops internal aggression.
  5. Watching films and programs where the topic of violence is actively discussed.
  6. Inadequate rest, overwork.

Aggression may be a symptom of a serious illness that is often associated with damage to the brain:

  • Schizophrenia.
  • Encephalitis.
  • Neurasthenia.
  • Meningitis.
  • Epileptoid psychopathy, etc.

Public influence should not be excluded. Religious movements, propaganda, racial hatred, morality, images of politicians or strong personalities who are aggressive develop a similar quality in observers.

Often people who cause harm refer to a bad mood or even a mental disorder. In fact, only 12% of all aggressive people are mentally ill. Other individuals show their negative emotions as a result of an incorrect reaction to what is happening, as well as a lack of self-control.

Aggression is noted as a person’s dissatisfaction with life in general or a specific case in particular. Accordingly, the main reason is dissatisfaction, which a person does not eliminate through favorable actions.

Verbal aggression

Almost everyone has encountered this form of aggression. Verbal aggression is the most common and obvious. Firstly, the tone of the speaker’s voice changes: he starts shouting, raises his voice, and makes it ruder. Secondly, the context of what is being said changes.

Psychologists have noted many forms of verbal aggression. In everyday life, a person encounters the following manifestations:

  1. Insults, threats, blackmail.
  2. Slander, spreading gossip.
  3. Silence in response to a person’s questions, refusal to communicate, ignoring cues.
  4. Refusing to defend another person who is being criticized.

The question still remains whether silence is a way of aggression. There is no clear answer here. It all depends on the reasons for the silence of the person who performs this action. If silence occurs with accompanying aggressive emotions, anger, and reluctance to speak because it can be rude, then we are talking about verbal aggression of a passive nature. However, if a person is silent because he did not hear or is not interested in the topic of the conversation, therefore he wants to transfer it to another topic, remains calm and in a friendly mood, then there is no question of any aggression.

Due to the social system and morality, which punishes anyone who shows physical aggression, people are forced to use the only way to express it - words. Open aggression is expressed in specific threats, insults and humiliation of the personality of another. Hidden aggression manifests itself through persecution and pressure on a person, for example, by spreading gossip. Although these types of verbal aggression are unacceptable, a person is not deprived of freedom for them. That's why people continue to use this form as a way of communicating with those with whom they are dissatisfied.

Speech aggression

Let us dwell directly on the verbal form of manifestation of aggression, which is the most common in society. Speech aggression manifests itself in curses, negative assessments (criticism), offensive words, obscene speech, mocking intonation, crude irony, indecent allusions, and a raised voice.

What the aggressor does causes irritation and indignation. Aggression of both the first and second interlocutor arises on the basis of negative emotions that arise immediately or after some time. Some people immediately say what outrages them, others only after a while begin to show their aggression in various ways towards those who humiliated or insulted them.

Often, verbal aggression is a consequence of a person’s hostility towards a certain group of people. For example, low social status can provoke an individual’s hostile attitude towards those with whom he communicates. Such a confrontation is possible both in an ascending hierarchy and in a descending one. For example, hidden aggression is often manifested by subordinates towards the boss and by the boss towards subordinates. Subordinates often feel jealous of the leadership's high position, as well as its commanding tone. A boss may hate his subordinates because he considers them stupid, weak, inferior creatures.

Rarely, the causes of speech aggression are upbringing, mental characteristics, or a breakdown.

Undoubtedly, society is considering the issue of not only extinguishing negative emotions when they arise, but also preventing conflicts with people who show anger. It should be understood that sometimes aggression is acceptable because it helps achieve certain goals, such as suppressing the enemy. However, this method should not be used as a universal one.

Approaches to aggression

Scientists from various fields of science are considering approaches to aggression. For each representative it means something different. The normative approach perceives aggression as destructive behavior that does not correspond to the moral and ethical standards of society. The criminal approach also considers aggression as an act of unlawful behavior that is aimed at causing physical and moral harm to a living object.

  • The depth psychological approach perceives aggressive behavior as instinctive, inherent in all living beings.
  • The goal-directed approach perceives aggression as a goal-directed action. From the point of view of achieving goals, evolution, adaptation, appropriation of important resources, dominance.
  • Schwab and Koeroglow view aggressive behavior as a person’s desire to establish the integrity of his life. When it is violated, a person becomes aggressive.
  • Kaufma views aggression as a way of acquiring resources necessary for life, which is dictated by the natural need for survival.
  • Erich Fromm viewed aggressive behavior as a desire to dominate and dominate living beings.
  • Wilson characterized the aggressive nature of a person as the desire to eliminate the actions of another subject who, by his actions, infringes on his freedom or genetic survival.
  • Matsumoto noted aggression as an act that causes pain and physical or mental harm to another individual.
  • Shcherbina characterized verbal aggression as a verbal manifestation of feelings, intentions and desires towards another person.
  • Cognitive theory considers aggression as a way of learning to contact a person with external factors.
  • Other theories combine the above concepts to understand the nature of aggressive behavior.

Forms of aggression

Erich Fromm identified the following forms of aggression:

  • Reactive. When a person realizes that his freedom, life, dignity or property is in danger, he becomes aggressive. Here he can defend himself, take revenge, be jealous, envy, be disappointed, etc.
  • Archaic bloodlust.
  • Gaming. Sometimes a person just wants to show his dexterity and skills. It is at this moment that he can resort to malicious jokes, mockery, and sarcasm. There is no hatred or anger here. A person is simply playing at something that may irritate his interlocutor.
  • Compensatory (malignant). It is a manifestation of destructiveness, violence, cruelty, which helps a person make his life complete, not boring, and fulfilling.

A person who becomes aggressive has the following characteristics:

  1. Sensitivity, vulnerability, acute experience of discomfort.
  2. Impulsiveness.
  3. Absent-mindedness, which leads to emotional aggressiveness, and thoughtfulness, which provokes instrumental aggressiveness.
  4. Hostile interpretation of what is happening.

A person is not able to completely get rid of his aggression, because sometimes it is useful and necessary. It is here that he allows himself to show his nature. Only a person who knows how to control his emotions (without suppressing them) is able to live fully. Aggression only rarely becomes constructive compared to those episodes when it is used in full force.

Teenage aggression

Quite often, psychologists note aggression in childhood. It becomes very bright during adolescence. It is this stage that becomes the most emotional. Teenage aggression can manifest itself towards anyone: peers, parents, animals, younger children. A common cause of aggression is self-affirmation. Showing strength in an aggressive manner seems to be a sign of greatness and power.

Adolescent aggression is a deliberate action aimed at causing harm. Remaining frequent are cases where three parties are involved:

  1. The aggressor is a teenager himself.
  2. The victim is the person at whom the teenager’s aggression is directed.
  3. Spectators are people who can become bystanders or provocateurs that cause aggression in a teenager. They do not participate in the process of manifestation of aggression, but only observe what the aggressor and his victim do.

Teenagers of different genders show aggression in the following ways:

  • The boys tease, trip, fight, and kick.
  • Girls boycott, gossip, and get offended.

The location and age of the aggressor does not matter, since this emotion manifests itself at any time from an early age.

Psychologists explain teenage aggression by the changes that occur during puberty. A former child who has not yet become an adult is afraid of the future, is not ready for responsibility and independence, and does not know how to control his emotional experiences. Relationships with parents, as well as the influence of the media, play a significant role here.

Here are the following types of aggressive teenagers:

  1. Hyperactive, who grew up in a family where everything was allowed to him.
  2. Touchy, characterized by vulnerability and irritability.
  3. Oppositional defiant, who demonstratively opposes people whom he does not consider his authority.
  4. Aggressive-fearful, in which fears and suspicion are manifested.
  5. Aggressively insensitive, who does not have sympathy or empathy.

Male aggression

Men are often the benchmarks of aggression. It seems that women should not be as aggressive as men. However, this feeling is common to everyone. Male aggression often manifests itself in open form. At the same time, the stronger sex does not experience feelings of guilt and anxiety. For them, this emotion is a kind of companion that helps them achieve goals and form a special model of behavior.

Scientists have put forward a theory that male aggression is a genetic factor. In all centuries, men had to conquer territories and lands, wage wars, protect their families, etc. At the same time, representatives of the weaker sex note this quality, which manifests itself in dominance and leadership, as attractive to them.

A modern man has many reasons why aggression manifests itself in him:

  • Dissatisfaction with one's social and financial situation.
  • Lack of culture of behavior.
  • Lack of self-confidence.
  • Lack of other forms of manifestation of one’s independence and strength.

In the current situation, when a man is required to be financially wealthy and successful, while there are practically no opportunities to achieve these statuses, the stronger sex has a high level of anxiety. Every time society reminds a man in various ways of how untenable he is. This is often reinforced by an unsettled personal life or lack of sexual relationships with women.

Men are trained to keep their experiences to themselves. However, aggression comes out, which is a consequence of unsettled life. It is difficult for a man to use all his capabilities in a world where he should be cultured and friendly, since anger and rage are often punished.

Women's aggression

Aggression is often associated with masculine behavior. However, women are also prone to dissatisfaction, which simply manifests itself in slightly different forms. Being a weaker creature than a man, a woman tries to express her aggression a little softly. If the victim seems strong or equal in strength, then the woman's aggression is moderate. If we are talking about a child at whom aggression is directed, then the woman may not restrain herself.

Being a more emotional and social creature, a woman is prone to displaying soft or hidden aggression. Women become more aggressive in old age. Psychologists associate this with dementia and negative character deterioration. At the same time, a woman’s satisfaction with her own life remains important. If she is dissatisfied, unhappy, then her internal tension increases.

Often a woman’s aggressiveness is associated with internal tension and emotional outbursts. A woman, no less than a man, is subject to various restrictions and obligations. She must start a family and give birth to children, always be beautiful and kind. If a woman does not have good reasons for kindness, a man for starting a family and having children, or physiological data for achieving beauty, this significantly oppresses her.

The cause of female aggression is often:

  • Hormonal imbalance.
  • Mental disorders.
  • Childhood traumas, hostility towards mother.
  • Negative experiences with contacts with the opposite sex.

A woman is made dependent on a man from childhood. She must be “married.” And when relationships with the opposite sex do not work out, which is common in modern society, this causes internal tension and dissatisfaction.

Aggression in older people

The most unpleasant and sometimes incomprehensible phenomenon is aggression in older people. Children are raised to “respect their elders” because they are smarter and wiser. Their knowledge helps the world become a better place. However, older people are practically no different from their younger counterparts. Aggression by older people becomes a weak quality that does not inspire respect.

The reason for the aggressiveness of older people is a change in life as a result of social degradation. When a person retires, he loses his previous activity. Here memory decreases, health deteriorates, and the meaning of life is lost. An elderly person feels forgotten, unwanted, lonely. If this is reinforced by a poor existence and lack of interests and hobbies, then the elderly person either becomes depressed or becomes aggressive.

We can call aggression by older people a way of communicating with others, a method of attracting attention to themselves. Here are the following forms of aggression:

  1. Grumpiness.
  2. Irritability.
  3. Opposition to everything new.
  4. Protest attitude.
  5. Groundless accusations and insults.
  6. High propensity for conflicts.

The main problem of older people is loneliness, especially after the death of one of the spouses. If children do not pay much attention to the elderly person, then he feels acute loneliness.

Degeneration or infection of brain cells also affects behavior changes at any age. Since these phenomena mostly occur in old age, doctors first rule out brain diseases as the cause of aggression.

Husband's aggression

In love relationships, the most discussed topic is the aggressiveness of husbands. Because women express their despotism differently, flamboyant displays of male aggression become commonplace. The causes of conflicts and quarrels in the family are:

  1. Unequal distribution of responsibilities.
  2. Dissatisfaction with intimate relationships.
  3. Different understandings of the rights and responsibilities of spouses.
  4. Not meeting your needs in relationships.
  5. Unequal contribution of both parties to the relationship.
  6. Lack of significance and value of a person as a partner.
  7. Financial difficulties.
  8. Inability to solve all emerging problems, their accumulation and periodic disputes because of them.

Many problems can cause aggression in a husband, but the most important are social status, financial wealth and sexual satisfaction. If a man is not satisfied in all plans, then he habitually looks for someone to blame - his wife. She is not sexy enough to want, does not inspire him to make money, does not become his support, etc.

A dissatisfied and insecure man begins to find fault, quarrel, point, and command a woman. In this way he tries to normalize his inferior life. If we analyze the situation, it turns out that aggression in husbands arises on the basis of their complexes and inadequacy, and not because of their wives.

The mistake women with aggressive husbands make is that they try to improve the relationship. It is the husbands who must correct the situation, not the women. Here wives make the following mistakes:

  • They talk about their hopes and fears, which further convinces their husbands that they are weak.
  • They share their plans, which gives their husbands another reason to criticize them.
  • They share their successes, expecting their husbands to rejoice at them.
  • They try to find common topics for conversation, but are faced with silence and coldness.

Treatment of aggression

The treatment of aggression does not mean medicinal elimination of the problem, but psychological one. Only in rare cases are tranquilizers and antidepressants used, which can calm the nervous system. However, a person will never completely get rid of aggressive behavior. Therefore, the treatment of aggression means developing skills to control it and understand the current situation.

If aggression is directed at you, you must understand that you are not obliged to tolerate attacks. Even if we are talking about your husband/wife or children, you still remain a person who has the right to be treated with kindness and care. The situation becomes especially painful when it comes to aggressive behavior of parents towards children. This is a situation in which the victim is almost never able to resist the pressure.

No one is obliged to endure other people's attacks. Therefore, if you become the object of someone’s aggression, you can safely fight back by any means. If you yourself are an aggressor, then this problem is yours personally. Here it is necessary to carry out exercises to eliminate one’s own aggressiveness.

Firstly, the causes of the aggression should be recognized. Nothing happens for nothing. Even mentally ill people have reasons to be aggressive. What moment was the trigger that made you feel angry? After realizing the cause of your negative emotions, you should take steps to change your attitude towards the situation.

The second point is that the reason must be devalued or eliminated. If you need to change your personal attitude towards a situation, then you should do it; If you need to solve a problem (for example, eliminate dissatisfaction), then you should make an effort and be patient.

You should not fight your own aggression, but understand the reasons for its occurrence, since eliminating these reasons allows you to cope with any negative emotions.

Forecast

The result of any emotion is a certain event that becomes decisive. Anything can be a predictor of the consequences of aggression:

  1. Losing connections with good people.
  2. Divorce or separation from a loved one.
  3. Dismissal from work.
  4. Unsettled life.
  5. Lack of support from important people.
  6. Lack of understanding.
  7. Loneliness, etc.

In some cases, the question even arises about the life expectancy of the person who enters into conflict. When physical violence occurs in the family or in the company of hooligans, it can result in death.

If a person does not try to control his aggressive impulses, he will face various negative consequences. His environment will consist only of people who should not be trusted. Only an aggressive person can be close to the same aggressor.

The consequences of controlling one's own aggression can be successful. Firstly, a person will not spoil relationships with those who are dear to him. I really want to throw out my emotions and show my character. However, if you understand what the consequences may be, it is better to prevent an undesirable outcome.

Secondly, a person can channel aggression into a constructive direction. You cannot get rid of this emotion, but you can subjugate it. For example, aggression is good when a person is dissatisfied with an unachieved goal. In this case, he wants to make every effort to realize his plans.

If a person cannot cope with his aggression on his own, then he should consult a psychologist. He will help you find the right answers to your questions, as well as develop a behavior strategy that will help you pacify aggression and take the right actions in the right situations.

Aggression and aggressiveness have always been a part of our world, people have constantly encountered and continue to encounter these phenomena in their daily lives. Aggression is a certain type of action aimed at causing moral or physical harm to other people, it is an attack on them with the aim of causing harm. And aggressiveness is not just a character trait of a person, in which he reacts aggressively to everything, but it is also a natural manifestation of his bestial essence.

Aggressive behavior is primarily characteristic of less intellectually developed people, and at the same time, quite active people, whose endless desires are supported by great opportunities. Being weak and feeling his weakness, a person will not attack other people, because fear will not allow him to do this. But feeling his strength and seeing the opportunities that it gives, a person acts more boldly, more assertively, more aggressively. Consequently, weak people are less aggressive than strong people, but nevertheless, the aggression of weak people can be expressed in a hidden form, which is sometimes no less, if not more dangerous, than an open form of aggression.

No matter how strong or weak we are, we are still very aggressive creatures by nature and our aggression is associated primarily with the need to defend our interests in this cruel world, in a world of limited resources and boundless selfishness. Therefore, we should perceive our animal essence positively, since nature endowed us with it not by chance, we simply need it for survival. We have created a world in which even the weakest human individuals can survive, whereas in nature only the strongest survive, only those who can fight not only for their lives, but also for their place in the sun. Our world, the world of people, is an unreal world, an artificial world in which aggression and aggressiveness are perceived negatively, while in the wild, this phenomenon is natural and necessary. Aggressive behavior does not require ethical assessment and interpretation on our part; it simply exists, and has always existed in our lives, as a natural and, as mentioned above, necessary, innate form of behavior. And as we are constantly convinced of this, even in our seemingly civilized world, animal laws often operate, under which it is important for a person to be able to, as they say, awaken the beast within himself.

The fact that aggression has an emotional connotation is explained primarily by the fact that for a targeted attack, for an attack, for a powerful and lightning strike aimed at destroying one’s enemy or one’s victim, a person needs a lot of energy. And he draws energy from his emotions, which, although they turn off his thinking, at the level of instincts allow him to act very effectively. But at the same time, the maximum effectiveness of the aggressor’s actions is more related to the rationality of his behavior than to the strength of his emotions. Remember the words of Muhammad Ali - float like a butterfly and sting like a bee? Anger, anger, aggression, and nonsense in general need to be controlled by the mind, then a person’s aggressive behavior will be more effective. In fact, one person causing harm or any damage to another person, without special need, is an unnatural manifestation of aggression. People, in addition to their hostility, also have a tendency to cooperate, similar to other animals, which, if necessary, gather in packs or herds. And with such behavior, when it is important for a person to establish cooperation with other people, it is more useful for him not so much to be aggressive as to be able to find a common language with all people, or at least with most of them, for which he needs to develop his thinking. Do you think we are so nice to each other only because of our ethical upbringing? Nothing like that, in most cases, we are forced to be polite to other people, and are forced to take into account their opinions and their interests. But when we have the opportunity not to do this, when everything depends only on our decision - to be or not to be a person who respects other people, we often make a decision not in favor of these very other people. A person with great potential, often without any twinge of conscience, harms other people for the sake of his interests and his boundless selfishness. Therefore, we all need to be moderately aggressive so that our aggression is a deterrent to the exorbitant ambitions of other people. Being aggressive when it is really required is very useful, since in every society, without exception, a person needs to be able to protect his interests and be able to position himself correctly in order to occupy the most advantageous position in comparison with other people, preferably the position of a leader.

But the most important thing that you and I should understand is that the aggression of smart people differs in form from the aggression of stupid people, or better said, wild and underdeveloped people. However, the content of aggressive actions remains unchanged, regardless of any personality differences between people. I would even say that in some, not all, cases, aggressive actions of smart and very smart people can be much more dangerous than similar actions on the part of fools. Disguised, as a rule, under good intentions, the aggression of some very literate people does not meet resistance precisely because it is not obvious. And, unfortunately, for most people, the truism that the road to hell is paved with good intentions remains empty words, heard and repeated many times, but never understood. We all need something from this world and from other people, and many of us are ready to go to great lengths in order to take more of someone else's and give less of our own. And often people get their way precisely through aggressive behavior, through violence, which can only be resisted with the help of retaliatory violence.

When we observe aggressiveness in children, we must understand that the point is not in the child’s abnormality, the point is in his natural desire for leadership, in his desire to shape his environment at his own discretion. You can find a lot of information on childhood aggression, and in most cases it will tell you that an aggressive child is not normal, or at least not completely normal. But in reality this is not so, or rather, not entirely so. The fact is that in children, due to their insufficient development, aggression is expressed in a very primitive form; it cannot be hidden, as in some cunning adults, when we do not see obvious signs of aggression against us or against someone else , but at the same time we suffer from it. Well, let’s say, in our society there is such a thing as legitimate violence, that is, legal, fair violence, which most people accept as a forced necessity, which cannot be avoided. The most striking example of such violence is the death penalty, which is supposedly a fair punishment for especially dangerous criminals. But, in most cases, legitimate violence is not at all legitimate and even completely unjust. It is simply cultivated and ennobled by the good intentions of the aggressor, who takes advantage of the opportunities available to him and causes harm to another person. We must understand that even the most dangerous criminals did not appear out of nowhere. They were not born who they later became, they became who their parents, society and their environment in general made them.

But when we commit violence against criminals, we consider it completely justified and do not notice that there are no fewer crimes in our lives, although, of course, the severity of the laws somewhat pacifies some hotheads. However, from the point of view of effectiveness, fighting the consequence, and not the cause, of violence is absolutely pointless, and the fact that we do this speaks of our aggressiveness, which is expressed in a somewhat unhealthy form. We don't solve the crime problem in our society when we punish criminals, we just more or less control it. But, firstly, it is possible to solve this problem, and secondly, it is more useful for each of us. Why doesn't anyone solve it properly? But because every problem needs someone who is able to solve it, which means that society will always depend on someone’s power over itself, which solves unsolvable problems. So I think there is no need for me to explain to you how such dependence of society on an iron hand can be beneficial for some, far from the stupidest people. In general, we don’t have any legitimate violence now, there is simply violence that we put up with, or that we are forced to put up with. It follows from this that even in the most civilized and cultured society, some people who have the necessary opportunities for this systematically commit violent acts against other, weaker people. And we have not yet come up with anything more effective against aggression, except adequate retaliatory aggression that can protect us. Well, if it were otherwise, we would only do what we would do, turning the other cheek to attack, instead of creating weapons, forming an army, having a police force, arming ourselves, and so on.

So it turns out that from early childhood, a person is not only inclined, but he is even drawn to commit violence against other people. It turns out because, firstly, our ambitions are initially prohibitively high, and secondly, within ourselves, we instinctively understand that it’s either us or us. But aggression simply moves us in this direction, towards domination over other people, it points us to goals without offering the means to achieve them, because this is already the task of our brain. And only the fear of punishment serves as a prevention of aggression, and then only in those cases when we are talking about people who are able to feel this fear. No amount of fear will stop a fool, therefore the severity of the laws does not play a role for him, and no one in our society deals or plans to deal with the exception of the possibility of a fool appearing in general, as we found out above. So it is precisely need that forces a person to behave more or less kindly towards other people, and to look for ways to cooperate with them. Whether we like it or not, violence in our society is the norm, not the exception, and despite our negative attitude towards it, it is committed regularly. Each of us, at least once in our lives, has become a victim of violence in one form or another. Even the same deception that is encountered at every step today is also violence, it is the violence of a mentally developed person over a less developed one. We, quite naturally, consider it a crime when an adult deceives a child and, say, induces him to have sexual intercourse? This is aggression, isn't it? Well, why don’t we treat the same situations with adults in a similar way, who, despite their years, can sometimes be much stupider than children? Do we consider it acceptable for our lives to take advantage of other people's stupidity, or have we been taught that this is normal?

Deception, as a manifestation of more sophisticated and cultivated aggression, usually replaces more primitive, physical aggression, which we perceive more emotionally, and therefore we are able to more or less correctly interpret all the fairly primitive actions of other people. But it is precisely this skill, the ability to culturally show their aggressiveness, that children lack, who are forced to behave more openly, more primitively and more predictably, thus achieving essentially the same goals as adults, that is, achieving recognition, leadership position in one’s environment and success, in the end. Why do we have an extremely negative attitude towards a murderer who killed only a few people, but at the same time we are completely normal about the tobacco or alcohol business and those who stand behind it, despite the fact that these businessmen kill millions of people? Are we so smart that we are not able to appreciate and understand the scale of such evils? Or are we so cowardly that we are forced to accept one kind of violence and oppose another? Each person has his own answer to this question, depending on his level of development and his honesty, first of all with himself.

Psychology, my friends, is what we need for you and me, to explain to us the patterns of our behavior, and not to interpret it. Otherwise, we would not call it science. If there is violence in your life and you are its victim, then you can seek help from a priest or an inadequate psychologist who will help you accept this violence, come to terms with it, forgive the aggressor and, in some cases, allow him to continue to commit violence against you and further. You need it? How long are you going to turn the other cheek and allow other people to abuse you? Maybe you should seek help from adequate people, adequate psychologists who will help you protect yourself? Your instincts will tell you the answers to these questions - trust them. Try to seek help from those who are truly able to help you, regardless of your personal beliefs and attitude towards this or that person. You must be able to fight violence; aggressive behavior must always, remember, always meet with resistance, otherwise it will be impossible to cope with it. But in order to fight back, you need to be able to do it, and no matter what peace-loving people propagandize, every blow can and should be responded to with exactly the same blow, or better yet, with a stronger blow. An aggressive person, even if he gives up his excessive ambitions, will do so only if he meets resistance in the form of no less, or even greater, aggressiveness from other people whose interests he has decided to encroach on. In such cases they say that a scythe found a stone. Or - there is no method against scrap, except for another similar scrap.

Do not think that our not the most beautiful behavior, or even absolutely antisocial behavior, is the result of our primitiveness. Aggression and belligerence are often a completely conscious decision and a carefully thought-out policy aimed at a person achieving his goals at the expense of other people. Every person who strives to realize his desires always has the opportunity to show aggression towards someone weaker, and I assure you, many take advantage of this opportunity. Some people create opportunities for themselves in which they can take advantage of someone else's weakness to achieve their goals. To do this, they make other people stupid through a certain psychological and ideological influence on them. V.I. Lenin said: “As long as the people are stupid and uneducated, the most important art for us is cinema and the circus.” But, I thought so, and came to the conclusion that this circus and cinema are needed to make people stupid. If you are very smart people, you will be able to resist any aggression, which means that you will not be easily subjugated to your will. But if you are illiterate, stupid, disorganized, not united, and even intimidated people, then they can do anything with you. Moreover, your ill-conceived and in some cases completely inappropriate goodwill and openness will make you easy prey for a more aggressive and insidious person who will certainly take advantage of all your weaknesses in his own interests. And you will not oppose anything to someone else’s aggression, no matter in what form it will be expressed, if you yourself are white and fluffy.

I’m not saying that your response to any aggression directed at you must necessarily be mirrored, and it cannot always be so, since we all have different capabilities. But it must be your answer. Not by force, not by cunning, not by cunning, not by intelligence, not by intelligence, but by pity and sycophancy, but we must be able to repel our enemies. Otherwise we will simply be destroyed. Each person, I repeat, each person, has his own strengths. If you are not, in principle, an aggressive person and cannot be one, then look for other opportunities to protect yourself and defend your interests. I consider aggression to be any human activity aimed at opposing or suppressing other people, no matter how. If someone tries to deceive me, for me this is an aggressive person; if someone proves to me that they are subjectively right, in order to push their interests through me, for me this is also an act of aggression. So, psychosis and physical violence, savagery and cruelty are not necessarily manifestations of aggressive behavior; any unequal relationship between people, in which one person uses another person for his own purposes, is aggression.

Why is that? Yes, because in this world, there can be as many conventions as you like, while according to the laws of nature, which we cannot circumvent, any use of one’s capabilities by one creature against another creature can be considered aggression. Here you need to understand that it does not matter at all what methods are used to achieve people’s goals related to obtaining benefits at the expense of another person or other people. All the reasons for aggression that we deal with, from the point of view of our nature, are completely justified. Just like our reluctance to submit to someone else’s will and resist it in every possible way is also a natural human reaction to aggression towards oneself. It is not natural to serve other people of your own free will, and not to understand that it is not natural for you. This is a truly unhealthy person’s perception of reality. Therefore, it is so important to understand exactly when and how someone acts against us, so as not to be surprised by the unplanned results that each of us receives in our lives. Well, will it really matter to you how you are forced to work for someone - at gunpoint or by creating conditions under which you will be forced to do what someone needs you to do? Only, perhaps, it will have some significance for your emotional state, but not for the situation as a whole. If, as a result of a certain influence on you from other people, you are forced to serve someone, then it does not matter at all how you were forced to do this; in any case, aggression was committed against you. It’s just that not very smart people do not react to unstructured management of them, that is, to management carried out through manipulation, as something negative. This means that such people do not consider as aggression those phenomena because of which they are forced to obey other people’s instructions and serve other people’s interests, contrary to their own desire, true desire, and their own interests. And if you don’t see your enemy, then you can’t fight him, because you don’t understand what kind of threat you need to counter, and therefore you can’t find the necessary means to adequately counter this threat or threats. Therefore, it is very important to recognize aggression in any of its manifestations, preferably in the early stages, and only then learn to respond adequately to it.

So don’t keep the beast inside you in a cage, let it have the opportunity to show its qualities in especially difficult situations for you, when you are really in danger. The only thing an aggressive person really needs is control over his aggressive state. We must be able to manage ourselves and our emotions, which can only be done through our mind, which must be developed and forced to work. A primitive person reacts to everything quite emotionally; the more emotions there are in a person’s behavior, the less reasonableness there is in this behavior. But as soon as we accustom ourselves to constantly think before acting, we accustom our brain to analyze the situation and the information coming to us, reason about it, calculate various options for the development of events in our various actions, then our emotions fade into the background, and we can control our behavior. Including, due to the activity of our thinking, we will be able to control our aggression, not by fighting it, but by competently managing its energy.

Pay attention to how many conflict situations arise in our lives. People constantly argue about something, quarrel with each other, and commit violence against each other. To the best of their ability, every person, I repeat, everyone, do not think that you are different, strives to dominate someone, to control someone. And with such aspiration, conflicts are inevitable. Even within our own family, we do not know how to live in peace and harmony. But in fact, there is no difference between family quarrels and big wars, in which many people die, because in both cases, human egoism, the human desire to dominate and defend one’s interests, is met with exactly the same desire from the outside other people or their opposition to this desire. And a conflict arises. Only the scale of different conflicts may be different; during family quarrels, fewer people suffer than during a major war. But if you pay attention to the general statistics of domestic violence, it turns out that all family quarrels and the violence that follows them is a very big war.

And in war, as in war, there is no time for sentimentality and tenderness; in it you need to be tough and aggressive and at times very cruel. To protect our lives, as well as the lives of people dear to us, we definitely need to be able to be aggressive. In everyday life, we can and should be civilized and cultured people in order to maintain a more or less acceptable atmosphere in society for us and our life. But when we are forced to enter into confrontation with other people, when we are forced to defend our interests and defend our values, as well as the life I have already mentioned, then we need to use everything that nature has given us, including aggression and our other animal qualities. Many in this life will try to test your strength in order to find your weak points and use them to subjugate you to their will. And if you cannot or do not want to respond properly to these hostile attempts to bend you, then it can cost you dearly. Many people are only reasonable in appearance, but in reality, truly intelligent people are very rare, while we are forced to meet people who are primitive and very aggressive by nature much more often. And we need to be able to interact with them, no matter how we treat them. Each of us has a certain set of qualities that we can use for both good and bad deeds. And you can pursue any goals in your life, without paying attention to the means of achieving them, but at the same time, your behavior will always be reflected in the adequate attitude of other people towards you.

You would do a lot of things in your own way in this life, if it were your will, you would definitely take advantage of many, many for your own purposes, if only you could. And you definitely wouldn’t take into account some people who are wrong from your point of view, getting the actions you need from them, if they only allowed you to give a damn about them. You are not a good or a bad person, you are just a person with the inherent qualities of this being. You will always want more than what you already have, and your aggression, in one form or another, will always come out. And only the fear of retaliatory violence will stop you from committing some, not the best, actions that will seem necessary to you, or at least desirable for you, at one time or another in your life. See for yourself how much our lives depend on the fear of punishment, without which we are unable to maintain normal human relationships with each other. Without a legitimate form of violence, or rather, without its illusion, it is generally impossible to create any kind of normal society that does not get bogged down in civil strife. We should not consider ourselves too intelligent beings, because intelligent beings do not need a stick to do as they should be done, and not as they want to do. And as long as we think more about the fact that we are very developed beings, but are not such in reality, aggression and aggressiveness will be companions of our lives.

It is important for each of us to keep any of our emotions under control, including aggression. Animals are no less aggressive than us, but as you can see for yourself, it is not they who have conquered us, but we who have subdued them and keep them under control. Therefore, it is important for us not so much to rely on our natural instincts as on our mental development, which has always moved us forward and helped us achieve outstanding results. We should transform aggression into energy that stimulates our activity. Do you dislike something, do you hate someone, do you want to destroy your enemies, are you very angry with other people? Well, this happens in our lives and you can understand. But because of this, there is no need to awaken the beast in yourself and rush at people with wild screams, solving all your problems with the help of brute force; this is too dangerous and too ill-conceived in most cases. Better turn on your brains and look for solutions to your problems with their help. And your aggressiveness will give you energy with which you will force yourself to work on solving all your problems.

Wildness, friends, is only appropriate in a wild environment, and if you don’t want to constantly worry about your back, which might get a knife stuck in it, then don’t cynically take advantage of other people’s weaknesses to your advantage. Remember that every person contributes to the atmosphere of the society in which he lives.