Attack is one of the main topics in social psychology research, and scholars of various schools have put forward different theories on the causes of attack. This paper summarizes various theories put forward by scholars, and puts forward corresponding social psychological ways and methods to reduce and prevent aggression according to different reasons.
Keywords: causes of aggression, prevention of aggression
I. Infringement and Overview of Infringement
Attack is one of the main topics in psychology, especially social psychology. Scholars have different definitions of infringement: infringement: also known as infringement, refers to intentional injury or injury to others. Definition of aggression: aggression is an act of intentionally hurting others; Tort is a very complicated matter, including the act of causing harm, the destructive influence and the process of social demarcation. Definition of aggressiveness: Most psychologists basically agree with the following description when defining aggressiveness: "Aggressiveness is the sum of behaviors that go against others' wishes and directly aim at hurting others' body or mind. "The author believes that any behavior aimed at harming the physical and mental health of others is an infringement.
Second, the reasons for the violation
Although there is no unified theory about the causes of infringement, there are many opinions, and there is still some correlation between them. I combine some representative views to give a more appropriate explanation for the infringement phenomenon we can observe.
1 is about whether aggression is a human instinct or an acquired response.
Psychology became an independent discipline in the second half of the19th century. At that time, theorists were influenced by Darwin's theory and generally attributed human motivation to innate endowment. William? James believes that "aggressiveness is the innate inferiority of human beings, everyone has his residual aggressiveness, and human beings are born with hatred for others." In the 1920s, psychoanalysts' research on attack attracted the attention of scholars all over the world. Freud associated aggression with Libido, believing that aggression was caused by the troubled state of repressed memory after being violated by the opposite sex. Later, Freud gradually revised his view on the cause of attack, and finally linked attack with death instinct. At the beginning of the 20th century, the sociobiological research on human aggression mainly tended to express the internal biological mechanism with clear concepts. When neurological research found that aggression was accompanied by some form of brain response, this research tendency was further strengthened and still maintains a certain influence. At present, the psychological explanation of aggression is usually described by the concepts of frustration, negative emotion and anger.
2. This is the sociobiological explanation theory of attack.
Most social psychologists believe that biological factors are only the regulating variables of human aggression, but it is undeniable that many biological factors play an important role in the process of human aggression. There are four main biological factors that are often used to explain aggressive behavior, namely
(1) animal behavior factors represented by Lorenz;
(2) Biological evolution factors represented by Wilson and Paly;
(3) Genetic factors;
(4) hormonal factors.
3. Frustration violates theory.
The theory of frustration attack was first put forward by Dollard and Miller in 1939, and its emergence and development were influenced by psychoanalysis and learning theory. This theory is the first attempt to systematically define attack as human response to environmental conditions. Dollard thinks that the individual's attack behavior is caused by his setbacks, and the attack behavior is the result of individual setbacks, and its occurrence is always based on the existence of setbacks. The theory was revised in the subsequent development process. At present, the theory is that setbacks may lead to many kinds of behavior results, and aggression is one of them, but generally speaking, the occurrence of aggression is based on setbacks.
4. Cognitive new association theory
According to this theory, unfavorable conditions such as setbacks will not directly lead to aggression, but will first produce accumulated negative emotions, which, as an intermediary adjustment process, may eventually be manifested as two direct results of attack and escape. In other words, all environments that can trigger negative emotions can be regarded as a prerequisite for attacking or escaping.
5. Cognitive-emotional interaction theory
The theory of cognitive emotional interaction puts forward its own theoretical point of view on when and how the cognitive process affects the occurrence of aggression. It is considered that anger is a necessary intermediary variable to adjust the relationship between external environmental stimuli and aggression. The so-called anger is the result of the interaction between the constantly aroused negative emotional process and the cognitive process of explaining and understanding this process.
6. Social learning theory
Social learning theory came into being in 1960s, which profoundly criticized the view that the theory of frustration attack simply regarded attack as a kind of frustration response. Although it does not deny that setbacks or other environmental stimuli are important factors to induce attacks, it focuses on how individuals gain and maintain attacks. According to social learning theory, genes and talents define the potential possibility of attack, and stimuli such as frustration are only the environmental conditions of attack, and details such as the object, form, intensity and frequency of individual attack are obtained by individuals through experience.
7. Social information processing theory
According to the theory of social information processing, interpersonal conflict behavior is guided by the individual's cognition of conflict, so the occurrence of attack behavior depends on the individual's social information processing process to a great extent. If a person lacks the ability to correctly handle social cues and respond appropriately, he may show unsuitable or inappropriate behavior to social information, which will make him rejected by the people around him, and then may make him depressed or make him consistently aggressive.
8. Interaction theory of attack
For a long time, psychologists in the United States and Canada have usually focused on individual behavior, and some of them tend to regard aggression as the inevitable result of stabilizing personality. This theoretical concept basically comes from the research and practice of clinical psychology. However, most psychologists, especially social psychologists, prefer to find the reasons for aggressive behavior from the social environment. They often regard aggression as the inevitable result of social conditions, but think that the relationship between aggression and individuals themselves is not significant. The above two perspectives of infringement research pay little attention to the influence of infringement on the subject of infringement and the reaction of the victim in the process of infringement, that is to say, infringement is not studied as an interactive process. Since the late 1980s, the research on attacks has gradually turned its attention to the interactive process of attacks, and regarded this interactive process as the real cause of attacks.
9. Excitement transfer
Since hostile attacks are always accompanied by emotional arousal, psychologists want to know whether physiological activation caused by other stimuli will turn into aggressive impulses. Seelemann and others found that emotional arousal induced by other stimuli would be transferred to the lover when they studied the love behavior, which he called excitement transfer.
10, offensive clue
Aggressive clues can also lead to aggression. Berkowitz found that some clues related to aggression in the situation, such as knives, guns, sticks and other instruments, often become the inducement of aggression. He called this phenomenon the weapon effect. In addition to obvious infringement clues such as knives and guns, black, which is associated with death and evil, is also a clue that leads to infringement. For example, Frank and others found that in professional baseball and football matches, the one who wears black clothes is often punished more than the one who wears light clothes. Experimental research also proves that racers wearing black clothes are also more aggressive. Carlson's analysis of 23 studies found that clues related to aggression not only lead to aggression, but also strengthen the aggression of people who are already angry.
1 1. Depersonalization behavior
Depersonalization was put forward by psychologists Ba Jin Du and Festinger. In fact, as early as 65438+1990s, French sociologist Li Peng discovered that in a group, the individual's emotions will be quickly transmitted to other members of the group, thus making the individuals in the group show some barbaric and destructive behaviors that they dare not show when they are alone, and this phenomenon is called social contagion.
12, temperature
As early as the beginning of the19th century, some social philosophers found that there was a certain relationship between weather changes and criminal behavior. In the past twenty years, there has been more research on this issue. For example, an archival study by Rotem found that air pollution is related to violent crimes. Ba Long's research also found that crime is related to temperature. By studying the relationship between urban riots and temperature in summer, he found that there was an inverted U-shaped curve. When the temperature is 8 1-85 degrees Fahrenheit, the number of riots is the highest, and when the temperature is low or high, the number of riots is less. However, because they didn't consider the duration of different temperatures, this conclusion was criticized by Karl Smith and Anderson. Among them, Anderson revised this curve with probability theory, pointing out that in a specific temperature range, the occurrence of violent events has a linear relationship with temperature, that is, in the range of 38 to 4 1 Celsius, with the increase of temperature, people's tendency to violence increases, but after exceeding this temperature, people's chances of going out decrease, so
13, gender
Anthropology and social psychology have four important findings on the gender difference of aggression: first, in various human cultures, men are usually more aggressive than women; Secondly, in the early life before the formation of differentiation and socialization, men are more aggressive than women; Thirdly, the gender difference of aggression is not only manifested in human beings, but also in primates with less evolution than human beings, males are more aggressive than females; Finally, aggression is related to sex hormones and can also be changed by injecting sex hormones and other substances.
14, alcoholism and aggression
For a long time, people have always thought that alcohol can make people irritable and aggressive, and many related studies support this hypothesis. Buschman and gustafson, for example, have also proved that people who drink too much are easily provoked, thus showing a high tendency to attack. So, why does drinking make people aggressive? Some researchers believe that alcohol provides a direct biochemical stimulus for aggression, which increases the awakening of drinkers. It is what we call "wine makes people brave". However, most researchers believe that alcohol reduces people's control over aggression, which Hall and Stiehler call "disinhibition" and emphasize the influence of this inhibition on violence.
Three. Ways and means to reduce and prevent infringement
Different social psychologists have put forward different ways and methods to reduce and prevent aggressive behavior. The following are the factors that scholars need to consider in controlling aggression in real society.
1, establish a fair distribution system
As the saying goes, "if there is injustice, it will sound." The unfair distribution of benefits leads to individual frustration experience, which in turn leads to aggressive phenomenon, which is common in current social life. Therefore, establishing a fair benefit distribution mechanism and helping people establish a scientific concept of fairness can effectively reduce the infringement caused by setbacks.
Step 2 punish
People expect that their actions may be punished, so they will avoid showing aggression. However, the punishment of children often makes the punished children show more aggression than ordinary children. For example, Strauss et al. (1980) systematically studied the social impact of domestic violence and found that punishment can make the punished person more aggressive, whether because of imitation or because of the increased anger of the punished person. More importantly, in a family, this aggression can be passed down from generation to generation. In one study, Strauss and others found that 35% of married men who had witnessed their parents attacking each other had beaten their wives in the past year; Of those who have never seen violence from their parents, only 10% beat their wives in the past year. The proportion of women is almost the same: (27%, 9%). Therefore, whether male or female, people who have been punished in childhood are more likely to treat their families violently when they grow up, and their parents can pass on their violent tendencies to the next generation, which is what Strauss and others call "the social inheritance of domestic violence".
3. Persuasion education
The role of persuasion education is to raise people's awareness of the harm of infringement consequences. Persuasion education is an important means to change people's attitudes. To prevent infringement through persuasion and education, we must pay attention to the following points: 1. Persuasion should be carried out as soon as possible. Let children distinguish right from wrong at an early age and understand the harm that aggression does to others and themselves. 2. Provide clues to the victim's pain during persuasion.
Step 4 reduce setbacks
Because aggression is closely related to setbacks, reducing setbacks is also a better way to reduce aggression. In life, we should always pay attention to our words and deeds, and don't be the frustration maker of others.
5. Learn to restrain your aggression.
We should learn to restrain or control our aggression. We can put ourselves in others' shoes and see what harm our actions will do to others. Experiencing the pain of others and reflecting on yourself through self-cognition can effectively reduce your aggression.
Step 6 vent
As early as the beginning of the 20th century, Freud discovered when he was treating neurosis that when the patient told himself some desires accumulated in his heart, his condition would get better. He called this phenomenon catharsis. Later, other psychologists used this principle to deal with aggressive behavior. They think people are aggressive because they have suffered setbacks. Therefore, as long as people who have suffered setbacks are provided with occasions or opportunities to vent their anger and frustration, their motivation for further attacks will be weakened.
7. Control violent television
Mass media, especially television, is an important source of aggression of modern children. Children are restricted from watching violent programs to reduce their exposure to violent models on TV. In fact, the development of modern media makes it more and more difficult for people to control the content of communication, so the fundamental way is to improve children's ability to correctly understand and consciously resist violent programs. Researchers have found that children's awareness can be improved through simple educational process to reduce the negative impact of TV violence on them.
References:
Zhu Qizhen Zhang Chunming, Principles of Social Psychology and Its Application, China Social Publishing House, p. 137;
Zhou Xiaohong's Modern Social Psychology, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1997, p. 2 17;
Shi Ronghua, Introduction to Social Psychology, Oriental Publishing Center, 1998, pp. 322-328.
Wang, Le Guoan: "Theoretical analysis of social psychology of aggression", Frontier of Social Science, No.3, 2006.
China psychologist network "human nature violation"