How Can Aggression Be Minimised?

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1 How can aggression be minimized? Discuss in terms of three theories of aggression. How can aggression be minimized? “Aggression is inherently destructive of relationships. People and ideologies are pitted against each other, believing that in order to survive, they must destroy the opposition”-Margeret J. Wheatley. From this quote, it is evident that aggression is a very real part of everyday life. Nevertheless, before beginning to discuss how aggression can be minimized, it is necessary to first define what is meant by the word aggression. A basic definition of aggression is that it is “any physical or verbal behaviour intended to hurt someone who does not want to be injured” (Hogg & Vaughan, 1995). Needless to say, knowledge of the major basis of aggression is the next step towards finding a solution to minimizing it. There are multiple types of aggression but hostile and instrumental are the two major categories. The majority of aggression is hostile (emotion-based) as opposed to instrumental (not based on emotional reactions). This indicates that a constructive step towards minimizing aggression is to target the emotions which cause it. The next step which is fundamental to the discussion of how aggression can be minimized is to reflect on the primary reasons aggression occurs. Generally, these reasons will be discussed in relation to three main theories; the biological theory, the environmental stimulus theory and the social learning theory. Under the biological theory, Beatty et al. (2002, as cited in Passer et al. 2009) showed that even when raised in separate homes, identical twins showed more similar patterns of aggression than fraternal twins. This finding
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