Theories of Aggression

Aggression is an ordeal that affects all human beings. Leonard Berkowitz defines aggression as "behaviour carried out with the intention to harm someone. In its extreme form, aggression is a deliberate attempt to do serious injury as in violence" (Berkowitz). This is a good generalization of the term. However, it is very limited and doesn't emphasize the various alternative theories of aggression. These include the ethological approach, the frustration-aggression hypothesis, the social learning theory, and …

…further researched. Once this approach is expanded, it should be extremely helpful for future studies. In order to attain a clear, well-rounded view of this field, one must study aggression from each of the different approaches. This paper only outlines a selection of potential theories. Aggression cannot and should not be explained by just one of these theories in particular. Instead, by combining the strengths of available aggression theories, one can develop an open-minded perspective.