What is aggression?

There are a number of competing theories about what aggression is and the purpose it serves. Social psychologists define aggression as behavior that is intended to harm another individual who does not wish to be harmed. Dealing with aggression can be scary for professionals and other service users working in young people’s health care settings. Aggression in the theoretical sense has a number of subsets which range from all out ‘violence’ to ‘verbal threats’ and ‘irritating annoyance’. Thus, not all acts of aggression are intended to cause physical damage, but rather serve as warning and a response to frustration. Quite often aggression is the result of ‘hot headed’ non-thinking reactions to either threatening or frustrating situations young people find themselves in. Examples ranging from road rage to temper tantrums serve to remind us that aggression is a complex phenomenon which impacts on a number of domains and bodily systems (physiological, physical, psychological, and social; Figure 41.1). If you think about the times you have been aggressive, it would probably be when you were tired, angry, upset, frustrated, scared or feeling ill. You would remember feeling agitated, short tempered, tense, loud, and maybe tearful and later regretful. In the heat of the moment you would probably have little regard for other people and not be responsive to reason. Physiologically, your heart would be pumping fast; you would be breathing hard and in a state of fight or flight. These are the symptom of aggression and a result of aversive events, our thoughts (cognitions) and the release of and response to chemicals, including alcohol, but in particularly the male sex hormone testosterone.

What causes aggression?

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