Content area
Full Text
Key Words violence, harm, theory, general aggression model
* Abstract Research on human aggression has progressed to a point at which a unifying framework is needed. Major domain-limited theories of aggression include cognitive neoassociation, social learning, social interaction, script, and excitation transfer theories. Using the general aggression model (GAM), this review posits cognition, affect, and arousal to mediate the effects of situational and personological variables on aggression. The review also organizes recent theories of the development and persistence of aggressive personality. Personality is conceptualized as a set of stable knowledge structures that individuals use to interpret events in their social world and to guide their behavior. In addition to organizing what is already known about human aggression, this review, using the GAM framework, also serves the heuristic function of suggesting what research is needed to fill in theoretical gaps and can be used to create and test interventions for reducing aggression.
INTRODUCTION
In its most extreme forms, aggression is human tragedy unsurpassed. Hopes that the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust would produce a worldwide revulsion against killing have been dashed. Since World War II, homicide rates have actually increased rather than decreased in a number of industrialized countries, most notably the United States. Thus, in recent years there has been renewed interest in learning why humans sometimes behave aggressively.
Some of the causes of increased violence have been identified. For example, the accessibility of guns (O'Donnell 1995), global warming (Anderson et al. 1997), violence against children in schools and homes (Hyman 1995, Straus 2000), and the widespread exposure to violent entertainment media (Bushman & Huesmann 2001) all contribute to the high level of violence and aggression in modern societies. Recent psychological research has yielded promising new treatments (e.g., Borduin 1999), new empirical discoveries (e.g., Baumeister et al. 1996, Bushman 1995), and new theoretical analyses (e.g., Eron et al. 1994, Geen & Donnerstein 1998, Huesmann et al. 1996).
We begin by offering some basic definitions. Next we describe several domain-- specific theories of aggression. Finally we describe the general aggression model, an integrative framework that will bring more order and structure to the field of aggression. Subsequent sections address inputs, routes, and outcomes of aggression, illustrating recent advances in aggression research.