Aggression

Article By:

Mandler, George Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, California.

Last reviewed:May 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.014700

Show previous versions

• Aggression, published June 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

Behavior that is intended to threaten or inflict physical injury or emotional harm on another person or organism. Aggression is a type of behavior (physical or verbal, or both) displayed by an individual who aims or is motivated to harm another individual (or living creature) who does not wish to be harmed (Fig. 1). A broader definition of aggression may include such categories as verbal attack, discriminatory behavior, and economic exploitation, and can often take the form of bullying (that is, unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power inequity). The key inclusion of intention in defining aggression makes it difficult to apply the term unequivocally to animals in which there is no clear means of determining the presence or absence of intention. As a result, animal violence is usually equated with aggression. See also: Bullying; Emotion; Motivation; Psychology; Sociobiology

The content above is only an excerpt.