INSTINCT THEORY OF AGGRESSION
Aggression can be viewed as an instinct. An instinct is an unreflective urge within members of a species that is present from birth (though it may get weaker or stronger later in life). Instincts can be restrained by willpower or training or encouraged by provocation and frustration.
The ethological perspective looks at the aggressive instinct in animals. The most famous ethologist studying aggression was Konrad Lorenz who defined aggression as:
the fighting instinct in beast and man which is directed against members of the same species - Konrad Lorenz (1966)
Why are cats cute when they're being aggressive?
A different perspective from Lorenz is the instinct theory of Sigmund Freud which I shall consider next. Freud agrees with Lorenz that aggression is an instinct and even that it may have its origins in evolution and the structure of the brain. However, he disagrees that it is a "survival trait". Quite the opposite: Freud thinks aggression is completely destructive and ultimately self-destructive.
Why do we do it then?
Instinct theorists like Freud and Lorenz agree that aggression is a left-over from our "pre-cultural" past. It is atavistic, the behaviour of our ancestors. In other words, it's an animal-type behaviour we no longer need but we're stuck with.
In the animal kingdom, most aggression is based on display and rarely leads to death; one animal backs down and admits the other is dominant.
The overwhelming impression one gets from watching animal disputes is of remarkable restraint and self-control. The spilling of blood is not the norm, it is a rare event - Morris (1990)
Human aggression isn't like that because we've developed weapons that massively boost our capacity for violence. Knives, guns and bombs mean that we kill our enemies before they have a chance to back down. So if the aggressive instinct was useful for us once, it isn't any longer.
Instinct theorists like Freud and Lorenz also suggest that releasing aggression is good for us. Releasing strong emotion in a healthy way is called catharsis and it produces a cleansing effect. This is why we always feel better inside after a good laugh or a good cry. Instinct theory says we also feel better after releasing aggression. In fact, by releasing aggression, we reduce the aggressive urges that were building up inside us, making us less likely to lose control.
Catharsis is one of the more controversial aspects of instinct theory. Even more so is the idea that we can release aggression through catharsis just by watching aggression - such as the audience in a boxing match or violent movie.
It's OK folks, it's cathartic!
THE PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY OF AGGRESSION
THE ICEBERG MODEL OF THE PSYCHE
The unconscious mind is the rest of the psyche that we are unaware of. It can be compared to the bulk of the iceberg that is out of sight under the water. This contains powerful aggressive urges that would frighten and shock us if we ever became consciously aware of them. Fortunately for us, they only appear in disguised form in dreams and "Freudian slips".
Most aggression comes from the UNCONSCIOUS. We're not aware of it or in control of it.
THREE PARTS OF THE PSYCHE
Freud described three parts of the mind that develop at different ages but are locked into conflict with each other.
The id consists of urges and desires. The id isn't rational or reflective: it is made up entirely of feelings. The id exists entirely in the unconscious mind.
Because the id is based on "the pleasure principle", it doesn't understand logic. If the id is denied its pleasure, it becomes frustrated. This can lead to aggressive urges.
The id resembles the function of the limbic system in the human brain: this is the brain's "emotion centre" and the source of our appetites, fear and aggression.
The ego is the second part of the psyche that develops in toddlers. It exists within the conscious mind. It is based on "the reality principle" because it understands the outside world. The ego has no desires of its own. It's job is to find a way to grant the desires that come from the id.
The ego resembles the function of the pre-frontal cortex in the human brain: this is the brain's "decision-making centre" which handles messages from the limbic system and decides how to act on them.
However, the ego has no conscience, no sense of right and wrong. It understands punishment and will try to avoid that but it feels no guilt. The ego has no problem using aggression to get the id what it wants, so long as it thinks it will win.
So the ego might be responsible for deliberate, thought-out aggression - like threatening an intruder to get them to leave your house or some of the aggression in sport, like a rugby tackle.
The super-ego super-ego straddles the conscious and the unconscious mind: we're partly aware of it, partly not. It is based on "the morality principle" and acts as "the voice of conscience". It tells the ego whether its thoughts are morally acceptable or not. When the super-ego objects to the ego's thoughts, it generates guilt and shame. The super-ego may restrict the ego from using aggression.
This links in the Mara Brendgen's observation that younger children use physical aggression but as they get older they switch to social aggression. Social aggression is less likely to offend the super-ego than physical aggression.
The super-ego makes us feel guilty about being aggressive. However, it also wants us to be punished. If someone acts aggressively and is repeatedly punished for it (by getting beaten and bruised - or arrested by police), then this might be the super-ego at work.
Here, there is a reversal of the usual situation: guilt precedes crime - Jones (1998)
Freudians disagree about whether aggression is caused by a weak super-ego (which doesn't forbid it) or a strong super-ego (which wants you to be punished). Freud thought a strong super-ego was to blame but his later followers thought a weak super-ego was a better explanation.
LIFE & DEATH INSTINCTS
Freud's early theories suggested we were motivated by a sexual energy, a sort of life force called the libido. Aggression might be caused by the libido being misapplied or not properly controlled.
For example, aggression is produced by the id becoming frustrated, by the ego trying to get what the id wants or by the super-ego directing you to get into situations where you may be punished.
Later in his career, after the First World War and with another World War not far away, Freud suggested a different, darker interpretation.
Freud supposed that the id generated by a life-energy called "eros" (from the Greek word for love). This erotic energy drives us to reproduce sexually but it also drives us to be creative in other senses: to make friends, compose songs, build things, invent things, solve problems, work hard.
Opposing eros is a different force, the death energy of "thanatos" (from the Greek word for death). This thanatic energy powers the ego in its efforts to hold back the id and resist its demands. Thanatos helps us show willpower and restraint (which is a good thing) but it also drives us to sabotage our lives, choose loneliness rather than happiness, mess up relationships and behave self-destructively.
Thanatos is responsible for aggression. This aggression is directed against ourselves but it can be projected outwards, to other people and our surroundings. However, catharsis is still possible if it can be channelled into constructive activities, like sport.
There are lots of defence mechanisms, but here are five that may link to aggression:
Defence mechanisms often project thanatos outwards, so that we harm other people and not ourselves.
One of Freud's most striking explanations of aggression - and a striking example of defence mechanisms - comes in the 1909 case study of Little Hans. This 5-year-old boy suddenly developed a phobia of horses. Freud diagnosed the Oedipus Complex. This is an emotional crisis experienced by young children (according to Freud) where they feel intense aggression towards their same-sex parent brought on by sexual jealousy over their opposite-sex parent. On an unconscious level, Little Hans wanted his father to die so that he (Hans) could have his mother to himself. Hans displaced these feelings onto horses, which were common animals back in 1909.
You don't need to know about the Oedipus Complex for the exam, but the 2-minute video sums the idea up along with an alternative theory.
Little Hans' father used Freud's technique of psychoanalysis on his own son. The boy's phobia disappeared and he grew up to be a particularly well-balanced individual with a career in the creative arts.
APPLYING THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF AGGRESSION TO REAL LIFE
Not all aggression is physical aggression. There is also teasing, name-calling, rumour-spreading socially excluding people. Social aggression has two components:
Gordon Ingram (2014) shows that young children show more physical aggression than social aggression, but, as they grow into adolescence, this reverses and social aggression (gossiping, rumour-spreading) dominates. Brendgen et al. (2015) considers this as part of the Biological Contemporary Study.
For Freud, the difference between physical and social aggression is that social aggression comes from defence mechanisms because the super-ego won't allow us to act out physical aggression. This explains why social aggression increases in school-age children, because the super-ego develops around the age they start school.
Most social aggression is displacement, because the child is taking out its aggression upon other children, but the real target is the child's parent (or teacher). There is also sublimation going on, because the aggression is showing itself in more socially acceptable ways.
Projection is also an important defence mechanism in bullying. The bully may fear being an unloved outsider and so feels hostility towards other outsiders. People who seem isolated and vulnerable remind the bully of their own feelings of isolation and vulnerability, which they hate.
Twins will always have unusual relationships with their parents compared to ordinary brothers and sisters. They may compare themselves to one another and be sensitive to any suggestion that one is loved more than the other. This may be especially true of identical twins. If Freud's theory of the Oedipus Complex is true, twins may be more likely to share unresolved issues with their parents than other children. This is a different explanation for the findings of Brendgen et al.'s study into twins than Brendgen's genetic explanation for aggression.
You can see that Freud's explanations of aggression go much deeper than the biological explanations in terms of genes and brain structure: they focus on feelings, relationships and our sense of who we are. But is there any truth to them?
EVALUATING THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF AGGRESSION