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Aggression, in psychology, is hostile behaviour that may hurt or upset other people. Such behaviour may take the form of physical attack against people or their possessions, or verbal abuse.
People become aggressive for various reasons. Aggression may be an automatic response to such experiences as pain or danger. In other cases, it is a deliberate action with a definite purpose. For example, some people behave hostilely to gain such rewards as power, money, prestige, or pleasure. Other aggressive behaviour is intended to cause physical or psychological injury.
Psychologists disagree about what causes aggression. Many theories are based on the frustration-aggression hypothesis, which states that aggression is a natural reaction to frustration. Some psychologists emphasize the need to consider other factors as well, such as a person's frustration tolerance and the presence of a target for the aggression. Other theories focus on social learning, the process by which individuals learn the behaviour expected of them by society. According to these theories, people learn to be aggressive by witnessing aggression, such as family arguments and violent television programmes. Social learning theories also emphasize sex roles (common beliefs regarding how each sex should behave) and whether a culture values aggression. Still other theories claim aggression results from instincts, genetic abnormalities, or brain damage.
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