Berkowitz L. Identification of propensity to violence

More than twenty years ago, psychologist Hans Toch and his assistants conducted a survey in California prisons among men convicted of violent crimes. The researchers sought to find out why these short-tempered, unrestrained people attacked their victims. One case in Toch’s sample is particularly noteworthy:

Jimmy, 23, has a successful career as a petty pimp in his criminal record. Jimmy’s list of offenses includes numerous and varied crimes, including rape, kidnapping, drug use, robbery, and disorderly conduct. The most revealing cases are armed attacks and two skirmishes with police officers. The encounter with the police, which Jimmy agreed to discuss with us, was not recorded in the file, as it happened while he was still in school (Toch, 1969, pp. 68-72).

Jimmy told psychologists that the policeman annoyed him: he did not let him go to the school disco, because the boy was known as a brawler. Jimmy threw a field can at the policeman’s feet and repeatedly insulted him, eventually provoking him to use a baton. Jimmy was furious at being treated unfairly and tried to shoot the policeman with the pistol he was carrying, but failed. Jimmy was arrested.

Of course, the details of Jimmy’s background differ from those of other offenders, but in some important respects Jimmy is very similar to them, especially in that he often behaved antisocially and had run-ins with the authorities when he was still very young. Doesn’t this case contradict my proposed analysis of aggression? Chapters 1-4 are devoted mainly to external influences that determine the strength of the manifestation of aggressiveness: frustration, adverse conditions, situational stimuli, and so on. Are Jimmy’s actions solely due to the frustration and/or unfavorable conditions in which he finds himself? Probably not. Apparently, Jimmy had some inner qualities that, one way or another, again and again determined his gee behavior.

The second part of our book will be devoted to more or less stable aggressive qualities. Very irritable people like Jimmy are prone to violence, and we will look at what makes this type of extremely aggressive person behave in a certain way. We will also discuss the reasons why they have become the way they are. In Chapter 5, I will outline the aggressive personality, especially the type we may encounter in everyday life. I will begin by looking at some of the evidence for a relatively stable predisposition to aggression, then move on to the question of how violent tendencies can lead to frequent assaults and confrontations with others. In Chapter 6, I explore the role of family and peers in shaping the violent personality.

Do some people really have a persistent propensity for aggressive behavior?

About a generation ago, some prominent psychologists believed that only a special type of person, like Jimmy, could behave in the same way in different situations. A vast body of published work has shown that many people behave in a highly inconsistent manner. For example, a person who is honest in one case may cheat, lie, or even steal in another situation; there is apparently no stable personality characteristic that forms such a quality as honesty. See →

Examples of different forms of simultaneous sequence

We begin our study of the simultaneous sequence of aggression by turning again to Jimmy’s case. The situations that could provoke an outbreak of violence on his part are quite diverse: a quarrel in a bar, frustration that prevented him from getting what he wanted, someone’s boasting, and a host of other things. In many seemingly different situations, Jimmy showed the same type of behavior: he physically attacked someone. Psychologists sometimes explain this kind of sequence by referring to it as stimulus generalization (stimulus generalization). In essence, they are saying that the widest range of stimulus situations produces the same response (in this case, physical attack). See →

Stability of aggressive behavior over several years: a long-term sequence

It is clear that aggressive behavior appears with impressive consistency over a relatively short time frame, but will such behavior be equally consistent over a longer period of time? It is especially important to know whether aggressiveness at a young age is indicative of antisocial behavior later in life. We like to think that children can change over time and that bully boys and bully girls will overcome their indiscipline as they age. See →

Research for 21 years in the Columbia District

At the University of Cambridge, a team of psychologists led by Leonard Aaron completed an observation of third graders from the District of Columbia, a rural area in New York State. In an attempt to uncover the sources of persistent aggressiveness, the researchers interviewed 870 boys and girls, averaging eight years of age, as well as their fathers and mothers. About half of the children in the original sample were interviewed, and in 1970, when they were about 19 years old, more than 400 of them were interviewed again when they reached an average age of 30. See →

How aggressive people act

After I have established that there is a type of person with a persistent tendency to aggression, my next task will be to show how such people behave. To do this, we must first recognize that there are actually two types of very aggressive people. By characterizing a highly aggressive personality as basically anti-social, I am not suggesting that every aggressive boy is a nascent criminal, or that any fight on the playground is indicative of a major underlying psychological inadequacy. As I have already noted, we all tend to be angry and irritable if we feel bad. See →

Emotionally reactive aggressors

Some people, both children and adults, have a pronounced aggressiveness that is not associated with an instrumental orientation. They do not use aggressive behavior to get what they want, but simply behave aggressively because they are highly emotionally reactive and easily irritated. Very sensitive to any slight or insult, they tend to see threats and insults that do not really exist and are easily offended. It is not surprising that they tend to react inappropriately to events occurring near them. As a result, such people are not very popular in society. See →

A-type personality — reactive-aggressive

The concept of emotional reactivity is especially applicable to a certain type of person at risk of developing coronary thrombosis: this is the well-known type A personality. It is interesting to look at this type of person from the point of view of the study of aggression, but first let me give you some general information. See →

Summary: Identifying Violent Tendencies

Contrary to the belief of some psychologists that human behavior in different situations is not consistent, experiments have shown that people with a high degree of aggressiveness clearly show the stability of behavior both in the short and long periods of time. People with strong aggressiveness tend to attack others if the situation they collide, has aggressive meaning for them, or if they do not restrain themselves enough. They are also more likely than their significantly less aggressive peers to show aggression in different situations. See →

Chapter 6

Childhood experience. The family can influence the development of antisocial dispositions. Direct influences on the development of aggressiveness. Reward for aggression. Unfavorable conditions created by parents. indirect influences. Family conflict. Influence of modeling. See →