Prior to starting this discussion, please read Chapters 6 and 7 in your textbook, watch the Columbine: Understanding Why video, and read the Dylan Klebold’s Diversion Documents and Eric Harr
Prior to starting this discussion, please read Chapters 6 and 7 in your textbook, watch the Columbine: Understanding Why video, and read the Dylan Klebold's Diversion Documents and Eric Harris's Diversion Documents juvenile diversion program papers.
juvenile diversion program papers.
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Please elaborate on the following:
- Your textbook covers primary and secondary types of juvenile delinquency diversion programs. Briefly examine each type, and provide an example of each.
- Klebold and Harris had contact with the criminal justice system prior to the Columbine shooting. Based on your textbook readings on theories of aggression, evaluate what, if anything, you saw in the video and/or read in the diversion papers that may have provided a clue as to the boys’ later aggressive and violent behavior.
- In your opinion, supported by scholarly or credible sources, explain if there was anything the juvenile justice system missed or could have done better that may have prevented the Columbine massacre from happening. Keep in mind that there are not always clear warning signs and not all tragedies are preventable. However, evaluate what insight, if any, was gleaned from the Columbine tragedy about the nature of aggression and delinquent behavior.
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6Aggression and Violence
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Learning Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
• Define the concept of aggression.
• Evaluate behavior to determine if it meets the criteria for aggression.
• Identify the various categories of aggression.
• Distinguish between biological and evolutionary psychological theories of aggression.
• Examine the role that social learning plays in developing and eliciting aggressive behavior.
• Analyze the developmental and situational factors that may lead to aggression.
• Understand the connection between gender and aggression.
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Section 6.1 Introduction
Introductory Case Study: Scott Beierle Scott Beierle, a 40-year-old military veteran and former public school teacher living in Florida, lost his job for asking a female student if she was ticklish and then inappropriately touching her. Over the years, he was arrested multiple times for approaching women in public places and groping them. The charges rarely resulted in any meaningful punishment, since victims often did not pursue prosecution.
Beierle had posted multiple YouTube videos in which he expressed racist and sexist views, includ- ing bitter hatred of women. For example, in one video Beierle stated that “promiscuous women should be crucified” and that minority women, along with those who date minority men, were “disgusting.” In the videos, Beierle also compared himself to mass murderer Elliot Rodger, who killed six people near the University of California at Santa Barbara campus in 2014. It was clear to those who came in contact with Beierle and his videos that he harbored deep anger and resent- ment. However, it was unclear what precipitated these feelings. Then the unthinkable happened.
On November 2, 2018, Beierle walked into the Hot Yoga Tallahassee yoga studio with a gym bag and a yoga mat, posing as a patron. Just as class was about to begin, Beierle took a handgun out of his bag and opened fire on the other patrons in the studio, killing 21-year-old Maura Binkley and 61-year-old Nancy Van Vessem and wounding five others before turning the gun on himself. Other than Beierle’s arrest history and YouTube videos, there was no other evidence police had that could explain what led to his aggression that resulted in a shocking act of physical violence.
As you read this chapter, consider the following questions regarding this case:
1. What about Beierle’s behavior meets the criteria to be labeled aggressive? 2. Which of the categories of aggression does Beierle’s behavior fall under? 3. Which of the theories of aggression help explain Beierle’s behavior? 4. What, if anything, could have been done to prevent Beierle’s behavior?
6.1 Introduction Researchers are more interested than ever before in examining the factors related to violent and aggressive behavior, due in no small part to the increasing frequency of mass shootings. Identifying the root cause(s) of violence and aggression may help psychologists devise inter- ventions designed to prevent deadly aggression such as mass violence. However, it is impor- tant to understand that examining the problems of aggression and violence has been of great interest to philosophers, psychologists, and criminologists throughout history.
Philosophers Thomas Hobbes (in the 1500s) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (in the 1700s) had strong views on aggression and violence. For example, Hobbes believed that aggression was biological. His view was that violence resulted because humans are evil by nature and thus must be controlled by the community to prevent aggressive behavior. Rousseau disagreed. His perspective was that humans learn aggressive behavior by interacting with others. Many early philosophical and psychological perspectives on aggression posit that this type of behav- ior is always violent and thus always criminal. However, research shows this is not the case.
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Section 6.2 What Is Aggression?
Throughout the chapter, you will read about various theories of aggression and the support- ing research. You will learn that not all aggression is physical, and it is not always violent. In order to formally study aggressive behavior and violent behavior, psychology researchers have identified categories of aggression that help us make sense of the nature of aggression and violence and of whether the behavior rises to the level of criminality. Keep in mind as you read the chapter that not all aggressive behavior is violent but that all violent behavior is aggressive. Perhaps to aid your understanding of this, the best place to start is with precisely defining the concept of aggression.
6.2 What Is Aggression? Defining aggression is not as simple and straightforward an undertaking as it may seem. Think about how often the term aggressive is used to describe someone else’s behavior, such as yelling at someone, cutting off other drivers on the roadway, spreading cruel rumors about someone, or punching a wall when angry. These are commonly thought of as clear examples of aggression.
However, social psychologists Baron and Richardson (1994) define aggression as any form of behavior directed toward the goal of harming another living being who is motivated to avoid being harmed. According to social psychologists, the key elements required to categorize a behavior as aggressive are
1. there must be an observed behavior, 2. there must be a goal to harm, 3. that harm must be directed at another living being, and 4. that living being must be motivated to avoid the harm.
These four elements render the act aggressive in nature. When considering this definition, the example of punching a wall when angry would not be considered aggressive because there is a missing element: There is no other living being who is motivated to avoid being harmed.
According to the definition above, which of these can we classify as aggression?
• A hitman murders an unfaithful husband for $1,000. • A woman, angry with her supervisor, tells a coworker that the supervisor is cheating
on her husband with another coworker. • A teenager helps an elderly woman cross the street but accidentally trips the
woman, who falls and suffers a fractured wrist.
First, we want to examine if any of these examples has the four elements of behavior, goal to harm, directed at another living being, and another person motivated to avoid the harm. There- fore, if you guessed that the first two are examples of aggression, you are correct. The hitman example clearly contains all four elements, including the key element of intent to cause harm. In the context of the criminal justice system, intent to cause harm is a key element in whether the behavior constitutes a crime or is merely an unfortunate accident. This is discussed in more depth in Chapter 8.
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Section 6.3 Categories of Aggression
The second example, in which a woman spreads a malicious rumor about her boss, also con- stitutes aggressive behavior. The woman intended to harm her supervisor, and presumably her supervisor is motivated to avoid such harm. Although the elderly woman in the third example suffered an injury at the hands of the teenager, this is not aggression. The miss- ing element in our definition of aggression in this context is that the teenager’s goal was to help rather than to harm the woman. An accident is not intentional and thus does not con- stitute aggressive behavior. Unintentional harm is not without consequences, but carrying out behavior that is intended to hurt someone is considered much worse than unintentional harm (Ames & Fiske, 2013).
As you can see, there are a number of behaviors that can be categorized as aggressive when accompanied by the four elements previously described.
6.3 Categories of Aggression Social psychologists have created categories to describe the various dimensions of aggres- sion. The main categories of aggression are hostile (emotional) aggression, instrumental (cognitive) aggression, physical aggression, and nonphysical aggression (see Figure 6.1).
Figure 6.1: Categories of aggression
The main categories of aggression are hostile, instrumental, physical, and nonphysical. Verbal and relational aggression are subtypes of nonphysical aggression.
Categories of aggression
Hostile
Physical
Instrumental
Nonphysical
Verbal Relational
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Section 6.3 Categories of Aggression
Hostile (Emotional) Aggression Hostile aggression can best be thought of as reactive, impulsive, or “hot” aggression that occurs as the result of a real or perceived threat or insult. Hostile aggression is driven by emo- tions, as in the case of Philip Wood.
In the summer of 2019, Wood, a 50-year-old man, was at a pub in Valley, Alabama, relaxing and enjoying the evening with friends when another bar patron, Sidney Harmon, began to argue with him. Witnesses were not sure what the disagreement was about, but as tempers flared, the incident escalated. Wood then produced a knife and stabbed Harmon to death. Wood immediately ran from the scene; however, there were several eyewitnesses who helped police identify him, and he was later arrested.
Wood’s aggressive behavior occurred as the result of his anger, and in an impulsive and hos- tile act, he stabbed Harmon. In hostile aggression, the intent to harm arises in response to the current situation. Because the two men were strangers to one another, there was no plan on Wood’s behalf to harm Harmon until they began to argue at the bar.
Instrumental (Cognitive) Aggression Instrumental aggression is the opposite of hostile aggression such that there is some level of planning that goes into instrumental aggression. It can be thought of as “cool” aggres- sion. Whereas the underlying motivation behind hostile aggression is emotion, instrumental aggression lacks the emotional component and is often used as a means to some end. That is, the goal in instrumental aggression is to harm someone for personal gain. See Case Study: Comparing the Cases of Serina Wolfe and Daniel Rosado to explore different cases in which two people employed instrumental aggression.
Case Study: Comparing the Cases of Serina Wolfe and Daniel Rosado
Case One
In 2019 Serina Wolfe and her boyfriend were living in Clearwater, Florida. Wolfe asked him to buy her a plane ticket to New York so that she could visit with friends and family. Her boy- friend refused to purchase the $300 plane ticket for her. Wolfe was angry with her boyfriend and wanted to get back at him. She hatched a plan to take his credit card without him notic- ing and spend thousands of dollars. Wolfe stole the card, went to a local restaurant, and used her boyfriend’s credit card to leave a $5,000 tip on a $50 restaurant bill. Wolfe was arrested for grand theft after police discovered that she was the one who took the card and made the charge.
(continued on next page)
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Instrumental or “cool” aggression involves planning and is focused on personal gain, such as Serina Wolfe stealing her boyfriend’s credit card.
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Section 6.3 Categories of Aggression
Physical (Violent) Aggression Physical aggression is perhaps the type of behavior most frequently thought of as aggres- sive in nature. Physical aggression can include hitting, biting, scratching, kicking, stabbing, shooting, punching, or any other physical act that is intended to cause bodily harm to another living being. It is important to note that physical aggression constitutes violent behavior. That is, violence is aggressive behavior that uses physical force intended to cause bodily injury or death. It is also important to point out that physical aggression may seem to be hostile or “hot” aggression. However, as you have learned so far, the intent to harm someone does not always include causing physical harm, and the intent to cause bodily harm can fall under hos- tile aggression or instrumental aggression.
For example, Philip Wood caused fatal bodily harm to Sidney Harmon when he stabbed Har- mon. That is, Wood used physical (violent) aggression (stabbing) in the heat of a spontaneous argument. This resulted in Harmon’s grave bodily injuries and untimely death. Therefore, Wood engaged in hostile physical aggression.
Contrarily, Daniel Rosado engaged in instrumental physical aggression when he shot at police and wrestled with a bystander as he attempted to flee the bank. In Rosado’s case, the aggres- sion was part of his plan to elude capture. Both Wood and Rosado used violence to achieve their goals of harming another living being. However, Wood’s violence was motivated by emo- tion in the heat of the moment, whereas Rosado’s was motivated by his plan to obtain the desired cash from the bank even if it meant causing bodily harm to anyone who attempted to thwart him.
Case Study: Comparing the Cases of Serina Wolfe and Daniel Rosado (continued)
In Wolfe’s case, she planned how she was going to harm her boyfriend and carried out her plan as a means of punishing him for not buying her the plane ticket. Wolfe’s instrumental aggres- sion led to a being charged with a crime.
Case Two
On May 1, 2019, Daniel Rosado went into Middlesex Savings Bank in Massachusetts armed with a gun and a plan to rob the bank. Rosado entered the bank, pulled out his gun, shot into the ceiling, and demanded that the bank teller fill his bag with cash. The robbery was foiled when a bank customer was able to sneak out and flag down a police officer, who exchanged gunfire with Rosado as he fled the scene. Another patron tackled Rosado on the street as he fled, but Rosado was able to slip away. However, Rosado was apprehended in Rhode Island 3 weeks after the attempted bank robbery.
In Rosado’s case, his intent was to harm any bank staff, customers, or police who got in the way of his attempt to steal the cash that day. Rosado’s aggressive behavior was the means to an end to rob the bank. He planned the attack such that he armed himself, shot the gun into the bank ceiling and at police who tried to stop him, and tussled with a bystander who tackled him to the ground to stop him. Rosado’s acts that day provide a clear example of instrumental aggression.
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Section 6.3 Categories of Aggression
Nonphysical Aggression Nonphysical aggression isn’t what we usually think about when we consider aggression, but it can be just as harmful as physical aggression. The two types of nonphysical aggression are verbal and relational.
Verbal Aggression Verbal aggression is a form of nonphysical aggression that includes shouting, swear- ing, name-calling, or any other nonphysical verbal behavior that is intended to harm another living being when that individual is motivated to avoid being harmed. Ver- bal aggression often accompanies physical aggression; however, there are instances in which the aggressive behavior is limited to words expressed from one individual to another.
An example of verbal aggression occurred on January 2, 2019, when a woman board- ing a United Airlines flight from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Newark, New Jersey, began hurling insults at the two women she was seated between. The woman began telling the other two passengers that she was feeling “squished” between them but “at least they’ll keep me warm” (as cited in CBS News, 2019). She complained that the two passengers were overweight and that she did not know how she would survive the flight for the next 4 hours. One of the passengers complained to a flight attendant, and other passengers sitting nearby admonished the woman for her behavior. Flight attendants then tried to move the verbally aggressive woman to another seat, but the woman continued to yell insults at the other pas- sengers and again toward the women she was seated between. The woman was ejected from the flight as a result of her behavior.
It is clear that the verbally aggressive woman intended to hurt the other two passengers with her words, but it is less clear whether this behavior constitutes hostile or instrumental aggression. In order to make this determination, we would need more information about her ultimate motive. If she sat down and became angry upon seeing and feeling limited space at her seat and had no other motive than to shame and embarrass the women, then we can cat- egorize this as hostile aggression. However, if her ultimate goal was to cause such discomfort to the women that one or both asked to be moved to another seat, then the verbally aggressive woman engaged in instrumental aggression. This is because the verbally aggressive words would serve as a means to some other goal besides simply causing harm to the women.
See Spotlight: Exploring Criminality of Verbal Aggression to explore whether verbal aggression can be considered criminal.
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Verbal aggression includes shouting, swearing, name-calling, and any other nonphysical verbal behaviors that are intended to harm someone; it can be accompanied by physical aggression.
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Section 6.3 Categories of Aggression
Relational (Social) Aggression Another form of nonphysical aggression is relational (social) aggression, which occurs when the desired intent is to harm another’s relationships or social standing. In relational aggression, the behavior does not involve a direct confrontation with the intended target of the harm. It is more covert. Archer and Coyne (2005) identified certain behaviors exhibited in relational aggression, including but not limited to spreading malicious gossip, ostracizing someone from a social group, giving someone the silent treatment, turning people against one another, stealing another’s spouse or partner, and flirting with someone else to incite a jealous response from one’s partner. Relational aggression is more common among females.
Relational aggression has been studied extensively in schoolchildren, and findings show that the old adage “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me” appears to be incorrect. That is, relational aggression is often considered bullying, especially in social environments in which groups of people gather regularly, such as at school or the workplace. Social psychologists have found that young victims of relational aggression are far more likely to experience negative mental health outcomes. These include depression, anxiety, and even engaging in harmful behaviors, including attempting suicide (see Craig, 1998; Hinduja & Patchin, 2000; Olafson & Viemero, 2000; Paquette & Underwood, 1999; Sharp, 1995). See Case Study: Michelle Carter to read about a recent famous case involving relational aggression.
In theory, relational aggression could be a form of hostile aggression if, for example, the behavior was impulsive and the only goal of the behavior was to harm the target. However, if the ultimate goal of the behavior is to cause the target harm for some other purpose, such as to raise the aggressor’s social standing, and this behavior was planned, then it can be consid- ered instrumental aggression.
Spotlight: Exploring Criminality of Verbal Aggression Is verbal aggression considered criminal behavior? While some may believe that verbal aggres- sion cannot ever be labeled criminal due to First Amendment free-speech protections, there are in fact some jurisdictions in which an individual’s specific use of words spoken to another person can be adjudicated criminal behavior. Generally speaking, this falls under malicious harassment criminal codes that include physical aggression as well as verbal aggression. For example, in the state of Washington, individuals convicted of malicious harassment can face up to 5 years in prison and be fined up to $10,000. (Visit the following link for more information regarding the state’s legal code for this specific crime: https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default .aspx?cite=9a.36.080.)
Visit the following link to read about some situations in which verbal aggression can legally be considered criminal: https://answers.uslegal.com/criminal/assault/23815/.
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Section 6.4 Psychological Theories of Aggression
6.4 Psychological Theories of Aggression Discovering where aggression originates is a topic of great debate among psychologists and other social scientists. Is aggressive behavior learned or inherited? The topic of aggression is another dimension of the nature-versus-nurture debate, and psychologists have developed various theoretical perspectives based on their own area of interest.
Aggressive behavior is also studied in disciplines outside of psychology, including from a sociological and criminological perspective. However, psychological theories of aggression inform sociological and criminological research on aggression and provide the foundation for understanding related factors. The question at the heart of examining aggression, includ- ing violence, is whether the underlying catalyst is dispositional (biological) or situational (learned). The research on the biological underpinnings of aggression shows that there is some validity to the idea that aggressive behavior is innate. In this section, we explore the major theories of aggression from biological and evolutionary perspectives.
Case Study: Michelle Carter Teenagers Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy III were in a long-distance relationship for 2 years. Roy lived in a verbally and physically abusive home and had attempted suicide previously. In July 2014 Carter sent Roy a series of text messages over a 2-week period encouraging him to “just do it already.”
Roy got into his pickup truck, drove to a local empty parking lot, and turned on the generator he brought with him to produce carbon monoxide poisoning. As the truck filled with the poi- sonous gas, Roy got scared and jumped out of the truck. He called Carter, who told him to get back into the truck and do it. Carter never called for help, nor did she admit to anyone that she had spoken to him twice while he was in the midst of carrying out his suicide.
Carter instead publicly mourned Roy’s death and seemed to revel in the attention she received as the grieving girlfriend. She even comforted Roy’s mother and seemed to enjoy the attention the Roy family gave her for being such a “caring friend” to Conrad. When the text messages were discovered on Roy’s phone, however, police arrested Carter, and she was charged with manslaughter for effectively bullying Roy into suicide.
There has never been any evidence produced to suggest that Carter was angry with Roy, and because they appeared to get along well with one another, Carter’s behavior does not fall under the category of hostile aggression. This type of relational aggression can be categorized as instrumental aggression. That is, it seems that the text message evidence supports the state’s position that Carter’s goal was to gain attention and sympathy as the grieving girlfriend. The harm Carter caused Roy was a means to an end, with the end being basking in expressions of sympathy from friends, family, and the community.
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Section 6.4 Psychological Theories of Aggression
Psychoanalytic/Freudian Theory of Aggression Sigmund Freud created psychoanalysis, and thus this perspective is often referred to as Freud- ian theory (used interchangeably with the phrase psychoanalytic theory). The psychoanalytic view of aggression is that it is biological in nature. That is, Freud’s position was that humans are born with two distinct drives: “life instinct” and “death instinct.” Freud hypothesized that these two drives often compete against one another in our subconscious minds and that aggression occurs as a result of the conflict between the two opposing innate desires to either live or die. Therefore, Freud believed that aggression represents the deflection of the death instinct onto others. It is an interesting idea, but it has not been validated because psycholo- gists have yet to determine a way to verify the existence of an unconscious mind.
From a criminal behavior perspective, Freud’s colleague Josef Breuer believed that cathar- sis was required to relieve the unconscious internal conflict between the desire to live and
the desire to die. Catharsis is the process of releasing or purging repressed emotions. For example, a psychologist may advise a cli- ent to find a constructive outlet to release pent-up aggression. This release can occur in a direct manner, or it can be accomplished indirectly by engaging in psychotherapy and/ or enjoyable activities that provide a release of the stress and anxiety that are thought to be triggers to aggression. (Zillmann, Katcher, and Milavsky [1972] found that engaging in physical exercise as a constructive outlet may actually increase aggression in some situ- ations, thereby contradicting the idea that catharsis via physical exercise may be effec- tive at reducing aggression.)
Frustration–Aggression Hypothesis Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears (1939) carried on the psychoanalytic tradition after Freud’s death and asserted that aggression will always occur as a result of experiencing frus- tration. Dollard et al. called this perspective the frustration–aggression hypothesis. Psy- chologists were challenged to provide this hypothesis using the scientific method because there seemed to be a significant level of disagreement among the relevant scientific commu- nity regarding the concepts of frustration and aggression.
Despite a lack of scientific validity in the frustration–aggression hypothesis, psychologists continued to try to perfect the theory. Berkowitz (1969) later revised the frustration– aggression hypothesis by asserting that although frustration may precede aggression, there are other factors that may also precede aggressive behavior, such as pain, a heightened state of arousal, and more.
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Pent-up aggression requires some form of release or outlet. A healthy way to release aggression is by practicing a relaxing, enjoyable activity such as yoga at sunset.
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Section 6.4 Psychological Theories of Aggression
Excitation Transfer Theory Social psychology researchers have found that arousal can lead to increased aggression as well. For example, Zillmann et al. (1972) examined whether instigating physiological arousal would lead to aggression. The researchers hypothesized that when one individual believes he or she is receiving an electric shock by another and then assigned to engage in either high- or low-intensity exercise, the target would experience a heightened state of physiologi- cal arousal that would later lead to aggression.
These findings were confirmed in a later study by Zillmann (1988) when he examined whether physiological arousal had the potential to elicit aggression in any context. Zillmann found that even without being instigated, simply exercising would induce a heightened state of physiological arousal that could lead to later aggressive behavior. For example, if a partici- pant engaged in high-intensity exercise and then a short period later was exposed to some minor annoyance that might otherwise be ignored, the heightened physiological arousal from exercising may lead the person (no matter what gender) to behave aggressively toward the source of the annoyance. Zillmann referred to this phenomenon as excitation transfer the- ory, which is the theory that regardless of how physiological arousal is produced, the height- ened state of arousal dissipates slowly, is not situation specific, and thus can generalize t
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