Aggression takes two forms depending on one’s motives: hostile or instrumental. [ ah-gresh´un] a form of physical or verbal behavior leading to self-assertion; it is often angry and destructive and intended to be injurious, physically or emotionally, and aimed at domination of one person by another. Hostile aggression is motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain; a fight in a bar with a … Aggression may be defined as harmful behavior which violates social conventions and which may include deliberate intent to harm or injure another person or object (Bandura, 1973, cited in Suris et al., 2004; Berkowitz, 1993, cited in Suris et al., 2004). Aggression refers to behavior that is intended to harm another individual. Social psychologists define aggression as behavior that is intended to harm another individual who does not wish to be harmed (Baron & Richardson, 1994). an unprovoked offensive, attack, or invasion; an encroachment: physical aggression; verbal aggression; emotional aggression. S… Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary, the webmaster's page for free fun content, Aggressive Angiomyxoma of Pelvic Soft Tissue. Instrumental or cognitive aggression is … Intentional harm is, however, perceived as worse than unintentional harm, even when the harms are identical (Ames & Fiske, 2013). All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. Because it involves the perception of intent, what looks like aggression from one point of view may not look that way from another, and the same harmful behavior may or may not be considered aggressive depending on its intent. Psychology Definition of AGGRESSION: noun. [C17: from Latin aggression-, from aggrēdi to attack] aggressor n. Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, … In many cases it escalates into violence. 3. aggression. Humans engage in aggression when they seek to cause harm or pain to another person. ", Cite this page: N., Pam M.S., "AGGRESSION," in, https://psychologydictionary.org/aggression/. (Psychology) psychol a hostile or destructive mental attitude or behaviour. Emotional or impulsive aggression refers to aggression that occurs with only a small amount of forethought or intent. Aggression is by no means a male-only trait. He's a most aggressive boy – he is always fighting at school. when one's actions are influenced by feelings of competition, rage, or violence, thereby producing injury to, or the deterioration or conquering of https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Aggression+(psychology). Whenever the main objective is planned harm to another or deterioration of another, the actions are referred to as hostile aggression, not being the same thing as operant or instrumental aggression, AGGRESSION: "John's level of aggression toward his peers was cause for suspension from school that week. noun. the aggression of a bold advertising campaign. when one's actions are influenced by feelings of competition, rage, or violence, thereby producing injury to, or the deterioration or conquering of people, sometimes, one's own self. Violence is aggression that creates extreme physical harm. the threat of massive military aggression, aggression is not a solely masculine trait.