Welcome to your first reading blog.
Read Ch1 in the handbook and review the table of contents. Don't worry so much about your answers being super long or beautifully written (yet!); focus on reading and understanding the material and then communicating that understanding to us when answering these questions.
Describe and differentiate anti social behavior, aggression, and violence.
What are two aspects of the chapter that you find most interesting?
Discuss if/how the general aggression model will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the causes of violent actions.
Lastly, after looking through the table of contents, what are some particular chapters you want to make sure we read this semester.
Antisocial behavior is defined as any action that violates personal or cultural standards for appropriate behavior. Aggression is behavior that's carried out with the intention of inflicting pain/harm on someone who doesn't want that pain or harm. Aggression may or may not be antisocial depending on what the personal or cultural standards are. For example, hitting your brother/sister is not considered antisocial by most people, but it usually considered aggressive. Finally, violence is usually used in the most severe types of physical aggression, but it also can be used when talking about emotional or psychological aggression as well. Hitting a brother/sister would probably not be considered particulary violent, but tying that brother/sister to a tree and hitting them repeatedly with a stick would be considered violent by most. It could also probably be considered antisocial.
The two aspects of the chapter that I found interesting were the explanation of the cycle of violence and how it took into account people's personalities. The cycle of violence basically states that after an initial trigger event (an insult, push, show of disrepect, etc.), person or group A will retaliate and consider it justified. Person or group B will consider it unjustified, however, and so will retaliate against person/group A. The cycle then takes over from there. The important thing to remember is that the violence/aggression gets more extreme with each retaliation. When taking into account people's personalities, the GAM states that how an individual perceives and interprets their surroundings will influence their aggression level. Also, people will usually respond to similar events in a similar way, so if an event keeps happening, soon the response will be automatic. Lastly, our knowledge is largely based from experience, so if we experience aggression and it works, we are more likely to use it again.
I do believe that this model is useful in explaining violent actions. It takes into account both personality and culture and includes some stuff that is well supported (Cycle of Violence; Knowledge Structure Approach, etc). I don't believe that all theories are the end all or be all for explaining anything, and here is no exception. However, this model does a very good job of explaining how enviornment can create aggression in people. While it does get into personality, it does very little with genetics. I assume, since there's a chapter on neurobiology and one on both genetics and environment, that we will explore the genetic links in those chapters.
Some chapters that I would like to cover are Chapter 8, 11(!!!!), 15, 20, and 21.
Antisocial behavior is any action/behavior that is culturally deemed unacceptable (this could be as minor as littering or as severe as torturing and killing another human being). Aggression is behavior that is geared towards inflicting harm on other person who is trying to avoid that harm. Aggression can be either physical or nonphysical. Violence, on the other hand, refers to the more severe forms of aggression.
I found the violence escalation cycle quite interesting. I like how the authors compared the reasons behind the escalation to the fundamental attribution error. That is that people tend to explain the causes of others' behaviors due to dispositions (such as they're evil) while they're own behavior is due to situational factors.
I also found interesting the idea of knowledge structures influencing the way we not react in certain situations but also how we perceive the situation. This also ties in with the last question asked above. The GAM could help us understand and interpret the causes of violence by focusing on these knowledge structures because they are formed through our social histories along with our personal traits. By acknowledging these structures, we begin to understand why people act/react the way they do in certain situations.
Some of the chapters I'd like to see covered are 12, 15, 19, and 20.
Antisocial behavior, as I understand it, is anything that is looked down upon and deviates from the norm of a particular society. This could be anything as simple as being a wallflower at a huge party or being outwardly rude in public to something huge like vandalism or theft.
Aggression is any behavior that could be seen as something intended to harm another person. This could be threatening words, facial expressions, or body language. For example, gritting your teeth and making a fist can be seen as aggressive. Physical actions, such as a slap or turning over desks and chairs, can also be aggressive behavior.
Violence is the most severe of all physical aggressions. This can be any physical act like repeated kicking and punching. These actions can escalate as far as murder and torture. Violence can also be against one single person or a whole group of people.
To be honest, the most interesting part of this first chapter I read was at the very beginning. I think the authors did a fantastic job at painting a picture of someone who is violent, but came accross as a picture-perfect member of society. It really got me thinking about how different cultures perceive violence and also about how you really can never judge a book by it's cover. This intro was perfect to dive in to the overall topic of the chapter.
Another thing that I found really interesting was the violence escalation scale. This, to me, really illustrated the point of how violence really is pointless for solving problems. This cycle shows perspectives from two different sides to a confrontation. One person harms the other, the other person deems it unjustified. Then they harm the original person who did the harm, who finds their retaliation unjustified. Then the original person harms the other person again as retaliation, which the other person doesn't feel was justified. It keeps escalating into a vicious cycle that never seems to end. It was a great way to illustrate different points of views in a confrontation as well as showing that you cannot fight violence with violence.
I think the General Aggression Model (GAM) will be helpful in understanding causes of violent actions because of the fact that it takes cognitive factors into consideration. By taking cognitions into account, we can better understand why people do violent acts. Once we understand why people are violent in certain scenarios, we can begin to try and alleviate the violent acts in our society. It also takes into account how different cultures and social backgrounds attribute to violence. Each act of violence is different and must be treated as such to understand how to reduce future acts.
Chapters I would personall like to see covered:
2, 11, 15, 17
1) Describe and differentiate antisocial behavior, aggression, and violence.
According to the authors of our text, antisocial behavior entails the violation of societal norms for appropriate behavior. This may or may not involve aggression and violence. Aggression on the other hand involves behavior that is used to intentionally inflict harm on another individual. Meanwhile, violence is usually reserved for the more harmful aggressive behaviors such as beating or shooting someone, as well as any other action that leads to severe bodily harm. Violence however doesn’t necessarily have to involve physical aggression. Emotional and relational aggression are also forms of violence. We should keep in mind that antisocial behavior, aggression, and violence are not mutually exclusive.
2) What are two aspects of the chapter that you found most interesting?
One of the things I found most interesting was the idea of the Violence Escalation Cycle. The authors describe how individuals or groups engage in retaliatory behavior back and forth, causing the violence to escalate. I agree to a certain degree however how would they explain random acts of violence within this framework?
Another thing I found interesting were the examples the authors gave of the origins of the beliefs, attitudes, and expectations supportive of violence (p.26). Some of these included the following: a) depriving individuals of resources necessary to meet basic needs (e.g. physical, emotional, psychological, social), providing people with examples of aggression and violence, desensitization of violence due to exposure either through media or where they live, and the list goes on. After reading the information, I immediately thought of socio-economic status (SES). Individuals in lower SES levels of society are far more exposed to all of these factors than individuals from higher SES levels. Could this explain the higher levels of aggression and violence in these kinds of neighborhoods? How do non-violent individuals growing up in an environment that perpetuates violence “avoid” for lack of a better word, becoming violent individuals? I wish the authors could have gone into a bit more detail in that section.
3) Discuss if/how the general aggression model will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the causes of violent actions.
Overall I think the general aggression model will be instrumental in understanding and interpreting causes of violent actions particularly because it incorporates several domains: personological factors, situational factors, and developmental factors. I think this will give us a more complete picture as to how violence and aggression form and persist over time and across situations.
4) Chapters I want to cover this semester:
Chapters 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 18, 19, and 21 all sound interesting to me.
The three terms aggression, violence, and antisocial behavior all incorporate many of the same topics while still being independent in their own way. Aggression is typically displayed as behavior meant to intentionally harm another, but is acted on alone. Violence is much more extreme and destructive in nature and is defined in the book as a “cruel form of aggression (Shaver and Mikulincer, 2011).” Antisocial behavior is typically any action that violates personal or cultural standards for appropriate behavior. It will often involve aggression and violence, but this isn’t always the case. Each definition further details into the latter ones. These terms also showed the difference between violence and aggression, which can often be mistaken as the same thing.
One of the aspects within the chapter I found most interesting was the topic of the violence escalation scale. It showed the inferences people make about the opposition’s behaviors as internal and their own as situational. It is a simple and almost unconscious aspect that can affect a myriad of areas in our lives. Another aspect of the chapter that I found interesting was actually at the beginning. People who were raised as well as one could think possible could still turn out with unforeseen violent tendencies.
The General Aggression Model appears to focus a lot on internal states, how to understand the violent actions of others and what causes those violent actions. The GAM has what seems to be a good start, incorporating previous aspects of other social models. The GAM did seem a bit esoteric though; many of the topics discussed in the book when solving problems seemed obscure and not of enormous help.
Chapters 11, 19, and possibly 6 (if that one’s not too over my head) seem interesting to study more in depth.
The chapter identifies anti social behavior as any action that violates personal or cultural standards for appropropriate behavior. I feel that it was very beneficial for the authors to identify the difference between anti social behaviors and anti social personality disorders. All too often I feel these two terms are too intertwined and occasionally used carelessly and without consideration of consequences. Aggression,as defined in the text refers to behavior carried out with the specific intent to inflict harm on another person who does not want to be harmed. Violence is identified as a severe type of physical aggression, likely to cause serious bodily injury. I believe that the most significant difference between these terms is whether or not physical injury has occurred and the severity of it. Another consideration when differentiating these terms is what the intent was regarding the action.
One aspect of the chapter that I found to be most interesting was the distinction between anti social behavior and anti social personality disorder. I have worked with several clients that have been diagnosed with anti social personality disorder and have always found it very challenging. I often struggle with the label of the diagnosis and have at times felt that the client was displaying more anti social behaviors, but had not reached the level of a personality diagnosis. I have also had experiences where the client is diagnosis with this after a serious issue has occurred and it helped gain clarity regarding that individual. The other aspect of the chapter I found to be very interesting was the violence escalation cycle. I feel that a greater understanding of this will be very beneifical in my work experience and interacting with violent or potentially violent clients. I feel that it helps provide a potential pattern that may exist when working with and gaining a better understanding of violent individuals.
I feel that the GAM will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the causes of violent actions because it provides a good basis of understanding violence as a whole. The GAM can be helpful to identify causality and therefore hopefully lead to more successful intervention and prevention.
The chapters I would like to cover this semester are: 4, 10, 11 and 19.
The chapter defines antisocial behavior as an action that is in violation of any standard for appropriate conduct. This definition is actually very broad, which I think is helpful as it seems many people feel antisocial behavior often relates only to individuals with "problems" or who are categorized in some mental health category. In reality, we all have partaken in antisocial behavior at some point. Aggression is defined as a behavior with the intent to harm another individual. It is clarified that behavior resulting in harm due to an accident is not considered aggressive. Violence is a product of physical aggression that is severe and often causes serious injury.
Areas that I found interesting in the chapter were the ideas of how cultural teachings can cause individuals to believe that certain groups are dangerous and the violence escalation cycle. Although I am fully aware at individuals' ignorance when it comes to cultural differences and that ignorance can lead to poor judgment, I continue be baffled by such lack of knowledge. As the book discusses, a man being shot 19 times as he grabs for his wallet...really? Because the first 10 weren't enough? It would be hard to believe one of the officers saying their behavior was not racially motivated. The violence escalation cycle has always been interesting to me because of the psychological meaning behind it. Something that is triggered initially, which then snowballs into something larger than it initially began and tragedy strikes. The mentality and psychological happenings that occur up to the breaking point is interesting to evaluate.
The GAM is helpful in understanding causes of violence because it evaluates situational and personal factors. Using a model that evaluates a situation from more than one aspect allows us to gain a better interpretation of something because we are looking at a larger picture, using a bigger lens.
Chapters that I think I would find interesting include 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20.
After reading the assigned chapter, I would define antisocial behavior as any behavior that violates any person's or societies norms for acceptable behavior. Aggression is intended to inflict harm on another person who wishes to avoid harm. Violence is basically severe aggression causing serious injuries. This does not have to be only serious physical harm and injury, but can also be emotional or psychological harm and injury. It is different from aggression because not all aggressive acts are violent, but all violent acts are aggressive. It is important to understand that violence is defined as the most serious or severe acts of aggression.
An aspect I found most interesting in this chapter was the complex decisions becoming automatic through repeated exposure and practice. The example given in the book was the "shoot first, ask questions later" thought. This is where through cultural experience and other experiences of what particular groups of people pose a threat influences the way that police officers handle particular situations. The store about the man being shot while he was reaching for his wallet 19 times by police officers, just because he was African American is absolutely tragic. While in many situations, the decisions of the officers would be appropriate, it was not appropriate in this situation and took the life of an innocent man. The police officers certainly did not commit a violent act, and one could argue that it was not really an aggressive act because they did not intend to inflict harm to the man, but rather intended to secure a potentially dangerous situation. However, this action was clearly an antisocial act because it went against the expectations for behavior of police officers. Society would expect police to identify an individual as a threat before acting on that assumption.
Another interesting thing that I learned from this chapter was the violence escalation cycle. This is where one person harms another, and retaliation continues between the two people. One person always views the retaliation as justified, while the other views it as unjustified. This is apparent in all kinds of situations, especially in that of verbal or emotional violence between young girls. One girl will start a rumor about another girl, so the other girl will say something bad about the first girl, etc, etc. This cycle proves that violence continues to escalate when each party feels that their actions are justified due to the malicious intent of the other party.
The general aggression model takes a look at different situations and personal factors that contribute to aggressive behaviors. Because all violent acts are also acts of aggression, the general aggression model can help us understand the perpetrator of the act and why he or she may have committed that act. It also helps us understand what factors within that individual contributed to the act of violence, thus allowing us to determine risk factors of individuals who may commit violent acts, as well as causes of violent behavior.
This semester, I would like to include chapter 11 (narcissism, self-esteem, and aggression), chapter 9 (social information processing patterns), chapter 8 (genetic and environmental influences on aggression), chapter 10 (violence and character perspective), chapter 14 (attachment and violence), chapter 19 (trauma, attachment, and memory), and chapter 20 (partner aggression).
1) Describe and differentiate antisocial behavior, aggression, and violence.
Antisocial behavior refers to behaviors which are opposite of what society deems socially appropriate or acceptable. Antisocial behavior can include violence and aggression (e.g., hitting another person) but not always (e.g., littering). Aggression refers to behavior that is intended to cause pain or harm to another individual. Harmful behaviors that are accidental are not defined as aggressive behaviors. Violence refers to behaviors that are considered to be the more severe types of aggression which lead to severe harm, to an individual. According to the text, all acts of violence are aggressive, but not all aggressive behaviors are violent.
2) What are two aspects of the chapter that you find most interesting?
One thing I found interesting was the section about the violence escalation cycle. An event takes place between two groups or individuals with one side believing their retaliatory behavior is justified while at the same time the other side believes this retaliatory behavior is unjustified. This fighting back and forth continues and only gets worse over time. I thought back to when I took Youth Gangs a couple semesters ago when I was reading this section (the book uses this same example too). Some groups are socialized and raised to develop a belief system where anther group poses a danger to them and they must be careful with people from the opposite group. Something else I found interesting was the idea that some government actions which are designed to reduce aggression and violence often fail and may do more harm than good. The example to book gave was war and how over time, citizens/members from each country/group develop more aggressive personalities which directly influence how they believe their countries actions are justified. On the same hand, a lot of people have a hard time understanding the opposing countries reasoning behind why they do what they do.
3) Discuss if/how the general aggression model will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the causes of violent actions.
Overall, I think the general aggression model will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the causes of violent actions because it takes into account multiple influential factors (e.g., environmental factors, developmental factors) which provide us with better knowledge about the causes of violent actions as a whole. There will probably be certain contexts where this model may not be able to be of much use, but I’m hopeful that it will at least a little helpful and push us in the right direction.
4) Chapters I want to cover this semester: 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20
According to the authors, antisocial behavior is any behavior or act that goes against societal norms. These actions may go against any aspect of a culturally accepted behavior. While these deviations are typically against the law, they do not have to be against the law.
Aggression is defined as an act performed with the intent to cause harm to someone who does not want to be hurt. Depending on the action, this may be viewed as antisocial if it goes against a cultural norm. The most common example of this is sibling “rivalry”. It is not typically viewed as a bad act, but definitely fits into the category of aggression.
The term violence is reserved for the most severe forms of aggression. These acts result in severe injury. While the book says it results in severe bodily injury, I believe that violence can describe severe emotional and psychological injury as well. Many times these forms are worse than physical injury.
I definitely found the violence escalation cycle interesting. It explains that violence occurs when one person or group does something to another person or group that is perceived as intentional, unjustified, and harmful. That person or group then retaliates and this may go back and forth a couple times or many times, possibly ending in death or any deaths. One reason I find this so interesting is because it is largely based on the idea of perception. I have always felt that life is based on perception. In Victimology last semester we talked about how feeling victimized is all based on how the recipient perceives it. The same action may not affect one person or group the same way as another. If someone perceives it in such a way that they feel victimized, they are likely going to feel like acting against that offender is justified and it just continues in this violent cycle.
I also found it interesting when they discussed how to create violent people/groups. They talk about depriving someone of their basic needs. This can obviously make anyone cranky at least. The next step is to also show them examples of violence and aggression, especially ones that are successful. This shows them that violence and aggression is the way to go and that it produces “good” outcomes. They must be desensitized to violence by both viewing it and experiencing it. This is live and by means of electronic media. Once they are desensitized, you need to provide them with belief systems that will target certain people or groups and view those as objects and not people. The final step is providing them training that teaches them how to be violent and aggressive. I think that these steps explain why there is so much violence in the military, not simply during war. They are trained that this is the way to handle things. They are taught that certain people or groups are not humans, that they have certain beliefs that foster this violence.
The GAM definitely will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the causes of violent actions. It will help to see if there are certain things existing in the person or situation that helped foster the actions. It helps to explain these actions from different areas such as the person, situation, environment, and learning. It is a very general overview, so not all aspects are covered in this model; however, it helps to get the thinking process going and helps to create explanations that may be fostered by another subarea of theory.
Chapters 2, 3, 4, 11,12, 13, 19, and 20.
Anti -social behavior in this context is different from the definition I was taught to understand. I look at anti-social as meaning you keep your distance from other and don't really speak. In this book it is defined as any act or behavior that is not normal to cultural standards. Physically violent behaviors or acts such as stealing, cheating, and lying are all considered "anti-social" behaviors. This book's definition explains anti-social in a much broader sense than today's society defines it.
Aggression is defined as behavior with the intentions of inflicting harm on another person who is trying to avoid harm. Accidental inflicted harm is not considered aggressive, they must be trying to avoid harm that you are intentionally attempting to commit.
Violence is viewed as the serious side of physical aggression that can lead to serious injury on someone. There is also psychological violence that are obviously nonphysical aggression.
These are all closely related but different in their own ways. Every violent behavior is some form of aggression but not all aggressive behaviors are violent.
One of the parts of the chapter that interested me the most was the "Violence Escalation Cycle". It made me actually think of a few violent situations I've either been in or witnessed and think all the way through about how it started out to where it ended up (Escalation).
The other section that caught my attention was "Government Actions and Their Impact on Aggression and Violence". We all know that the Government does all it can to try and decrease and prevent violence in our society, but rarely do we ever look at the fact that some government actions actually increase violence.
Chapter 15 "Respecting Others and Being Respect Can Reduce Aggression in Parent-Child Relations and in Schools" is one chapter I would like to touch on, because respect is an overlooked topic in today's society but one of the most important aspects of our lives.
Also I would like to look at Chapter 19 because I had a close friend who was scarred by the sight of violence at a young age which caused him to have a violent temper through his teenage years.
Describe and differentiate anti social behavior, aggression, and violence.
Antisocial behavior is consider any action that violates personal or cultural standards for appropriate behavior, usually including aggression and violence, but not always. Aggression is a behavior carried out with the intention to inflict harm on another person whom is motivated to avoid the harm, it's important to not that this behavior is intentional. Violence is the most severe type of physical aggression that is likely to cause serious bodily harm, however is not always illegal. All three of these concepts are important when discusses any of them on an individual level because they are so interconnected and usually all present during a violent incident.
What are two aspects of the chapter that you find most interesting?
I really enjoyed reading about how they came up with the GAM and all of the different elements used to develop the model. As I was reading about the different things that they take into consideration, I thought in my head "oh that makes sense." Many different aspects of a person is important when understanding their thoughts and behaviors, so including a variety of aspects like personality and social interactions makes sense. Another aspects that I liked in this chapter was the violence escalation cycle. I enjoyed learning about how violence happens in stages and adds up over time. Also, I thought an interesting thing about that section was about the three reasons that violence persists.
Discuss if/how the general aggression model will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the causes of violent actions.
I think that it does help to understand the causes of violence, especially the basic model of the GAM. I think that the development and use of psychological processes was an important part of the model and understanding violence because the way that people shape their perceptions of things and act upon those thoughts is important to know the reason people act violently. I think taking that key point into consideration can help up understand violence.
Lastly, after looking through the table of contents, what are some particular chapters you want to make sure we read this semester.
Chapter 12 and 20 seem particularly interesting to me!
I think this chapter was a good introduction to the book. It was definitely helpful to see how this specific text defines certain terms. Antisocial behavior is described as kind of violations of norms of the culture. It includes inappropriate behavior that can be violent and/or aggressive but does not have to be. An example of nonviolent, nonaggressive, antisocial behavior is lying.
Aggression is defined by the text as an intention to harm another who wants to avoid the harm. What I took from the description of aggression is that the main factor is the intention. For example, accidental harm is not aggressive. With this definition I would think that aggressive acts are always labeled as violent but that is not the case.
Violence is defined as only the most severe physical aggression that usually causes or is intended to cause bodily harm and all violent acts are considered aggressive. I would take that to mean that emotional or psychological abuse is aggressive but not violent as it is sometimes labeled.
One thing I found very interesting in this chapter is the violence escalation cycle. The explanation is so simple but I just never looked at it like that before. It’s good to be able to explain why violence continues. One side feels their violent actions were justified and mild while the other side feels the actions were unjustified and severe. That creates retaliation which produces the cycle.
Another thing I found interesting are the examples of war the book uses. I love that the book is so up to date because the example are very relevant. For example, I read many references to 9/11 and the war on terrorism.
I think the GAM will be helpful in understanding why violence happens because it explains things we have already brought up in class such as cognitive processes, environmental influences and social influences. It also explains how some of the factors can interact with each other to create certain feeling, thoughts, and actions. I guess I don’t fully understand the GAM yet but I feel like it will be a very important part of this class.
The chapters I think look most interesting are 7, 8, 11, 17, 19, and 20
Antisocial behavior is any behavior that goes against the norms of society; stands out as strange or unusual. It does not necessarily have to be violent, and it may go unnoticed by others. However it can lead to more serious violation of norms. Aggression is behavior intended to harm another person. It can be physical aggression, such as pushing or hitting, but it could also be verbal, such as the relational aggression (spreading rumors,etc). Violence includes the most severe types of physical aggression, meaning the ones that cause serious bodily injury. There is usually not much debate on whether or not something is violent. If someone is hurt, on purpose, it is a violent act. The conscious thought of intent to cause harm is the definite key in determining a violent act.
I found the violence escalation cycle very interesting, mainly because I had never thought of an official name for this action. I think most of us have witnessed or been a part of the violence escalation cycle. It is very common in our human nature to retaliate when someone hurts us. Seeing an actual explanation of this back-and-forth action gives a better understanding of the motivation behind these retaliations.
Another interesting part was looking at those individuals who appear as innocent and "normal" citizens, who then commit heinous crimes towards society. It takes many of us by complete surprise, as they blended in and never raised alarm. Although as Kim mentioned in class, others think they knew all along there was something amiss about that person; again, hindsight is 20/20. I think it is interesting to analyze deeper what might make a seemingly quiet citizen suddenly become a notorious criminal.
I think the GAM will be helpful in helping us understand violent actions. Investigating the cognitive and personal motivations behind some of these violent acts is crucial to not only punishing the perpetrator, but hopefully preventing future occurrences by knowing what warning signs to look for. I don't think the GAM will give answers for everything, but helping us analyze the personal causes behind some of these will definitely give us an advantage we would not have otherwise.
Some chapters that caught my eye were: 11 13 17 18 19
I thought that this chapter was very informative and easy to follow. I really liked how each aspect of the GAM was described in real-life examples, making the material much more interesting and relatable. While the three aspects of antisocial behavior, violence, and aggression are closely related, each term has its own individual meaning. Antisocial behavior can be identified as any act or behavior that is seen as culturally unacceptable or abnormal. These behaviors can include acts of violent or aggressive nature, although antisocial behaviors are not limited to those of aggressive or violent nature. In contrast, aggression is defined as any act that is intended to cause another person harm. Acts of aggression are not necessarily violent, as violence is defined as a more serious act of aggression that leads to bodily harm or injury. All acts of violence are aggressive, but not all acts of aggression are violent.
There were a few aspects of this chapter that I found really interesting. I like the fact that the book made a point to observe the fact that not everyone can fit into any psychological model (pgs 19 &25). The authors point out that this model leaves room for people to change over time, and adapts to different situations and variability in aggression. I think this is a key point in any type of theory or model, as it acknowledges the fact that not every person, criminal, or situation is the same. I also really liked that this chapter brought up many true-life examples of how violence can be influenced by many different things. I remember reading an article about the policemen that shot the African American that was reaching for his wallet (discussed on page 19). Issues like these bring up a lot of topics for discussion and really link the model of aggression to something that is a real problem in our society. Another way that the chapter relates the model to real-life is the discussion of the hypothetical gangs on page 23. While the authors replace real gangs with "Gang A" and "Gang B," the situation they discuss is something that could easily happen within the real gangs in our society. Reading this gang scenario helps clarify the chart on the next page, which really brings the violence escalation cycle to life.
While this model will absolutely help us to understand violence in some situations, there are always those who don't fit into the model. The model can definitely show us ways to understand violence and the intentions behind violent acts; it may be difficult to use this model in immediate crime prevention. While the first step to solving any problem is understanding the meanings behind it (as this model does), this model would take a more long term effect to preventing crime. We may be able to reduce the internal aggression in people using this model; it does not provide real insight into those who are already prone to aggression or violence.
I would like to cover chapters 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20.
Anti-social behaviors are those behaviors which do not fit within normal socital or personal standards. Anti social behavior can be used to describe violent and aggressive acts, but are not always violent or aggressive behaviors. Aggression is used to describe any behavior which is intended to cause harm to another in which that other doesn't wish to be harmed. I found it interesting that the book defined it this way because there is the qualifying statement that the other person doesn't wish to be harmed. There are behaviors, such as contact sports, in which the harm is not specifically sought after, but is expected, and therefore participation in these sports would be under the assumption that all participants would condone being the victim of an aggressive behavior. Violence is a severe form of agression in which the intent is to inflict serious bodily injury. There are also forms of psychological and emotional violence in which someone intends to inflict non physical damage to another. This definition is fine, but one has to wonder about those types of violence in which the person inflicting the harm did not intend to cause the type of serious injury they did, such as shaken baby syndrome when a caregiver may have been too rough but never intended to harm a child in the way they did. The best way to see the differences in these types of behaviors is by examples. Anti social behavior can be things such as stealing, lying, skipping school. Aggressive behaviors could be shouting at a neighbor, glaring at a co-worker, or threatening someone without any physical actions against them. Violence is punching, hitting, throwing things at someone... anything that results in physical injury to another. Also psychological and emotional violence such as abusive name calling, severely damaging someones self esteem, terrorising someone with fear tactics, etc.
One interesting part of the chapter for me was the discussion on how we may develop differently when exposed to violence and aggression. The example used was with the visual system and those living in a more aggressive environment develop systems to detect what may be percieved to be dangerous, they may pay more visual attention to certain aspects of a persons behavior or their environment simply because of their experiences priming them to these things. Another thing I like is that the GAM can be used to help understand those history altering acts of violence carried out by huge numbers of people, such as the Nazi's violence against the Jewish. I know I'm not alone in my wondering of how so many people can justify their horrific actions against so many other people.
The GAM is a wonderful tool for looking at violent and aggressive acts on a large scale and at a personal level because it has such a broad range of what is taken into consideration. The GAM looks at those things experienced within a person on a psychological level all the way to those larger aspects of a persons environment and societal conditions. We can weigh the influences of all these factors and find that there may be very specific causes for someones behaviors.
Chapters I want to read: 11, 12, and 19 are at the top of my list.
Antisocial behavior refers to behaviors which are opposite of what society deems socially appropriate or acceptable. Antisocial behavior can include violence and aggression, such as extreme acts like hitting, and other less extreme act such as swearing, or littering. Aggression is defined as a behavior with the intent to harm another individual. Violence stems from physical aggression that is severe and often causes serious injury. Violence is also seen as the most serious form of aggression.
The two aspects that I found to be interesting in the chapter was the Violence Escalation Cycle. Before reading that chapter, I found that I do tend to lose my temper easily and it is also easy to see how things can escalate so quickly. It is important to know how violence escalates and continues, especially if the person has a problem. The cycle seems to explain how a person who is losing their temper doesn’t really how extreme they are being, therefore leading to bad outcomes such as broken relationships, or even death. It is as though they aren’t satisfied with how they are handling things so their temper will escalate even faster.
Another topic I found to be interesting in the chapter was how the government and violence were related. The government such as the police use violence and force in order to achieve a desired outcome, yet sometimes it is obviously too much. I agree with Meegan; an example of this would be how the man who was reaching for his wallet was shot 19 times. It is horrifying and shows how the government has taken advantage of their abilities or their positions in the community.
The GAM focuses mainly on how to fully understand the violent actions of others and what exactly were their motives. The GAM also takes in cognitive factors and gives us a picture of the violence being done and the different aspects that are related to it.
The chapters I would be interested in reading: 11, 15, 17, and 19!
In chapter one, the differences between antisocial behavior, aggression, and violence are discussed. Antisocial behavior can include violent and nonviolent behavior that goes against the expected standards of a larger group. It is the lack of adherence to the norms of the overall cultural and social group. Antisocial behavior differs from aggression and violence in that the latter are done with the intent to do direct harm to another. Aggression may or may not be violent but violent behavior always entails aggression. The difference between aggression and violence is the degree to which the act is carried out. Violence is considered the most severe form of aggression.
The part of this chapter that contained a lot of interesting information was the portion on the violence escalation cycle. I really enjoyed their examples of this cycle within gangs. I think this cycle of violence is so intriguing because we see and hear examples of this in society very frequently. Finding a way to put the process of escalating violence into a step by step cycle is in itself fascinating. It was also interesting to see it applied to understand how perpetrators of violence are created. The other part of the chapter I found interesting was the final section of the chapter, “Using the General Aggression Model to Reduce Aggression and Violence.” I think this section is helpful in showing the importance of reducing risk factors for aggression and how to use effective prevention techniques for at-risk individuals.
The General Aggression Model (GAM) is helpful in discussing violent behavior in that it puts violent acts into a spectrum of dimensions rather than specific categories of behavior. This is helpful due to the complexity of violent behavior and also helpful in creating treatment plans for violent individuals. This model can also be extremely useful in understanding violence in that it takes into account how cognitive factors interact with environmental factors. This is extremely useful to understand because of how both aspects play such a large role in behavior and how these two factors are interconnected in influencing how an individual interprets the outcomes of behaviors. The GAM model also creates a platform of understanding how both person and situation factors influence aggression through internal states and outcomes.
After looking through the table of contents, the chapters I am most interested in covering are chapters 9, 10, 11, 17, 19, and 20.