Dontae Parrish
Psychology of Emotions 214 EA
Ms. Vargo
03/31/2015
The Emotion Aggression: Existentialism Point of View
The reason this research was done is to inform the listeners and the reader(s) of this paper on the emotion known as Aggression. Since the earliest day of man and animal’s existence aggression has been a critical factor for survival. Literally think about it, it is in our nature as both animals and humans to act aggressively in certain situations that arise.
What is Aggression? In order for us to understand aggression we must first define aggression to the best possible definition that fits this subject in general and also as a word in its whole entirety. Behavior that is aggressive is defined as “any action of an animal that serves to injure an opponent or prey animal or to cause an opponent to retreat.” Aggression. (n.d.)
This is the definitive term from the Britannica Encyclopedia. There are other terms that I think best fit this subject in general which I found on the internet. “In psychology, the term aggression refers to a range of behaviors that can result in both physical and psychological harm to oneself, other or objects in the environment. The expression of aggression can occur in a number of ways, including verbally, mentally and physically.” Cherry, K. (n.d.)
As you can see from a psychological standpoint this definition best fits the research pertaining to this paper concerning the emotion Aggression. You are probably asking yourself why, did he go out of my way to add the first definition of the term aggression! Well, the answer is simply understanding! I say that because, we must first know all possible definitions of a word before we can determine what it even means.
I had accomplished several interviews while researching for this article! Most of these interviews had an outcome that would prove useless for my paper. Although, a few subjects were deemed useful by my standards of what I wanted this paper to be, which was as definitive as possible. One of these interviews consisted of a woman by the name of Rachel Winston. Winston defined aggression almost similar to the definition I obtained from the internet source used for this paper. She said “aggression s any physical or verbal behavior that intends to hurt.” Rachel Winston
There are many situations where the behaviors displayed can be deemed aggressive or aggression according to Winston and my sources that were used for reference in this paper. The many forms that aggression takes can range from many mental or physical actions, from punching a boxing bag to release anger or shooting a loaded pistol at a target in your local gun range these activities may differ for many people. Just for the simple fact that not everyone reacts the same in aggressive situations.
Even playing sports involve aggression, in most sports aggression is the key to winning the game itself. Lacrosse for example, in this sport they use body to body contact to prevent their opponents from scoring or potentially winning the game. This is common in many activities deemed as sports in our society these sports have become part of our culture. Most of these sports are traditions in most areas of the world.
Aggression is unnoticeable to the aggressor, you can possibly say that this emotional behavior is almost in the eye of the beholder. A person committing aggressive behavior may not recognize their actions as an aggressive behavior. Most really do not even know they could be classified as aggressive until after they have finished doing whatever it was they were doing that the victim or even society would call aggressive behavior.
It is sort of hard to study aggression because of the nature in which it happens. Most situation that involve aggression are spontaneous and are done without any thought or any consideration for the victim. Certain action are easy to categorize as aggressive. Actions like killing someone or even rape are both well-known forms of aggression.
