The General Aggression Model (original) (raw)
Related papers
Annual review of psychology, 2002
Key Words violence, harm, theory, general aggression model s Abstract Research on human aggression has progressed to a point at which a unifying framework is needed. Major domain-limited theories of aggression include cognitive neoassociation, social learning, social interaction, script, and excitation transfer theories. Using the general aggression model (GAM), this review posits cognition, affect, and arousal to mediate the effects of situational and personological variables on aggression. The review also organizes recent theories of the development and persistence of aggressive personality. Personality is conceptualized as a set of stable knowledge structures that individuals use to interpret events in their social world and to guide their behavior. In addition to organizing what is already known about human aggression, this review, using the GAM framework, also serves the heuristic function of suggesting what research is needed to fill in theoretical gaps and can be used to create and test interventions for reducing aggression.
Psychological Theories Of Aggression. Critical Perspective
Journal of Education, Society & Multiculturalism, 2020
The present article, which is completely theoretical, with no attempts at empirical verification, presents several theories of aggression and aggressive behaviour, in an attempt to offer a critical perspective on them. Following G. Moser's classification, four major conceptions regarding aggressive behaviour shall be placed under analysis: instinctual theories – consider that aggression is a manifestation of an innate impulse or instinct; reactive theories – consider aggressive behaviour as a reaction to frustrating, unpleasant situations; theories of learning – according to which aggressive behaviour is a behaviour acquired through different mechanisms, such as learning through imitation and / or observation; cognitive approach – which emphasizes the internal central cognitive processes inserted between stimuli and the behavioural response of the individual. By addressing the main theoretical points, this paper deals with classical theories of aggression and their definition of...
Human Aggression: A Social-Cognitive View
The SAGE Handbook of Social Psychology: Concise Student Edition, 2007
In creating this electronic reprint, we have attempted to keep the style, pagination, and format as close to the published form as possible. Nonetheless, some errors may have occurred. If you discover a substantial error, please contact Craig Anderson
Research on aggression focuses almost exclusively on the aggressive individual so that aggression is usually described as an individual-centered event. By contrast, the model presented in this article was developed through research of naturally occurring, aggressive interactions between adolescents in which the social and physical environment of aggressive events is a critical focus. The model provides a conceptual frame for the analysis of aggression in social interactions in natural settings that takes the complexity of social, environmental, and individual factors into account by distinguishing three systems (the biological, psychic, and social systems) and analyzing their interrelations and co-evolutionary processes. This article considers consequences for aggressive behavior when systems of different phylogenetic ages affect one another, and it delineates the interrelationships between systems and their environments and their mutual influence on one another. The model generated an innovative methodology for assessing aggression in natural settings and new technique, the use of camera-glasses for recording data of social interactions and environments from the aggressively reacting individual's perspective.
Paradigm change in aggression research: The time has come to retire the General Aggression Model
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2012
As Kuhn (1970) has noted, most scientific fields go through processes of paradigm change, painful periods in which old theories no longer fit available data and are placed by new theories. Such periods typically create strife and debate as ideological differences emerged between proponents of old and new theoretical approaches. In the current paper, we argue that such a period has been reached within the field of aggression research. Over the past half-century, social cognitive and social learning paradigms of aggression, exemplified in the General Aggression Model (GAM) have retained dominance, particularly in areas such as media violence. We contend that data to support the GAM and social cognitive approaches to aggression have never been conclusive, and newer evidence increasingly suggests that the GAM and social cognitive theories of aggression more generally are not adequate to explain aggressive phenomena. We discuss weaknesses and problematic, sometimes hidden assumptions of the GAM and how these reduce the utility of this paradigm. Current evidence suggests that the GAM and the social cognitive paradigm of aggression should be retired, and approaches which focus on diathesis-stress hold greater promise.►Aggression research has entered a period of paradigm change. ►The General Aggression Model has received only poor research support. ►Diathesis stress models of aggression are a better match to research data.