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Human Aggression

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Human Aggression
HUMAN AGGRESSION

Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman
Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-3180; e-mail: caa@iastate.edu, bushman@iastate.edu

Key Words violence, harm, theory, general aggression model

■ 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 trans-fer 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 per-sistence 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.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 28
BASIC DEFINITIONS : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 28
Aggression : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 28
Violence : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 29
Hostile vs. Instrumental Aggression : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 29
DOMAIN SPECIFIC THEORIES OF AGGRESSION : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 29
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