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It is so important for
you to know what your individual anger responses are that for next week, so, please take notice when you get angry, where
you feel it in your body first. There will be one place that your body uses to indicate to you that you are getting angry.
Find out what your cue is. Remember, feelings just are. They will change If you will, picture standing on the edge of the
White River watching the water go by. It’s a Continuous stream. It goes on all the time. That is the same with your
emotions. From the moment you are born until the moment you die, you have some emotional component to your life, every day,
and every breath. Now imagine taking a knife and slicing through that river water. In it, you would find all kinds of things;
a fish or toad, rocks, a log half sunken, beer cans, etc. That’s like your individual emotions. They are all a part
of you but at any one moment in time, you may be feeling one or many emotions at the same time. It’s a curious thing
about our language though. As soon as you put a name on any one of those emotions, that’s the one your brain will
remember. That’s the emotion your brain will associate with that moment in time. Just as the river continuously
changes, yet always remains the same. Wait a moment, your feelings will change.
The Social
Learning Theory of Aggression: Learning to Be Aggressive The social learning theory of aggression holds that people learn
to behave aggressively by observing aggressive models and by having their aggressive responses reinforced (Bandura, 1973).
It is well known that aggression is higher in groups and subcultures that condone violent behavior and accord high status
of aggressive members. A leading advocate of the social learning theory of aggression, Albert Bandura (1976), claims that
aggressive models in the subculture, the family, and the media all play a part in increasing the level of aggression in society.
Abused children certainly
experience aggression and see it modeled day after day. And the rate of physical abuse is seven times greater in families
where there is a step-parent (Daly & Wilson, 1996). “One of the most commonly held beliefs in both the scholarly
and popular literature is that adults who were abused as children are more likely to abuse their own children” (Widom,
1989, p.6). There is some truth to this belief. On the basis of original research and an analysis of 60 other studies, Oliver
(1993) concludes that one-third of people who are abused go on to become abusers, one-third do not, and the final third may
become abusers if their lives are highly stressful. Most abusive parents, however, were not abused as children (Widom, 1989). Although abused
and neglected children are at a higher risk of becoming delinquent, criminal, or violent, the majority do not (Widom &
Maxfield, 1996). Several researchers suggest that the higher risk for aggression may not be due solely to an abusive
family environment but may be partly influenced by the genes (DiLalla & Gottesman, 1991). Some abused children become
withdrawn and isolated rather than aggressive and abusive (Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1990) The Media and Aggression: Is There a Connection?
By
the time the average American child completes elementary school, he or she will have watched over 8,000 murders and more than
100,000 various other acts of violence (Huston et al., 1992). But is there a casual link between viewing aggressive acts and
committing them? The research evidence overwhelmingly supports a relationship between TV violence and viewer aggression (Huesmann
& Moise, 1996; Singer et al., 1999). And the negative effects of TV violence are even worse for individuals who are, by
nature, highly aggressive (Bushman, 1995). According to Eron (1987, p.438), “One of the best predictors of how aggressive a young
man would be at age 19 was the violence of the TV programs he preferred when he was 8 years old.” A longitudinal
study conducted in Finland also found that the viewing of TV was related to criminality in young adulthood (Viemero, 1996).
A review of 28 studies
of the effects of media violence on children and adolescents revealed that “media violence enhances children’s
and adolescents’ aggression in interaction with strangers, classmates, and friends” (Wood et al., 1991, p.380).
it may stimulate physiological arousal, lower inhibitions, cause unpleasant feelings, and decrease sensitivity to violence and make it more acceptable to people. Black and Bevan (1992) administered an aggression inventory to moviegoers attending violent
and nonviolent movies. Higher aggression scores were found (both before and after the movie) for moviegoers attending violent
movies than for moviegoers attending nonviolent movies. Are violent episodes of TV shows in which the “good guys”
finally get the “bad guys” less harmful? Not according to Berkowitz (1964), who claims that justified aggression
is the type most likely to encourage the viewer to express aggression. Researchers have found a correlation between playing violent video games and aggression (Anderson &
Dill, 2000). Moreover, aggressiveness increases as more time is spent playing such games (Colwell, Payne, 2000). Researchers
in the Netherlands found that boys who chose aggressive video games tended to be more aggressive, less intelligent, and less
prosocial in their behavior (Weigman & van Schie, 1998).
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