1. Aggression: Definitions and Perspectives

2. Why study Aggression? A crime is committed –every 2 seconds A violent crime is committed –every 19 seconds Assault every 31 seconds A robbery every 59 seconds A rape every 6 minutes A murder every 27 minutes Regions of the US –South – 39% of total crime –West – 24% of total crime –Midwest – 20% of total crime –Northeast – 17% of total crime Lets look at “today” - CNN.com

3. Past Court Records –Not all still exist –Most pertain to homicide Long downward trend since mid- fourteenth century –From 20/100,000 in 1200 –To 1.5/100,000 in 1800 Continued to drop until 1950s –.3/100,000 in 1951 Creep back up in last 50 years –1/100,000 in 1981

4. Serious violent crime levels declined since 1993

5. What is Aggression? The scientific study of affect, behavior, cognition, and physiology/biology. -Cognition: Internal mental processes of the individual -Affect: Subjective feeling states -Behavior: Any action that can be observed and recorded -Physiology/Biology: How body/brain influence above The scientific study of “people” in “situations”. Aggression encompasses many different types of behaviors in many different kinds of situations

6. What is Aggression? Physical, emotional, psychological Minor, severe Human, animal, natural forces Accidental, intentional Socially approved, disapproved Legally approved, illegal Justification, no justification Each person perceiving it differently, why?

7. What is violence? Violence »ActionHarm (physical) Aggression »ActionIntent to Harm (any type)

8. What causes Aggression? Biology/Physiology?Biology/Physiology? (including neurotransmitters, hormones, personality traits, evolution, genetics Cognition?Cognition? (including thoughts, attributional bias, threatened egotism, cognitive priming Affect?Affect? (emotional reactions including frustration-aggression, excitation-transfer BehaviorBehavior Situation?Situation? (external factors such as culture, social learning, media, situational cues like heat, noise, crowding, etc)