Reduction of Aggression Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reduction of Aggression - Essay Example Socio-cultural perspective believes that bullying is due to the presence of specific social groups with different levels of power. Instrumental theorists take aggression as serving a useful function for the individual aggressive behavior to gain some kind of pay-off which makes it worth the risk. Aggression occurs not for the pleasure of lashing out but for the purpose of achieving some benefit (Campbell, 1997). Sep. 11th attacks were examples of instrumental aggression. They wanted to send a message to US. Study shows that children showing reactive aggression were characterized by higher self-control, especially constructiveness, at each age and better adult adjustment (Pulkkinen, 1995). There exist popular and unpopular subtypes of aggressive children who have different peer affiliation patterns (Farmer et al. 2002). Thus there are two social worlds of aggression in school: aggressive children who are marginalized by society and children who are well influenced in the social structure. This view is supported by studies showing that some children who are perceived as popular in social network use physical or social form of aggression to promote and keep their influence and position in the social hierarchy while other aggressive students are picked-on and victimized by seniors (Adler &Adler 1998; Caims & Cairns, 2005). Hence one can conclude that that aggression is part of the general social dynamics in classrooms. Aggression Prevention Methods Many techniques and procedures can be used to prevent or avoid aggression. Some of them are discussed below. The threat of mild punishment might help to reduce aggression. Mild punishment and education when applied in pair has helped to reduce the bullying behavior in students. Anger management is another effective technique. Stress management training approach (Beck and Fernandz, 1996) to anger management, as given below, is an effective three phase process Phase 1 Identification of factors triggering anger Rehearsal of self statement intended to prevent anger (I can handle this). Phase 2 Acquisition of relaxation techniques Coupling self statements with relaxation techniques after exposure to anger trigger. Phase 3 Rehearsal phase Practicing cognitive and relaxation techniques until mental and physical response can be achieved automatically. Making Choices: a Social Development Program This empirically based intervention targets third grade children who are live in a high-risk rural community that is experiencing rapid growth and changing racial and ethnic demographics.( Fraser, n.d.) Works Cited 1. Anne Campbell (1997) Altruism and Aggression Blackwell publishing 2. Barbara Krahe. The social psychology of aggression 3. Ken Rigby (2003) No. 259 Addressing bullying in schools: theory and practice. Australian institute of criminology trends and issues in crime and criminal justice. 4. Kenneth S.Bordens, Irwin A. Horowitz, Social Psychology.