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Aggression

Understanding the nature of aggression is important in the educational setting because education happens in a social context that provides opportunities for settling conflicts caused by aggression that may in turn disrupt social relationships and educational achievement. This entry first presents a definition of aggression and its manifestation in bullying. The entry then describes the developmental trajectory of aggression and the impact of gender on aggressive behavior across the lifespan.

Aggression Defined

Aggression is broadly defined as behavior that is intended to harm another person. That harm can take a variety of forms: The harm may be either verbal or physical; it may be direct or indirect; it may be active or passive. Verbal aggression involves using words to cause harm to another person, for example by cursing or screaming at someone. Physical aggression harms another person by damaging their physical person, for example by hitting or kicking. Physical or verbal aggression may be delivered either directly or indirectly. Direct aggression involves direct confrontation with the target and may be either physical or verbal. Indirect aggression, on the other hand, takes a circuitous route to harming someone by way of another person or object. For example, indirect aggression might involve gossiping about someone or damaging something that belongs to him or her. Finally, individuals may harm one another by either active or passive means. Active aggression is the most obvious in that the harm involves action by the aggressor. Passive aggression is less easy to detect because it involves harm by not doing something. Stomping out of the room and refusing to talk would be an example of passive aggression.

Educators are especially concerned about the frequency and consequences of bullying in schools. Bullying is targeted, ongoing aggression that may involve any of the forms of aggression mentioned above. Victims of bullies suffer psychological, social, and emotional consequences that are likely to disrupt their educational achievement.

Developmental Trajectory of Aggression

All of the forms of aggression can be observed in the behavior of both sexes, and few gender differences emerge until adolescence, at which point female aggression can begin to be set apart from its male counterpart. For instance, in adolescence, women are more likely to resort to verbal aggression expressed passively or indirectly. As mentioned before, indirect aggression involves the delivery of harm to another person through circuitous routes. It can take the form of gossip, malicious rumors, social exclusion, or sabotaging someone's work or reputation. Adolescents, for example, may engage in forms of relational aggression that are aimed at socially ostracizing another person. One explanation as to why these behaviors tend to be used more frequently by females is that they require a relatively high degree of verbal and social acuity, skills that adolescent females appear to develop earlier than males. However, as time progresses this difference disappears. By adulthood, males and females use approximately equal levels of indirect aggression. In sum, the developmental trajectory is that females and males engage in similar levels of types of aggression in childhood and adulthood. Gender differences are more pronounced during adolescence when the advanced verbal and social skills of some young women allow them to better use words and social connections to deliver harm to others.

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