Aggression

Aggression is one of the most basic human behaviors. The array of aggressive behaviors has evolved with humankind, taking more and more [Page 19]sophisticated forms. Among animals in natural settings aggressive interactions occur in the presence of conflict, for example, between males seeking mating opportunities or competing for territory and resources such as food and water. In humans, the struggle for survival developed over time through tribal intergroup raids to the most sophisticated form of violent human behaviors: modern wars in which aggression ostensibly aimed at group survival and gain is backed with existential and ideological rationale, armed fundamentalism, and ultramodern technologies that enable mass killing.

The notion of aggression appeared in the English language in the 17th century and originated from the Latin aggressio(n-), which stems from aggredi (to attack). Broadly defined, aggression consists of hostile or violent social behavior, the readiness to attack or confront, or the action of attacking without provocation. The term embraces a wide array of functionally different behaviors that all have in common the intentional infliction of harm upon another person. Therefore, aggression will be defined here as any form of hostile behavior aimed at harming another human being. The ethologist Konrad Lorenz observed that, unlike the interspecies interaction between a predator and its prey, aggression is the fighting instinct directed against members of the same species, and this is the aspect most significant in the context of this encyclopedia. We can also distinguish the legal meaning of the term in international relations, where, according to the United Nations, aggression is the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.

To understand how profoundly aggression influences some of the cruelest and most horrifying human behaviors requires a look at the biological underpinnings of aggressive tendencies in humans, for, despite all the biological changes and cultural accomplishments of humanity over the course of tens of thousands of years, the same basic rules governed raids conducted by primitive tribes of Homo sapiens, the mass battles of World Wars I and II, and the episodes of genocide in recent decades such as in Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Timor, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and Syria. Biology—both the submission to the most primal instincts and the struggle with them in order to create the most optimal environment for the human race to evolve—shapes our acts, experiences, culture, and social organization from the individual to the group level. In return, those experiences and developments modify biology. Therefore, a multidisciplinary study of the phenomenon is required. This entry considers aggression as a violent form of social interaction realized through intentional acts that damage other individuals or groups. The forms and functions aggression serves will be investigated, along with the evolution of aggression in human history and its role in the system of violent human behaviors, from the use of primitive clubs to the deployment of weaponized drones.