quotations about aggression
Aggression is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. In many ways legitimate aggression contributes vitally to our lives. In aggression we find our drives for life, career, social contact, self-definition, and service.
DOUGLAS GILLETTE
Warrior Within
Surprising, but true: One of the regular breakthroughs my clients have is that they often reach for crunchy or chewy foods as a way to address aggression. Whether it's frustration with a boss, coworker, significant other, or a stressful daily commute, coping through munching is a pretty common pattern. In my experience people who tend to "anger eat" can break the pattern by finding other physical ways to let it out. Typically the alternatives involve something that keeps the brain and hands busy, like cleaning, clearing out and organizing closets or drawers, drawing, painting, or even playing video games. If you're successfully (and healthfully) expressing your aggression, you're far less likely to reach for foods like chips or licorice.
CYNTHIA SASS
"Here Is the Real Key to Weight Loss (Hint: It's Not Diet or Exercise)", Health, December 24, 2015
The central lesson of our time is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied. To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next.
ROSS GREGORY & RICHARD BALKIN
Cold War America
In addition to explaining how aggressive behavior is acquired, social learning theory clarifies how aggrssive behavior is maintained (or becomes habitual) over time. First, aggressive behavior is maintained when it is successfully used to satisfy personal needs that do not necessarily require the use of aggression. For instance, instead of taking turns, a child aggressively pushes others to get a desired object. Second, aggressive behavior resulting in the termination of another person's annoying behavior helps make aggression habitual. So, if in response to the ubiquitous little sibling question, "What are you doing?" the big sibling gives the little sibling a wedgie and the annoying questioning stops, the big sibling's response has been reinforced. Consequently, the big sibling's aggressive behavior is likely to be maintained. Third, aggressive behavior is maintained when it is socially sanctioned by peers. Finally, aggressive behavior is maintained when it becomes intrinsically rewarding (i.e., self-reinforcing). That is to say, when aggressive behavior becomes a source of personal pride, it is likely to continue.
STEVEN J. KIRSH
Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research
Before children can learn how to resolve conflict, they must empty their cup with respect to believing that aggression should always be met with aggression.
TERRENCE WEBSTER-DOYLE
Black Belt Magazine, Aug. 2003
Children need to learn that using aggression is not the best way to resolve issues. If you use anger as a means to get your child to listen or behave, stop immediately. You are modelling this behaviour and he is imitating you.
ALYSON SCHAFER
"Anger Management For Kids: Tips For Dealing With Explosive Children", Huffington Post, March 2, 2016
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it.
LEWIS H. LAPHAM
Harper's Magazine, Mar. 1985
Childhood aggression is one of the best-known social predictors of future maladjustment.
DOROTHY LYNN ESPELAGE & SUSAN M. SWEARER
Bullying in American Schools
Most aggression is based on not being able to say "no," not being able to set boundaries, letting oneself be driven into a corner, etc. The basic evil is fear.
GERTRUD HIRSCHI
Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands
Force and aggression should always be secondary tools.
PUJAN ROKA
Bhagavad Gita on Effective Leadership
If you're calm, you can be strategic and planned in your aggression.
CAROLINE MORTIMER
"Parents who manipulate their children turn them into meaner adults, says new survey", The Independent, January 27, 2016
The first major classroom for the teaching and learning of aggression is the home. In the home, 4 percent of parents physically abuse their children (e.g., burn, fracture, shake to the point of concussion), and 90 percent make at least occasional (and sometimes frequent) use of corporal punishment (e.g., spank, hit, slap). What happens when an adult hits a child? The child ceases the behavior(s) that resulted in the punishment. Punishment results in the cessation of the aversive event and, thus negatively reinforced, the adult is now more likely to use corporal punishment in response to the child's next transgression. Not only has the adult learned the correctness of the adage "might makes right," so too has the child.
ARNOLD P. GOLDSTEIN
Aggression Replacement Training
Aggression is never as effective as assertiveness.
ROBERT M. SHERFIELD
The Everything Self-Esteem Book
If aggression is innate then all cultures should be equally aggressive, but this is obviously not the case.
SALLY GADSDON
Psychology and Sport
The human capacity for aggression is staggering. It has been estimated that 58 million humans were killed by other humans (an average of nearly one person per minute) during the 125-year period ending with World War II. War, homicide, riots, family violence, assassination, rape, assault, forcible robbery, and other violent acts offer sad testimony to the realities of human aggression.
DENNIS COON & JOHN O. MITTERER
Psychology
When I find myself playing shorthanded against a better player, I remind myself that aggression is the great equalizer. It is very difficult--in fact mathematically impossible--for a player to beat a hyperaggressive opponent more than about two thirds of the time.
PHIL GORDON
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book
Aggression is common to humans and animals. This behavior requires no learning, many scientists believe, due to an underlying neural circuit hardwired in the brain.
SUSAN SCUTTI
"Aggression is common to humans and animals. This behavior requires no learning, many scientists believe, due to an underlying neural circuit hardwired in the brain", Medical Daily, March 7, 2016
Wars of hate, aggression, and aggrandizement are only productive of more hate and more human suffering.
JOSEPH LEWIS
An Atheist Manifesto
The roadblock to the cultivation of empathy may include social constructions of masculinity, where aggression is, in many cases, expected and rewarded among males, especially youth.
WESLEY CHRICHLOW
Alternative Offender Rehabilitation and Social Justice
Aggression is a form of loveless interference of a similar frequency. It is a projection of fear and of uncertainty and the result of untrue assumptions and false beliefs. Aggression is allowed to exist in the illusion that we are different and separate from each other. A fearful mind requires an enemy to maintain its addiction to illusion. A fearful mind requires something or someone to attack, to project its fearful thoughts at and onto. This is how it attempts to feel more powerful, by expelling its fear through attack.
CAMERON SINNAMON
True Sight: See the World through God's Eyes and Live the Ultimate Life