aggression…
Aggressiveness is often used interchangeably with assertiveness, but the definitions are distinct. Let’s begin digging this week to see how they’re related… and how they’re not. Here are a few famous quotes to give you an idea how it has been used in popular literature and culture.
“You can’t have pride without humility. Aggression without tolerance. Strength without compassion. Power without restraint.”
― D.J. MacHale
“There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe“My generals should be like bull terriers on chains, and they should want war, war, war … But what happens now? I want to go ahead with my aggressive politics and the generals try to stop me. That’s a false situation.”
― Adolf Hitler“No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility.”
― Simone de Beauvoir
* ETYMOLOGY *
Aggression is a noun, once again originating from Latin, as in aggredior (“to attack, step toward, approach”).
ad- (“toward”)
+ gradi (“to step, proceed, walk”)
* HISTORY & USAGE *
The word aggression was first used in the early 17th century in the sense of an attack (either unprovoked or in retaliation) on something or someone, often referring to military action in the context of war.
“It is accordance with our determination to refrain from aggression and build up a sentiment and practice among nations more favorable to peace … that we have incurred the consent of fourteen important nations to the negotiation of a treaty condemning recourse to war, renouncing it as an instrument of national policy.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933), U.S. president. New York Times (August 16, 1928), about the Kellogg-Briand Pact of WWI
In the psychiatric sense of “hostile or destructive behavior” the word was first recorded in a 1912 translation of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Freud refers to the innate aggressive human drive Todestrieb, literally meaning “death instinct.”
“The hypothesis of a death instinct, the task of which is to lead organic life back into the inanimate state.”
* DEFINITIONS *
aggression (ə-grěsh’ən) noun
PSYCHIATRY
overt or suppressed hostility
either innate or resulting from continued frustration and directed outward or against oneself
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
behavior meant to intimidate or injure another animal but is not considered predatory
action may be displayed during mating rituals or to defend territory
MILITARY
the action of a state in violating by force the rights of another state, particularly its territorial rights
an unprovoked offensive, attack,invasion, or the like
any offensive action, attack, or procedure
the practice of making assaults; offensive action in general
* NEW UNDERSTANDINGS *
- What if Your Arrogant, Angry Boss or Colleague Really Isn’t? . . . and Why Should You Care? (thestage1.com)
- Freud, 31-40 (kcrump92.wordpress.com)
- Ten Things You Might Not Have Known About Freud (psychology.about.com)
- Anger under Control: Neural Correlates of Frustration as a Function of Trait Aggression (plosone.org)
- Aggressive Cat Behavior: How To Stop Your Cat From Attacking Other Animals (cat-training.dogs-and-cats-at-home.com)
