In this talk, I will examine major findings and concepts in psychological research on hostile aggression and offer an integrative conception whereby violence or the threat
of violence is a primordial means for establishing one’s sense of significance and mattering, thus addressing a fundamental social-psychological need. Our functional portrayal of aggression as a means to significance yields four testable hypotheses: (1)
frustration will elicit hostile aggression proportionately to the extent that the frustrated goal served the individual’s need for significance, (2) the impulse to aggress in response to significance loss will be enhanced in conditions that limit the
individual’s ability to reflect and engage in extensive information processing (that may bring up alternative, socially-condoned means to significance), (3) significancereducing frustration will elicit hostile aggression unless the impulse to aggress is
substituted by a non-aggressive means of significance restoration, (4) apart from significance loss, an opportunity for significance gain should increase the impulse to aggress. These hypotheses are supported by extant data as well as novel research findings in real-life contexts. They have important implications for understanding human aggression and the conditions under which it is likely to be manifested and reduced.
21 Ottobre 2022 -