Aggression Essay

Behaviorism is a classic psychology approach to understanding an organism's social and cognitive skills. This field of psychology focuses on observable behavior including measuring types of communication and natural mannerisms. It is important to understand how individuals present and express themselves in their natural environments in order to recognize and further advance knowledge about psychological disorders. When it comes to determining and labeling psychological disorders, especially behavioral disorders, it can be tricky to make the correct diagnosis. Psychologists have to assess all of the characteristics and symptoms an individual possesses and stick to textbook definitions when it comes to properly formulating a diagnosis.

Aggressive behavior is exhibited in individuals who present themselves in a very violent or hostile manner. Aggression is commonly linked with frustration and is a behavioral disorder that has various classifications. This factor makes it easy to confuse this disorder with different behavioral problems. There are different types of aggression that have different levels of severity. The website Study.com breaks down aggression into a few subcategories. The first subcategory is referred to as proactive aggressive behavior. According to Study.com, “proactive aggressive behaviors are calculated and planned actions that have some motive other than harming someone.” This means that proactive aggressive behaviors express feelings such as anger, frustration, superiority, etc in a pre-calculated manner to release built up tension. An individual's emotional needs motivate them to exert proactive aggressive behaviors. For example, bullying is a form of proactive aggression. Bullying allows the antagonist to feel superior to their victim and involves a lot of planning. The antagonist already knows who their target is, why they chose their target, and when they are going to torment them. The main thing to know about proactive aggressive behavior is that the individual who exhibits such behavior has a decent amount of control over their actions.The next sub-category is the complete opposite and is referred to as reactive

A confident individual with exert self contentedness and determination. They may be firm in their ways but they won’t present hostile or violent behavior frequently. That is the difference between assertion and aggression. A doctor by the name of Fredric Neuman is the Director of the Anxiety and Phobia center at White Plains Hospital. Dr. Neuman wrote an article on Psychology.com titled “Assertiveness vs. Aggressiveness” where he really highlighted the difference between the two behaviors. Dr. Neuman says: “being assertive means behaving in a way that is most likely to achieve one’s purpose.” This means that an individual who is assertive knows how to act according to the appropriate setting in order to reach their desired goals. An individual who is aggressive isn’t necessarily aware of their excessive dominant behavior and isn’t really driven by goals but by emotional turmoil. Assertion can be mistaken for aggression but it really depends on how an individual presents themselves. Unlike aggression, assertion isn’t a behavioral disorder but rather just a simple behavior. There can be extremes when it comes to both behaviors but it's important to recognize the true behavioral disorders from simple confidence. Misdiagnosistics can be detrimental to psychiatrists and their patients. Simple misconceptions should not and cannot be ignored. Determining the differences and similarities