Abstract
One of the persistent features of modern life is the increasing incidence of anger and aggression which culminate in hostility and violence. The incidence of these negative emotions is on the rise at various levels (e.g., individual, family, group, and nation), and humanity is paying heavy costs in terms of loss of life, increase in ecological hazards, and rise in challenges to health. Aggression is used as an instrument for gaining control over power, authority, and resources. The cultural control or regulatory mechanisms are compromised by the rise of consumerism and competitiveness. On the whole, violence and negativity are assuming alarming proportions. Against this backdrop, this chapter examines the social and cultural context of anger and aggression and discusses the strategies to deal with them. It is argued that control of anger and aggression and promotion of peace and harmony require multi-pronged strategies.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abi-Hshem, N. (2012). Religious fundamentalism. In C. Figley (Ed.), Encyclopedia of trauma an interdisciplinary guide (pp. 544–547). Sage.
Abraham, K. (1968). Notes on the psychoanalytic investigation and treatment of manic-depressive insanity and allied conditions. In W. Gaylin (Ed.), The meaning of despair. Science House.
Adams, H., Shirako, A., & Maddux, W. W. (2010). Cultural variance in the interpersonal effects of anger negotiations. Psychological Science, 21, 882–889.
Agarwal, A. (2009). Affective and motivational processes. In G. Misra (Ed.), Psychology in India (Vol. 1): Basic psychological processes and human development (pp. 203–261). Pearson.
Allen, J. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2017). Aggression and violence: Definitions and distinctions. In P. Sturmey (Ed.), The Wiley handbook of violence and aggression (pp. 1–14). Wiley.
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12, 353–359.
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27–51.
Anderson, C. A., & Huesmann, L. R. (2003). Human aggression: A social-cognitive view. In M. A. Hogg & J. Cooper (Eds.), The sage handbook of social psychology (pp. 296–323). Sage.
Appel, M., Marker, C., & Gnambs, T. (2019). Are social media running our lives? A review of meta-analytic evidence. Review of General Psychology, 24(1), 60–74.
Ariley, G. (2019). Collective memory and attitudes toward asylum seekers: Evidence from Israel. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1572499
Averill, J. R. (1980). A constructionist view of emotion. In R. Plutchik & H. Kellerman (Eds.), Emotion: Theory, research and experience (Vol. I, pp. 305–339). Academic.
Averill, J. R. (1982). Anger and aggression: An essay on emotions. Springer.
Averill, J. R. (1983). Studies on anger and aggression: Implication for theories of emotion. American Psychologist, 3B, 1145–1160.
Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A social learning analysis. Prentice Hall.
Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 193–209.
Bandura, A., Underwood, B., & Fromson, M. E. (1975). Disinhibition of aggression through diffusion of responsibility and dehumanization of victims. Journal of Research in Personality, 9, 253–269.
Bar-Tal, D. (2007). Socio-psychological foundations of intractable conflicts. American Behavioral Scientist, 50, 1430–1453.
Bar-Tal, D. (2013). Intractable conflicts: Socio-psychological foundations and dynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Bar-Tal, D., Chernyak-Hai, L., Schori, N., & Gundar, A. (2009). A sense of self-perceived collective victimhood in intractable conflicts. International Review of the Red Cross, 91, 229–258.
Baumeister, R. F., & Campbell, W. K. (1999). The intrinsic appeal of evil: Sadism, sensational thrills, and threatened egotism. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 210–221.
Baumeister, R. F., Smart, L., & Boden, J. M. (1996). Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem. Psychological Review, 103, 5–33.
Berkowitz, L. (1983). Aversively stimulated aggression: Some parallels and differences in research with animals and humans. American Psychologist, 38, 1135–1144.
Berkowitz, L. (1989). Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Examination and reformulation. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 59–73.
Berkowitz, L. (1990). On the formation and regulation of anger and aggression. A cognitive neoassociationistic analysis. American Psychologist, 45, 494–503.
Berkowitz, L. (1993). Aggression: Its causes, consequences, and control. McGraw-Hill.
Berkowitz, L. (1994). Is something missing? Some observations are promoted by the cognitive neoassociationistic view of anger and emotional aggression. In L. R. Huesmann (Ed.), Aggressive behaviour: Current perspective. Plenum.
Berkowitz, L., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2004). Towards an understanding of the determinants of anger. Emotion, 4(2), 107–130.
Bilali, R., & Volhardt, J. R. (2019). Victim and perpetrator groups’ divergent perspectives on collective violence: Implications for intergroup relations. Political Psychology, 40, 75–108.
Blumberg, S. H., & Izard, C. E. (1986). Discriminating patterns of emotions in 10- and 11-year-old children’s anxiety and depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 852–857.
Bondurant, J. V. (1965). Conquest of violence: The Gandhian philosophy of conflict (Rev ed.). University of California Press.
Burrowes, R. J. (1996). The strategy of nonviolent defense: Canadian approach. State University of New York Press.
Burton, J. W. (1990). Conflict: Resolution and prevention. Macmillan.
Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 724–731.
Bushman, B. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (1998). Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: Does self-love or self-hate lead to violence? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 219–229.
Bushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2010). Aggression. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, 5th ed., pp. 833–863). Wiley.
Bushman, B. J., Baumeister, R. F., & Stack, A. D. (1999). Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: Self-fulfilling or self-defeating prophecies? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 367–376.
Bushman, B. J., Baumeister, R. F., & Phillips, C. M. (2001). Do people aggress to improve their mood? Catharsis beliefs, affect regulation opportunities, and aggressive responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 17–32.
Butigan, K. (1999). From violence to wholeness: A ten-part program in the spirituality and practice of active nonviolence. Pace e Bene Franciscan Nonviolence Center.
DeWall, C. N., Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2012). Aggression. In H. Tennen, J. Suls, & I. B. Weiner (Eds.), Handbook of psychology (Vol. 5, 2nd ed., pp. 449–466). Wiley.
Dodge, K. A. (1980). Social cognition and children’s aggressive behavior. Child Development, 51, 620–635.
Dollard, J., Doob, L. W., Miller, N. E., Mowrer, O. H., & Sears, R. R. (1939). Frustration and aggression. Yale University Press.
Ekman, P. (1977). Facial Expression. In Siegman, A. & Feldstein, S. (Eds.), Nonverbal Communication and Behavior (pp. 97–126). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Association.
Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 203–235.
Fisher, R., & Ury, W. (1981). Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in (2nd ed.). Penguin.
Fromm, E. (1973). The anatomy of human destructiveness. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace, and peace research. Journal of Peace Research, 3, 176–191.
Galtung, J. (1980). Essays in peace research: Peace, research, education, and action (Vol. 1). Christian Ejlers. (Original work published 1975).
Galtung, J. (1996). Peace by peaceful means: Peace, conflict, development, and civilization. Christian Ejlers.
Gandhi, M. K. (1983). Non-violent resistance (Satyagraha). Schocken.
Griffith, P. (1989). Battle tactics of the Civil War. Yale University Press.
Grossman, D. (1996). On killing. Little Brown.
Hartsough, D., & Duncan, M. (2001). Creating a global nonviolent peace force. Fellowship, 67, 14–15.
Hinton, A., & Woolford, A. (2019). Guest editorial: Critical genocide and atrocity prevention studies. Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, 13(3), 1–8.
Huesmann, L. R. (1982). Information processing models of behavior. In N. Hirschberg & L. Humphreys (Eds.), Multivariate applications in the social sciences (pp. 261–288). Erlbaum.
Huesmann, L. R. (1988). An information model for the development of aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 4, 13–24.
Huesmann, L. R., & Taylor, L. D. (2006). The role of the mass media in violent behavior. In R. C. Brownson (Ed.), Annual review of public health (Vol. 26). Annual Reviews.
Jacob, F. (2019). Genocide and mass violence in the age of extremes. Walter de Gruyter GmbH.
Jasini, A., Delvaux, E., & Mesquita, B. (2017). Collective victimhood and ingroup identity jointly shape intergroup relations, even in a non-violent conflict: In the case of the Belgians. Psychologica Belgica, 57, 98–114.
Jeste, D. V., & Vahia, I. V. (2008). Comparison of the conceptualization of wisdom in ancient Indian literature with modern views: Focus on the Bhagavad Gita. Psychiatry, 71, 197–209.
Keegan, J., & Holmes, R. (1985). Soldiers: A history of men in battle. Hamish Hamilton.
Kelman, H. C. (1996). The interactive problem-solving approach. In C. A. Crocker, F. O. Hampson, & P. Aall (Eds.), Managing global chaos (pp. 501–520). United States Institute of Peace Press.
Kilham, W., & Mann, L. (1974). Level of destructive obedience as a function of transmitter and executant roles in the Milgram obedience paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 696–702.
Kool, V. K., & Agarwal, R. (2020). Gandhi and psychology of nonviolence. Springer.
Kool, V. K., & Agarwal, R. (2022). Gandhi’s wisdom: Insight from founding father of modern psychology in the East. Springer.
Kovecses, Z. (2000). The concept of anger: Universal or culture specific ? Psychopathology, 33, 159–170.
Krahé, B. (2013). The social psychology of aggression (2nd ed.). Psychology Press.
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Progress on a cognitive-motivational relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist, 46, 819–834.
Littman, R., & Paluck, E. L. (2015). The cycle of violence: Understanding individual participation in collective violence. Advances in Political Psychology, 36, 79–99.
Malamuth, N. M. (1998). The conference model as an organizing framework for research on sexually aggressive men: Risk moderators, imagined aggression, and pornographic consumption. In R. G. Geen & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Human aggression: Theories, research, and implications for social policy (pp. 230–249). Academic.
Marshall, S. L. A. (1947). Men against fire: The problem of battle command. William Morrow.
Martins, A., & Weaver, A. (2019). The role of media exposure on relational aggression: A meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 47, 90–99.
Masters, R. A. (2000). Compassionate wrath: Transpersonal approaches to anger. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 32, 31–51.
Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. S. (2011). Culture, emotion, and expression. In K. D. Keith (Ed.), Cross-cultural psychology contemporary themes and perspectives (pp. 331–343). Wiley-Blackwell.
Misra, G. (2011). Psychology of emotions: Some cultural perspectives. In R. M. M. Cornelissen, G. Misra, & S. Varma (Eds.), Foundations of Indian psychology: Concepts and theories (Vol. 1, pp. 377–400). Pearson.
Nathan, L. (2000). The four horsemen of the apocalypse: The structural cause of crisis and violence in Africa. Peace and Change, 25, 188–207.
Pande, N., & Naidu, R. K. (1992). Anasakti and health: A study of non-attachment. Psychology and Developing Societies, 4(1), 89–104.
Pelton, L. H. (1974). The psychology of nonviolence. Pergamon Press.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. American Psychological Association.
Rogers, C. R., & Ryback, D. (1984). One alternative to nuclear planetary suicide. The Counseling Psychologist, 12, 3–12.
Rubin, J. Z., Pruitt, D. G., & Kim, S. H. (1994). Social conflict: Escalation, stalemate, and settlement (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Russell, J. A. (1994). Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression? A review of the cross-cultural studies. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 102–141.
Salagame, K. K. K. (2011). Ego and ahamkara: Self and identity in modern psychology and Indian thought. In R. M. M. Cornelissen, G. Misra, & S. Varma (Eds.), Foundations of Indian psychology (pp. 133–145). Pearson.
Salagame, K. K. K., Raj, A., Murthy, K. P., Partimala, N., Rekha, K., & Gaur, S. (2005). Concept of ahamkara: Theoretical and empirical analysis. In K. R. Rao (Ed.), Towards a spiritual psychology: Essays in Indian psychology. Samvada Publishers.
Scherer, K., Schorr, A., & Johnstone, T. (2001). Appraisal process in emotion: Theory, method, research. New York: Oxford University Press.
Seligman, M., & Csikezentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology. American Psychologist, 55, 5–13.
Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410–421.
Sharma, S., Ghosh, S. N., & Spielberger, C. D. (1995). Anxiety, anger, expression and chronic ulcer. Psychological Studies, 40, 187–191.
Sharma, S., Krishna, A., & Spielberger, C. D. (1996). Anger and anxiety in hypertensive patients in India. In C. D. Spielberger & I. G. Sarason (Eds.), Stress and emotion (Vol. 16, pp. 261–268). Taylor Francis.
Sharma, S., Sood, N., & Spielberger, C. D. (1999). Occupational stress, anxiety, anger and type – A behaviour. In D. M. Pestonjee, U. Pareek, & R. Agrawal (Eds.), Studies in stress and management (pp. 111–120). Oxford & IBH.
Sharma, S., Ghosh, S. N., & Sharma, M. (2004). Life events stress, emotional vital signs and peptic ulcer. Psychological Studies, 49, 167–176.
Sharp, G. (1973). The politics of nonviolent action (Vol. 1–3). Porter Sargent.
Shaver, P. R., & Mikulincer, M. (Eds.). (2010). Human aggression and violence causes, manifestations and consequences. American Psychological Association.
Shukla, R. (1919). Chintamani. Indian Press Ltd.
Singh, J. K. (2018). Psychological strength in the military set up: Current status and future direction. Defence Life Sciences Journal, 3, 340–347.
Singh, D. K. (2022). Violence and nonviolence in Indian religious traditions. In H. Roy (Ed.), Social thought in Indic civilization (pp. 115–140). Sage.
Singh, J. K., & Misra, G. (1997). The experience of anger and aggression in Indian youth some preliminary observations. Trends in Social Science Research, 4, 231–242.
Singh, J. K., & Misra, G. (2000). Understanding contentment in everyday life. Indian Psychological Review, 54 & 55, 113–124.
Sinha, J. (1985). Indian psychology (vol II: Emotion and will). Motilal Banarsidass.
Smith, S. L., & Donnerstein, E. (1998). Harmful effects of exposure to media violence: Learning of aggression, emotional desensitization, and fear. In R. G. Geen & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Human aggression: Theories, research, and implications for social policy (pp. 168–204). Academic Press.
Speilberger, C. D., Krasner, S. S., & Solomon, E. P. (1987). The experience, expression, and control of anger. In M. P. Janisse (Ed.), Health Psychology: Individual differences and stress. Springer.
Staub, E. (1989). The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence. Cambridge University Press.
Staub, E. (1999). The roots of evil: Social conditions, culture, personality, and basic human needs. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 179–192.
Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.). (2004). The psychology of hate. American Psychological Association.
Tajfel, H. (1982). Introduction. In H. Tajfel (Ed.), Social identity and intergroup relations (pp. 1–11). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Nelson-Hall.
Toch, H. H. (1993). Violent men: An inquiry into the psychology of violence. Aldine. (Original work published 1969).
Warburton, W. A., & Anderson, C. A. (2015). Social psychology of aggression. In International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (Vol. 1, 2nd ed., pp. 373–380).
White, R. K. (1984). Fearful warriors: A psychological profile of U.S.-Soviet relations. Free Press.
Young, I. F., & Sullivan, D. (2016). Competitive victimhood: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Current Opinion in Psychology, 11, 30–34.
Zunes, S., Kurtz, L. R., & Asher, S. B. (Eds.). (1999). Nonviolent social movements: A geographical perspective. Blackwell.
Zur, O. (2005). The psychology of victimhood. In R. H. Wright & N. A. Cummings (Eds.), Destructive trends in mental health (pp. 45–64). Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Singh, J.K., Misra, G. (2024). Anger, Aggression, and Violence and Their Management. In: Misra, G., Misra, I. (eds) Emotions in Cultural Context. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46349-5_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46349-5_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-46348-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-46349-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)