Aggressiveness

Aggression is used to describe a myriad of different behaviors, thus a concise definition of this broad term has been constantly debated. In general, aggressiveness describes acts that are destructive, hostile, or harmful. Aggressiveness may refer to overt acts (e.g., physically fighting or verbally threatening) or more indirect acts (e.g., spreading rumors or purposely excluding others). To understand aggression better, research has focused on various types of aggression and different motivations for aggressive acts. For example, the distinction between proactive (purposeful actions to gain a desirable goal) and reactive (defensive reactions to situations perceived as hostile) aggression has been important in understanding underlying motivations that lead to aggression. Bullying (i.e., repetitive, proactively aggressive acts targeted at weaker individuals or groups) is a prevalent concern, especially in schools, that dominates much of the current research on aggression. It has...