Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 INSTINCT APPROACHES: AGGRESSION AS A RELEASE 
If you have ever punched an adversary in the nose, you may have experienced a 
certain satisfaction despite your better judgment. Instinct theories, which note the 
prevalence of aggression not only in humans but in animals as well, propose that 
aggression is primarily the outcome of innate—or inborn—urges. 
Sigmund Freud was one of the fi rst to suggest, as part of his theory of personal-
ity, that aggression is a primary instinctual drive. Konrad Lorenz, an ethologist (a 
scientist who studies animal behavior), expanded Freud’s notions by arguing that 
humans, along with members of other species, have a fi ghting instinct, which in 
earlier times ensured protection of food supplies and weeded out the weaker of the 
species (Lorenz, 1966, 1974). Lorenz’s instinct approach led to the controversial notion 
that aggressive energy constantly builds up in an individual until the person fi nally 
aggression 
The intentional injury of, 
or harm to, another person.
feL82795_ch17_576-615.indd Page 608 8/5/10 3:21 PM user-f465
feL82795_ch17_576-615.indd Page 608 8/5/10 3:21 PM user-f465
/Users/user-f465/Desktop
/Users/user-f465/Desktop

---

 
Module 55 
Positive and Negative Social Behavior 
609
discharges it in a process called  catharsis.  The longer the energy builds up, says 
Lorenz, the greater the amount of the aggression displayed when it is discharged.
Probably the most controversial idea to come out of instinct theories of aggression 
is Lorenz’s proposal that society should provide acceptable ways of permitting cathar-
sis. For example, he suggested that participation in aggressive sports and games 
would prevent the discharge of aggression in less socially desirable ways. However, 
little research has found evidence for the existence of a pent-up reservoir of aggression 
that needs to be released. In fact, some studies fl atly contradict the notion of catharsis, 
which leads psychologists to look for other explanations for aggression (Bushman, 
Wang, & Anderson, 2005; Scheele & DuBois, 2006; Verona & Sullivan, 2008).