Reducing Boys' Aggression: Learning to Fulfill Basic Needs Constructively

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511615795.020

19 - Reducing Boys' Aggression: Learning to Fulfill Basic Needs Constructively

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2010

Ervin Staub

Darren A. Spielman

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Ervin Staub: Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

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Summary

In the past decade, youth violence has increased dramatically in the United States (Blumstein, 1995). This has led to a proliferation of interventions aimed at reducing aggression (Eron, Gentry, & Schlegel, 1994). Both basic research and interventions have focused on boys, who are more physically aggressive. The aim of the present study was to design, implement, and evaluate an intervention that focused on aggressive boys' basic needs, their interpersonal goals, and their ability to fulfill these in a constructive, nonaggressive manner.

Extensive research has shown that reactively aggressive boys lack the cognitive tendencies (see Crick & Dodge, 1994) and social skills (see McFall, 1982) to fulfill their goals in prosocial ways. They tend to interpret the intentions that underlie other's behavior toward them as hostile. This leads them to retaliate against people whose actions are ambiguous and who may mean them no harm (Dodge & Crick, 1990). Aggressive boys tend to have a limited ability to take the perspective of others and to understand what others think and feel (e.g., Pepler, Byrd, & King, 1991). They also see aggression as normal, acceptable behavior (Huesmann & Eron, 1984). It is not surprising, therefore, that in many situations, especially those involving conflict, they become aggressive.

In one promising approach to reducing aggression, children and adolescents receive training in the cognitive and social skills that underlie social behavior (Kazdin, 1994).

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Psychology of Good and Evil
Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others
, pp. 252 - 266

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615795.020 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2003

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