THE MAKING OF HUMAN AGGRESSION

This German import provides an intelligent, thorough survey of the literature on aggression as well as a broad conceptual overview of the subject. The various authors consider (and ultimately reject) the three principal current theories: the ""frustration-aggression hypothesis"" which links hostility to wish-denial; Freud's theory of an innate offensive instinct; and the physiological-basis postulate. As learning theorists, the authors are particularly troubled by the instinct hypothesis (implying the inevitability of aggression); their own interpretation of this behavior ""learned"" pattern contends that the syndrome can be reduced by changing the content of the ""lesson."" Rather technical, but concise and complete; most notable are the accounts of experiments designed to gauge the ""learning"" of aggression in children, and of some new therapies for its ""unlearning.