ABSTRACT
The aggressive capacity we have been describing is an inborn resource of the organism, present from birth if not before. From the very beginning of life, that capacity enters into and plays its role in the complex interaction and integration of action and reaction that serve as the basis for development. As that process unfolds, the defensive and adaptive aspects of the aggressive capacity are called into play in negotiating the challenges and achievements of the growing organism and the developing psyche. The various theories of the nature of aggression we have discussed1 envision that process in quite different terms, and it is incumbent on us to set forth our view of the developmental process as it impinges on and involves aggression. We will argue in this chapter that our view of aggression as motivational capacity directed to the overcoming of obstacles has valid application throughout the developmental sequence and that the various categories and description of aggressive behavior from infancy, through childhood, and on into adolescence and adulthood have the same motivational direction and involve the same dynamic processes. Obviously child developmental theorists argue their case on the basis of their own theories of aggression, not on ours. They may and often do take anger as an expression of aggression, whereas we would not unless it were associated with overcoming an obstacle in some form. In most cases of behavioral observation, such is in fact the case. The infant expresses hostile affect in a context of confronting an obstacle or striving to overcome it. For the most part, the following material, based as it is primarily on infant observation, involves such externally expressed aggressive actions.
