ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines basic assessment requirements – namely, the need to attend to the correct literature base while also ensuring there is no moral judgment made concerning the use of aggression, as there can be with antisocial/dissocial behaviour. It provides an application of functional assessment to aggression, illustrating the importance of this approach in determining and individualising client needs. Assessment should place emphasis on understanding the motivation and consequent functions of behaviours, as opposed to focusing on how aggression presents in terms of its nature alone. The concept of aggression adaptation recognises that aggression may have utility qualities and thus it cannot routinely be considered through a deficit model. Aggression researchers have made good use of learning theory, applying it to social situations – that is, ‘social learning theory’ or ‘social learning models’. Structural approaches are most useful when the behaviours being considered are observable physical complaints.
