ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes that aggression is not an identifiably separate or irreducible category of behavior but, like eating, drinking and sexual activity, is more usefully reinterpreted as an intense manifestation of stimulation-seeking. Classically, aggression has been ascribed to "frustration", but aggression is not the only response to frustration, and aggression is not always among the variety of responses elicited by frustration. Electric shock at moderate intensities produces a considerable variety of emotional-motivational behaviors, including aggression, regardless of whether the animal has been reared with others or in isolation. Aggression rarely occurs in isolation from other, apparently unrelated behaviors. Individuals who are expressing intense aggression and hostility are typically, at the same time, highly dependent and affiliative. Aggression was once thought of as a form of energy that built up in the tissues and was released by certain stimuli in the environment. The concept of aggression is used adjectively, as a description of individuals or of other sorts of actions.
