ABSTRACT
Investigations of human aggression are complicated by methodological problems and by the lack of a standardized and adequate definition of what aggression actually means. As an example, aggression has been described as a ‘concept that ranges between something highly desirable to something abhorrent, which society tries to control by its legal process’1. Aggression seems to be best described along a continuum between ‘assertiveness’ (a rather useful aspect of aggression and probably an essential condition for human survival and achievement) and ‘pathological aggression’ (inappropriately violent and destructive behavior following any kind of provocation). Any classification of aggression has to account for the manifold situations in which aggressive behavior occurs as well as the value system that is being offended or defended.
