Heteroaggressiveness refers to all aggressive behaviors directed towards others. These can cover different forms of manifestation: through physical, verbal, psychological behaviors… In this Psychology-Online article we will address the topic and mention some examples to better understand what heteroaggressiveness is and the components that form it.
What is heteroaggressiveness? – Definition
What does it mean heteroaggressiveness? Originally the concept arises from biology and is related to the sexual instinct and the sense of territoriality and refers specifically to any form of physical or verbal conduct intended to harm or destroy, regardless of whether it manifests itself as hostility or as a calculated means to achieve an end. In short, a type of aggressiveness that refers to all aggressive behaviors characterized by addressing another person and that are manifested with varying intensity through different behaviors: physical, verbal, gestural…
Causes of heteroaggression
The genesis of heteroaggressiveness is multifactorial and includes neurobiological factors, psychological factors and socio-environmental factors. Furthermore, there are numerous studies that ensure that heteroaggressiveness is facilitated by various mental disorders: organic, psychotic, character or affective. It directly affects the social and relational sphere of the person.
Examples of heteroagesivity
To better understand what heteroaggressiveness is, we can differentiate between two types or expressions of it:
- Verbal heteroaggressiveness: which would respond to all those reactions that trigger verbal threats, provocative language in the environment or changes in tone of voice, for example.
- Physical heteroaggression: in this case the emotion would trigger a serious state that causes physical damage to the environment. For example, kicking, pushing, slapping…The level of brutality varies.
There are guidelines, or rather help strategies to calm the most impulsive or brutal episodes of heteroaggressiveness since they can become dangerous both for people in the individual’s social environment and for the subject himself.
Difference between aggressiveness, autoaggressiveness and heteroaggressiveness
In summary, the aggressiveness It is a vital element of the behavior of any species as self-preservation. The main characteristic of aggressiveness is attacking another to cause harm. It is convenient to differentiate the concept of aggressiveness from aggression, since the second refers to the behavior itself. There are three types:
- Normal aggression: against a threatening situation, in line with the nature of the threatening situation, occurs when a certain degree of aggressiveness is necessary to confront events assertively.
- Aggression as an adaptive response: Society sets the standard for what are acceptable objectives, amounts, and forms of aggressiveness.
- Aggression as a non-adaptive response: The human species is the only one that presents intentional acts against other individuals of its own species. Is considered destructive violence that seeks to cause harm to other human beings.
Furthermore, aggressiveness has been classified in different studies based on dimensions such as: to whom this aggressiveness is directed (towards oneself, an individual, collective…), its expression (physical, verbal, impulsive…) , the type of damage it produces (physical, psychological), the frequency with which it occurs (punctually, repeatedly), the duration of its consequences (transitory, lasting) or the objective (affective, instrumental…) In this article we It is interesting to differentiate between heteroaggressiveness and autoaggressiveness:
- Heteroaggressiveness: refers to aggressiveness directed towards the environment, as we have explained previously.
- Self-aggression: refers to a type of aggressiveness that is directed towards oneself.
Both are classifications that would fall within the dimension to whom the aggressiveness is directed. The difference between autoaggression and heteroaggression is who it is directed at.
Components of heteroaggressiveness
From a psychopathological point of view, heteroaggressiveness has the following components:
- Disturbing behavior
- Explosivity
- Agitation
Disturbing behavior
Heteroaggressiveness involves the appearance of a series of behaviors that are disturbing to others. These behaviors usually appear in childhood and can be included in psychopathological disorders such as – markedly hostile, defiant, disobedient and provocative behavior – or – repetitive and persistent pattern that always seeks to break with social norms -.
Explosivity
This component is very important because in many cases heteroaggressive behavior usually originates through a psychopathological condition known as -loss of control, aggressive impulsivity-. This explosive aggression generates attacking verbal and physical behaviors that are part of episodes of lack of control that can be mitigated on their own or require help.
Agitation
The agitation causes a hyperactivity disorder motor activity accompanied by emotional alterations such as anxiety, anguish or fear which can vary in intensity. These alterations can respond to a wide variety of physical and mental disorders as well as substance abuse, secondary reactions to medications, infections in part of the nervous system, neurological disorders…
Disorders associated with heteroaggression
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Anonymous.(2017). Psychopathology of aggression. Unioviedo.Retrieved from: https://www.unioviedo.es/psiquiatria/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Agrestividad.-Concepto-bases-y-psicopatolog%c3%ada.pdf
- Ortego, MC & López, S. & Álvarez, ML & Aparicio, MM (2011). Topic 4: Aggression.Psychosocial Sciences II, University of Cantabria. Retrieved from: https://ocw.unican.es/pluginfile.php/1575/course/section/2034/tema_04c.pdf