RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

Apart from presenting real opinions on the possibility of the influence of televised violence on viewers, in order to throw light on this matter some attention must be devoted to the concept of the nature of aggression as a phenomenon and, even тоге significant for the problem we аге studying, to the origin of aggression and the way it is created in man. THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF AGGRESSION AND THE WAY IN WHICH AGGRESSION ON THE SMALL SCREEN INFLUENCES TELEVISION VIEWERS In the Encyclopedia of Human Behaviour: Psychology, Psychiatry, and Mental Health 1 ), aggression is defmed as »violent, destructive behaviour usually directed at the infliction of suffering ог death on other people, but sometimes diverted to objects, ог turned towards oneself«. Since it has always been extremely apparent in human life, aggression has interested scientists from Aristotle to the present day. Interest in aggression has increased particularly of late, as a result Oi which considerable dissertations have been made on the nature and origin of aggression, the object of the majority of them being to overcome and prevent it. Мапу consider that aggression is now much more dangerous than it used to fae on account of the powerful means of killing which have been invented. THE INSTINCTIVE CONCEPT OF AGGRESSION In this concept, aggressive behaviour in man stems from an inborn instinct which seeks to unburden itself and awaits a suitable occasion to express itself. This concept originates with McDougall who interpreted the whole of human behaviour by the existence of certain instincts, and it was later developed by Freud and Konrad Lorenz. According to Freud, the creator of psychoanalytic theory which sees the whole of man’s activity in terms of instinct, aggression is an expression of

3) The Encyclopedia of Human Behaviour: Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental Heallh, New Yourk, »Doubleday and Сотрапу«, 1970.

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