Being an examination of the model, Conservation of Aggression, in terms of its explanatory power in antisocial behavior.
What do I mean precisely by aggression? I am extremely avoidant of trespass on reserved vocabulary and taxonomies so I am going to start with a very secular, in the broad sense, definition of aggression, being:
Forceful and assertive action in pursuit of an interest opposed by other interests which is a non-aggressive definition of aggression, an excellent ground to the figure of hyper aggression and its consequent dynamic of conservation of aggression.
What do I mean by hyper aggression? Simply put, a too forceful and too assertive action, an inappropriate action, taken in a socially destructive manner is hyper aggression.
What do I mean by conservation?
I mean a zero sum game in which there is no shrinkage, what one player loses, another player gains.
The Concept - Conservation of Aggression
This is not so much a concept, except in the sense of being thoroughly codified, as a construct, paranoid ideation to the point of being bizarre. It informs the behavior of those oppressed by reality as an irrational revolt against the rational conditions of existence.
It works as the notion that there is x amount of aggression in every social interaction, a misreading of the pursuit of enlightened self-interest in which interests are asserted as contract negotiation. Given that misread, the next logical step is to be the aggressor in every social situation not the aggressee, to claim the maximum of x aggression available.
This misunderstanding of the nature of social existence both derives from and drives phenomena characterized as denial, extremely defensive psychological action. Clearly, if one feels oppressed by reality, a logical impossibility but a fairly common cognitive error, one has license to escape that reality and engage hyper aggressively in defense of that psychological space from real intrusions seen as aggression. That is Conservation of Aggression.
Further, if one addresses that erroneously perceived oppression hyper aggressively as a venue problem, which in fact exist, one moves from the rational process of compensation in which one discovers and develops a marketable talent into the irrational realm of overcompensation. That is Conservation of Aggression.
This construct so colors the social existence of sufferers that antisocial-ist ideologies and rhetoric, exhibiting denial and overcompensation, are created to cover the essential confusion of cognitive error.
Certainly, once identified, this error could be subject to cognitive therapy but with the associated ideologies and rhetoric implementing such therapy would be construed as authoritarian.
So, we bob and weave and dodge denial driven bullets in a massively free society. As has been said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Look over your shoulder.
Do Well and Be Well
Comments
Post a Comment