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The Measurement of Human Aggression

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Aggression in Children and Youth

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASID,volume 17))

Abstract

Most social psychology textbooks include a chapter on aggression. The chapters typically begin with a discussion of the increase in the number of violent crimes and then proceed to present psychological research which purportedly explains human aggression. In this chapter I will examine the measures used in this research and comment on the relevance of these approaches to the understanding of the serious violent crime wave which has caused concern in most western countries. The crux of this issue is the definition and measurement of aggression.

The author gratefully acknowledges the comments of Neil Malamuth, Rosaline L. Feierabend, and Howard Kushner on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, USA

    Robert M. Kaplan

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  1. Robert M. Kaplan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California, 92182, USA

    Robert M. Kaplan (Associate Professor, Director, Institute Director) (Associate Professor, Director, Institute Director)

  2. Center for Behavioral Medicine, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA

    Robert M. Kaplan (Associate Professor, Director, Institute Director) (Associate Professor, Director, Institute Director)

  3. Department of Psychology, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California, 92093, USA

    Vladimir J. Konečni (Professor, Institute Co-Director) (Professor, Institute Co-Director)

  4. Program in Social Ecology, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, 92717, USA

    Raymond W. Novaco (Associate Professor, Co-Director) (Associate Professor, Co-Director)

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Kaplan, R.M. (1984). The Measurement of Human Aggression. In: Kaplan, R.M., Konečni, V.J., Novaco, R.W. (eds) Aggression in Children and Youth. NATO ASI Series, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0665-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0665-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8278-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0665-0

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