Looking at Psychology of Violence

¶ … violence and aggression. First, different aspects of violence, such as diversity and culture, gender and psychosocial aspects are discussed. And, the ethical and legal dimensions of mandatory reporting of child and elder abuse are looked into. The emerging technologies in the field of psychology are also discussed in relation to the topic of violence and other forms of deviant behavior. Lastly, correlations of the causality and violence prevention interventions are given.

MFT: Psychology of Violence

The history of the world is mired with incidences of violence. Violence traces its origins back to prehistory, and there is barely a community, society or individual that has never experienced or witnessed some form of violence. A single incidence of violence can be powerful and unbearable whether it is terrorism, war, suicide, homicide or even systemic injustices (structural violence -- whereby there are access barriers to health care, social justice, or some other type of resource that can prevent violence or mitigate its effects and lead to a longer life. The common type of violence, however, is the over one and a half million deaths per annum that result from violence globally. These figures do not take into account the hundreds of millions who suffer each year from other less visible forms of violence, such as psychological trauma or social trauma, or those who suffer other forms of violence that result in injuries. Still, this doesn't even start to cover the negative effects of death that can permeate through generations of families and societies for many years. Those negative effects include: economic costs, for instance, the time spent away from work due to non-fatal injuries; medical expenses; legal expenses and the destruction of regional or national economies that could take many years to rebuild (Lee, 2015).

Compare and Contrast the Major Theories of the Etiology of Violence

According to researchers Haas and Cusson (2015), violence is any form of aggression against another individual; it may be an act of violence itself or the threat of committing such an act. The body of research reviewed shows that there is no single globally accepted theory of violence. Different subjects have different theories of violence. For instance, the theories of violence in sociology, psychology and psychiatry are based on varying premises (Haas & Cusson, 2015).

Even within certain fields, some theories try to explain why individuals become aggressive towards others or become deviant. The challenge of finding a theory that will be widely accepted becomes even more difficult since aspects of aggression and deviance are interrelated: some forms of deviance entail causing others harm (and is thus aggressive behavior) while other forms of aggression violate normal behavior (and is thus effectively deviant behavior) (Felson, Deane, & Armstrong, 2008).

According to the psychopathological theory of violence biological inclination, insufficient parental guidance or care and trauma can disturb normal development. The body of research in psychopathology, for instance, the work by Haas & Cusson (2015) has shown that, marital violence during pregnancy, childhood malnourishment, and also childhood abuse can greatly affect the normal development of the brain. Male children have been found to be more susceptible compared to female children with this regard (Haas & Cusson, 2015). Male children usually being overactive often risk having accidents; such accidents increase the potential of having more accidents because they cause deficient gross motor coordination, hyperactivity or attention deficit disorders. In other words, accidents that result in traumatic brain injuries can cause impaired development or alter the child's personality. Either way, the school of thought in psychopathology is that aggression is not directly linked to childhood accidents/risks, but instead caused by a collection of traits in an individual whom for various reasons, couldn't handle the risks or couldn't grow normally under normal settings (Haas & Cusson, 2015).

Theories on interpersonal violence can be classified into 2 categories: (a) Interactionist, and (b) evolutionary.

Evolutionary interpersonal violence theories involve concepts of inclusive fitness and keen selection. Theories under this category are based on the social biological concept that interpersonal violence might be a form of survival mechanism -- in that, it increases the fitness of the species over long periods of time. From the sociobiological viewpoint, it is rational to expect only a low likelihood of aggression or violence between individuals who are closely related. Moreover, sociobiology also expects that there will likely be a higher chance of violence between men in the context of man versus man competition. This evolutionary viewpoint also indicates that there is a lower likelihood of violence between women or females compared to men. Most of these predictions are solid ethological principles that have been observed not only among humans, but also among other higher animals (McCall & Shields, 2008).

Interactionist violence or aggression theories are important, in that, they offer an analytical model and descriptive terminology for investigating patterns of human behavior in the social context. Interactionist theories are useful in the sense that they allow one to distinguish logical thoughts, feelings, and instincts. Theories under this category help to investigate small variables in social encounters and how these variables trigger certain behaviors by taking the encounters as scripted affairs. These viewpoints are important in structuring violence and aggression as things to do with cognitive and human social processes (McCall & Shields, 2008).

Researchers Bushman and Anderson (2002) proposed an aggression model, which incorporated several lower level theories based on different "domains." They referred to their model as the general aggression model (GAM). GAM was based on the notion of knowledge structures and the manner in which they interact to bring about certain patterns of behavior. Knowledge structures are brought about by experience or the environment, and can end up being somewhat automatic in certain scenarios, in addition to being associated with behavior, beliefs and emotions. Primarily, knowledge structures are utilized as environmental guide responses and they include behavioral scripts, which determine the patterns of behavior that suit certain situations, person schemata (categorizes different types of persons) and perceptual schemata (categorizes events and objects) (McCall & Shields, 2008).

The general aggression model focuses on the traits of an individual and the scenario or event as it relates to the individual's current internal state (cognition, arousal or emotion), and eventually his or her assessment and the decision-making processes. The processes of evaluating a situation and making a decision can result in either rational or impulsive behavior, which cycle back and trigger the next social interaction (McCall & Shields, 2008).

Discriminate the Psychosocial, Gender, Culture and Diversity Aspects of Violence

Psychosocial Violence

In the last few years, enormous attention has been focused on violence, particularly among the country's youth. Acts of violence, such as the shooting at Aurora Movie Theatre, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook school, have had a huge effect on the American society. Such acts exemplify the prevalent societal violence in the U.S. (Kelly, 2014). Quite a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of such acts of violence on victims. Researchers Kelly (2010) and Graham-Bermann and Seng (2005), in their studies, revealed that exposure to societal violence has profound negative effect not only on the physical health of the victim, but also their mental health. Moreover, further studies have revealed that the impact of violence is not only immediate, but can also last many years after the occurrence of the incident (Scarpa, 2001). The lasting impact of societal violence on the country's youth requires the attention of HCPs (Health care professionals), particularly nurses (Kelly, 2014).

Gender-based Violence

The term "gender-based violence" is frequently utilized interchangeably with the term "violence against women" since usually the majority of gender-based violence cases involve men inflicting harm on women. It is important to note that the "gender-based" component of the original term points to the fact that most of the aggression caused against women is often just a physical expression of the underlying power inequalities between the two sexes (EIGE, 2015). However, it is also true that violence against men by women does occur. For example, men can experience verbal or physical attacks for say having sex with other men. Spousal battering has also been known to affect both men and women. Men can also be targets of attacks in family settings either when they were children or by their wives as mentioned earlier (GenderViolence.org, 2015). However, gender-based violence most often affects women. The different kinds of violence that women can experience include:

Economic violence

Sexual violence

Child abuse

Emotional and psychological violence

Domestic violence

Physical violence (GenderViolence.org, 2015).

Culture and Diversity Aspects of Violence

According to Galtung (1990), cultural violence refers to the parts of culture, such as mathematics or logic, art and languages, philosophies, ideologies or religions that can be utilized to justify structural or actual physical aggression. Cultural violence legitimizes or makes aggression to feel right. Similar to the way political science deals with two issues -- the utilization of power and the justification of that use -- violence theories are also about two issues -- the use of violence and the justification of that use (Galtung, 1990).

As mentioned above, the study of cultural violence deals with the manner in which structural violence or direct violence is justified or legitimized and made acceptable in societies. One of the ways cultural violence works is through changing the moral perception of right or wrong to the middle ground "acceptable," an example is the justification of killing other people for the sake of a country, while completely outlawing the murder as one's own benefit. Another way in which cultural violence permeates in the societies is through blacking out reality, for instance, abortus provocufir. It is interesting to say that with regards to the nature of pathology, one of the key aspects of health studies is violence for peace studies (Galtung, 1990).

Illustrate Treatment and Prevention Strategies of Violent Behavior

One of the most frequently utilized violence or deviant behavior treatment interventions is the use of cognitive-behavior approaches. In the last two decades or so, Relapse Prevention (RP) (one of the cognitive behavior interventions) has increasingly been used in the treatment of different forms of violent behaviors, such as domestic violence or sexual violence. Given the charged atmosphere that triggers many violent behaviors, the most important aspect about Relapse Prevention is that it assists in learning how to quickly identify and avoid scenarios that are likely to trigger violent behavior, instead of the conventional approaches of trying to replace the negative behaviors or thought processes, with positive ones or tying to find the underlying psychological issue and solving it (Prisgroce).

Generally, cognitive behavioral interventions are based on the idea that many negative behavioral patterns are brought about and maintained by dysfunctional or maladaptive cognitions, such as assumptions, perceptions, beliefs and mentalities, and thus, helping the patient to build better and more suited cognitions; this will help prevent or stop negative behaviors. Obviously, new cognitions need to be incorporated into adaptive behaviors, usually through a behavioral skills training process.

There are quite a number of clinical interventions that can help in bringing about cognitive change. These interventions are classified under 2 categories: cognitive restricting and training in problem solving. Training in cognitive skills can help in modifying violent behaviors through effective "trigger" control (Novaco, 1978). Different interventions in terms of cognitive problem solving and reasoning can help an individual to learn "moral reasoning," in addition to being incorporated into the training (Goldstein, 1988). These cognitive skills are then translated into behavioral patterns through training in behavioral skills, whereby individuals get to know pro-social skills on how to manage situations that could trigger violent behavior patterns, for instance, prosocial skills, such as accepting criticism or making a complaint and so on. This intervention can be utilized in a group or an individual setting, and is based on a body of research that supports the efficacy of the methods deployed in the intervention.

Formulate the Legal and Ethical Aspects of Violence, Abuse and Reporting Mandates

The increased recognition of assaults and violence-caused injuries has resulted in the formulation of laws and policies to deal with the victims in hospital settings, including the requirement to immediately report violent injuries to the police. A review of different state legislations in 1994 revealed that only five out of all the states in America did not have legislations or status that mandated healthcare professionals to report violent injuries to the police, including those that they suspected to be from spousal battering (Houry, Sachs, Feldhaus, & Linden, 2002).

Emergency medical doctors have a crucial role in the identification, treatment and recording of violent assault or trauma, and may also be legally required to report such injuries to the police. Most of the states have legislations that require healthcare providers to report burn, knives, and/or firearm injuries. Additionally, quite a number of states also have legislations that specifically require physicians to report injuries suspected to have resulted from spousal violence. However, in some cases, physicians might not be cognizant of these legislations, particularly those that require the documentation and report of domestic violence injuries to law enforcement officers (Houry, Sachs, Feldhaus, & Linden, 2002). For instance, Houry et al. 2002 reported that barely 24% of the medical doctors in Kentucky were cognizant of the state legislation that required them to report suspected or confirmed injuries resulting from domestic violence. However, their counterparts in the state of California were largely (61 to 86%) aware of the state's statute that required reporting of spousal abuse injuries (Houry, Sachs, Feldhaus, & Linden, 2002).

Seven states (Texas, Rhode Island, Ohio, California, Mississippi, Kentucky and Colorado) have legislations that require a healthcare provider to report injuries suspected or confirmed to be due to spousal violence. However, these legislations differ greatly in terms of the information that is required to be reported. For instance, the states of Colorado and California require the healthcare provider to report injuries caused by spousal battering to the police. Kentucky and Mississippi, on the other hand, allow any individual to report injuries that may have resulted from domestic violence to their respective departments of public welfare. The state legislations in Ohio require nurses and medical doctors to record domestic violence in their medical records. Texas requires HCPs (health care professionals) to record all domestic violence injuries in their medical records, refer their patients to shelters and inform them that domestic violence is an offense punishable under the law. The law in Tennessee on the matter allows health providers to voluntarily report possible cases of domestic violence to the police. In summary, 25 states require healthcare providers to report all injuries that might have resulted from crimes.

Correlate Research on the Causality and Intervention of Violence

The causal and risk factors that bring about deviant behaviors and the correlations between them are often complicated (Rutter, Giller, & Hagell, 1998). Most theories that attempt to explain deviant or anti-social behavior often emphasize that contributory factors correlate at several different levels, which are: societal, family and individual levels (Merwe & Dawes, 2007).

Hereby, an environmental approach is utilized to determine the contributory factors at the community, family and individual levels. Many studies, both locally and internationally, focus on the individual level to explain antisocial behavior, and they often use psychiatric or psychological viewpoints. For instance, in the case of violence among the youths in South Africa that led the country to having one of the highest rates of murder, one needs to be cognizant of the special context of the situation. First, one of the biggest drivers to deviant and violent conduct among the youth in the country is the endemic and deep poverty that has plagued the country for long. Even though, it is known that the poverty itself doesn't bring about violence, the youths who have grown in such conditions end up stealing or causing violence on others to support themselves. Moreover, the slums in the major cities are known to be huge marketplaces for drug dealers, and drugs are one of the biggest drivers of antisocial behaviors (Merwe & Dawes, 2007).

Once aware of the aggression causes and other anti-social behavior, it is important to implement prevention mechanisms to help stop future re-ccurrence. Recent studies have proven that many local mechanisms put in place to stop violence are often rarely based on empirical research or theoretical grounds, and there is often the lack of proper program evaluation (Merwe & Dawes, 2007). Thus, many studies that evaluate these interventions end up categorizing these youths differently as anti-social, deviant, severe, chronic, aggressive, or even violent, without giving clear definitions of what these categories mean, or the argument behind the categorization of these youths as such. The heterogeneity within the groups of people being targeted with the interventions is important for the effectiveness of the prevention mechanisms, and the generalization of the findings. Very few studies adequately consider the aggressor's behaviors and traits, for the purpose of determining the kind of intervention that works for a particular group of people (Merwe & Dawes, 2007).

Evaluate and Incorporate Emerging Relevant Technologies Applicable to the Field of Psychology

During the last few years, the world has witnessed a revolution in the study of animal and human decision-making processes. Prior to 2000, anthropologist, economists, psychologists and neurobiologists were all finding it difficult to comprehend the decision-making process; a process that has the greatest influence on human behavior. However, the struggle was brought about by the fact that professionals in each discipline did not borrow or collaborate with others from other fields. This is what changed in the last few years, resulting in many more interdisciplinary studies in decision-making. These studies have enabled the understanding of causes, impacts and processes of behavior. Whole new fields, such as neuro-economics, which combine aspects of neuron studies with economics and psychology, have emerged. Neurobiological evaluations of brain activity when making decisions and economic decision-making models have lately begun to appear in leading psychology journals (Glimcher, 2014).