РефератыИностранный языкAgAggression Essay Research Paper Verbal aggression is

Aggression Essay Research Paper Verbal aggression is

Aggression Essay, Research Paper


Verbal aggression is message behavior which attacks a person’s self-concept


in


order to deliver psychological pain.(Infante, 1995) Studies of verbal


aggression


have focused primarily on children and adolescents in educational and social


settings. Very few studies were found to examine verbal aggression in adults


in the


workplace.(Ebbesen, Duncan, Konecni, 1974) The consequences of verbal


aggression in the workplace can lead to social isolation, job related stress,


health


related problems, as well as problems in career advancement. It therefore


should


be considered important, for the individual and management, to identify and


address the causes of verbal aggression.


This program attempts to understand verbal aggression by 1) identifying the


various functions of verbal aggression. 2) identifying the antecedent


conditions of


verbal aggression. 3) Avoiding the antecedent conditions of verbal


aggression.


Method


Subject


The subject, Shirley J., is a 49 year old African American female. Shirley


J. has


several advanced degrees and is employed as a school psychologist in a


metropolitan school district. She is married with two adult children. The


subject


readily agreed that the target behavior, verbal aggression, is a problem as


it


interferes with her relationships with others. She was enthusiastic in her


desire to


reduce, if not eliminate, this behavior. It would seem that self-monitoring


for


verbal aggression and antecedent control would be valuable as it would allow


for


consistent avoidance of verbal aggression. As a school psychologist the


subject was


very familiar with the basic principles of applied behavioral analysis and


frequently


offered programmatic suggestions. A behavioral contract was developed


jointly


between the therapist and subject. The contract outlined the target


behavior,


success criteria, and individual responsibilities of the therapist and


subject. (see


Appendix A)


Apparatus


A basic checklist was used to document the frequency of verbal aggression on


a


daily basis. The checklist was designed to track only the occurrence of the


behavior. It was felt by the therapist that the content of the verbally


aggressive


message would be too open for subjective interpretation and that no


meaningful


data would be gained from such documentation. In addition the subject made


frequent comments of significant success or failure in avoiding verbal


aggression


for discussion with the therapist. The weekly discussions were used to


evaluate the


appropriateness of the procedures used and make any necessary adjustments to


the


program.


Procedure


For the first two weeks of the program no intervention was applied. Given


that


the subject self-reported that verbal aggression was a problem it was


important to


determine if the frequency of the behavior merited intervention. Therefore,


the


subject documented the daily frequency of verbal aggression. The results of


the


baseline period revealed a high rate of verbal aggression. (see Appendix B)


Given


the results of the baseline data as well as the demanding, often stressful,


nature of


the subjects job, it was mutually agreed that reducing verbal aggression


would be


the focus of the program.


Verbal aggression was defined as cursing, yelling, and screaming at others.


The


agreed upon goals of the program was to decrease verbal aggression by 75% of


baseline for four consecutive weeks. Treatment would consist of identifying


and


avoiding the antecedent conditions to verbal aggression. Avoidance of the


antecedents is considered less restrictive, more proactive, and most


effective.


During the initial consultation it was determined that the antecedent


conditions


included, but was not limited to: work stress, time of day, verbal behavior


of others


(ie. tone of voice, inflection of voice and content of conversation, etc.),


and non-


verbal behavior of others (ie. facial expression, body posture, eye contact,


etc.). In


addition, the subject was required to self monitor for the following


antecedents:


clenched fists, tight jaw, rapid heart beat, and the emotions of anger,


frustration and


disappointment. Lastly, it was suggested by Infante (1995) that appropriate


strategy


must be taken to prevent verbal aggression fr

om escalating.


Successful avoidance of the antecedent conditions consisted of removing


oneself


from stressful situations, when possible, as well as not responding verbally


when


provoked. Weekly consultation revealed that verbal aggression was most often


used to: 1) Escape demand situations. 2) Avoid demand situations. 3)


Relieve job


stress. The subject was to document the frequency of verbal aggression and


record


the circumstances of significant success or failure during the work week for


discussion at weekly consultation sessions.


A schedule of reinforcement was developed for the subject. The


reinforcement


was to be given for successful avoidance of verbal aggression. Reinforcement


included: five minutes alone for ‘quiet time’, when possible, or a short,


silent prayer.


Considering the stress and escalating nature of verbal aggression time alone


was


considered appropriate for ‘cool down’. If time alone was not possible or


convenient the subject would say a short prayer when provoked.


Results


The results of the baseline phase revealed what was considered an


extraordinarily


high rate of verbal aggression. However, after the first week of data


collection it


was realized that verbal aggression was not operationally defined. The


subject


considered verbal aggression on much broader terms than did the therapist


which


included subjective, rather than objective, behavior observations. Weekly


consultation sessions revealed that cursing was the most common manifestation


of


the target behavior. When correctly defined using objective terms a decrease


in


verbal aggression was noted. Based on the results of baseline data it was


mutually


agreed that 4 to 8 episodes of aggression per day was significantly high and


merited


intervention.


The results of the intervention phase of treatment revealed a sharp increase


of


verbal aggression over the first three weeks. This increase is thought to be


due to


extinction. Afterwards, a gradual decrease of verbal aggression was noted


during


weeks 4 through 9. No data was collected during week 10 due to subject


illness.


The treatment phase ended with a weekly average of one episode of verbal


aggression. After week five the subject stated that she no longer delivered


the


reinforcement after the behavior. She reported that the ability to control


her


emotions was in itself reinforcing and would maintain the behavior.


Discussion


The results of this program show that verbal aggression can be successfully


decreased by identifying and avoiding its antecedent conditions. As stated


previously, the subject used verbal aggression for escape from demanding or


difficult situations, relief from stress, and avoidance of demanding or


difficult


situations. The behavior appears to be maintained through positive


reinforcement.


Because the subject is in a position of some power and influence there were


relatively few consequences for the behavior. Ebbesen, Duncan and Konecni


(1974) suggested that verbal aggression could be reinforced and maintained in


such


a manner. Since the most common form of verbal aggression was cursing, the


method of identifying and avoiding the antecedents proved very successful.


Infante


(1995) used a similar method with young students. When replicating this


program


it may be appropriate to focus on the positive behavior rather than the


negative.


Instead of documenting the frequency of verbal aggression it may have been


better


to document the frequency of successful avoidance of verbal aggression. In


this


way we would help to internalize the strategy to maintain the behavior, as


well as


having a more positive and constructive program. A question raised by Golin


and


Romanowski (1977) was is there a sex difference in the rate and target of


verbal


aggression. Although this question was not investigated in the current


program, it


does raise an intriguing question for future study.


References


Ebbessen, E. B., Duncan, B., & Konecni, V. J. (1974). Effects of Content of


Verbal Aggression: A Field Experiment. Journal of Experimental Social


Psychology, 11, 192-204.


Golin, S., & Romanowski, M. (1977). Verbal Aggression as a Function of Sex


of


Subject and Sex of Target. Journal of Psychology, 97, 141-149.


Infante, D. A. (1995). Teaching Students to Understand and Control Verbal


Aggression. Communication Education, 44, 51-63.

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