Aggressive behaviour is not only an emotional expression, it is also an important form of communication, usually directed at a ‘trigger’. It can serve many functions, i.e. trying to keep a threat at a distance, trying to gain or keep access to important resources, trying to stop interactions or trying to catch and kill prey, when it involves a predator.
Social mammals rarely behave aggressively ‘out of the blue’. There is always an underlying cause that needs to be assessed in order to minimize risks and to work on improvement.
The influence of stress
Stress, be it positive (sometimes called ‘arousal’) or negative (distress), can have a strong influence on the risk of occurrence and the intensity of aggressive responses. A high stress level causes the nervous system to become more sensitive and to respond faster and, in many cases, more intense/severe. Stress can increase the risk for emotionally ‘explosive’ behaviour such as aggression. If individuals are not able to recover from stressful experiences, stress can build up inside the body, keeping the nervous system on ‘high alert’. This can not only impact health (i.e. damage the immune system), but also the sensitivity (and reactivity levels) of the individual.
Pain driven aggression
Physical discomfort and pain can drive aggressive behaviour with a clear function: stopping (further) discomfort/damage to the body. Discomfort also increases stress levels in the body, increasing the risk for 'outbursts'.
Good to know: pain driven aggression does not always have to be caused by medical conditions. The anticipation of pain or discomfort can also 'trigger' aggressive responses.
Fear driven aggression
This may be one of the most common underlying causes for aggression. The function of fear driven aggression is self protection and each individual can develop different coping strategies to keep themselves safe.
A lack of socialization or a negative learning history can increase the risk for fear driven aggression in social mammals.
Frustration driven aggression
The goal and function of frustration driven aggression can be to keep or gain access to resources that are of value to the individual or to enforce the individual's expectations. Frustration can arise when an individual wants to achieve something that is not possible due to restricted movement.
It can be valuable to understand that not all forms of aggression that occur around resources are caused by frustration. Sometimes fear driven aggression plays a bigger role, especially when the individual feels threatened around resources after negative learning experiences.
Prey behaviour - driven by pleasure/seeking
Prey behaviour or prey aggression is a very concentrated, quiet and extremely intense form of instinctive (high intrinsic motivation) aggression aimed at catching and killing prey to consume. It involves goal directed behaviour that releases dopamine (in anticipation of rewarding activities). Some experts argue that this is a behaviour sequence/pattern which has been so strongly stored in the predator's brain, that it needs to be defined differently and seperately. They prefer to call it prey behaviour instead of aggression and there may be good sense in this.
Redirected aggression
This is a form of aggression that can occur when an individual redirects aggression onto something or someone that is nearby while the aggression was actually triggered and directed at something further away. In example, a dog who explodes when seeing a trigger pass by at a distance, suddenly turns around and bites the leash, it’s owner or another dog family member who happens to be close. In these cases, the aggression is not triggered by the 'receiver', but by something that was out of reach.
Pathological aggression (disease)/impulsive aggression
This is a rare type of aggression which is highly unpredictable and extremely impulsive, occurring completely at random (there are no clear triggers or context). A dysfunctional balance of hormones and/or neurotransmitters could be a cause, amongst other medical conditions.
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