Citation

Pahlavan F. Aggressive Behav. 2008; 34(2): 130-2; discussion 136-8.

Affiliation

Institut de Psychologie, Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale, Université René Descartes, Boulogne, France. farzaneh.pahlavan@univ-paris5.fr

Comment On:

Aggress Behav 2008;34(2):117-29

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ab.20243

PMID

18085524

Abstract

In recent decades, researchers in various areas of psychology have challenged the claims of a single mode of information processing, and developed dual-process models of social behaviors. Although these theories differ on a number of dimensions, they all share the basic assumption that two different modes of information processing operate in making decision and copying behavior. In essence, the common distinction in these perspectives is between controlled vs. automatic, conscious vs. unconscious, and affective vs. cognitive modes of processing. The purpose of Berkowitz's article is to go beyond the notion of automatic processes in order to use classic notions of conditioning and displacement to explain aggressive behavior. I assert that an explanatory framework for psychology of aggression must be anchored not only in the new but also classic theoretical paradigms. However, progress in psychology does not rest solely on the accumulation of theoretical insights. It demands a large body of empirical facts, with attention to incongruities, discordances, and conceptual clarifications.

Language: en