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3. Personal causes of Aggression and
4. Situational  causes of Aggression 
We would discuss each of these briefly. 
14.3.1 Social causes of Aggression :
 
The following are the important social causes of aggression. 
i. Frustration 
: 
Frustration is one important and powerful 
cause of aggression. Frustration can arise due to many factors 
such as environmental or natural calamities, accidents, personal 
limitations, lack of aptitude, others ill intentions, etc. In the 
preceding pages we have seen frustration-aggression hypothesis 
which stated that a) Frustration always lead to some form of 
aggression; and b) Aggression always stems from frustration. 
Recently Berkowitz (1989) has proposed a revised version of the 
frustration-aggression hypothesis. According to this view, frustration 
is an aversive, unpleasant experience, and frustration leads to 
aggression because of this fact. The frustration aggression 
viewpoint also helps to explain why unexpected frustration and 
frustration that is viewed as illegitimate or unjustified produce 
stronger aggression than frustration that is expected or legitimate. 
For e.g., an employee who has been abruptly terminated from 
service without a reasonable and proper explanation will feel that 
his termination is illegitimate and unjustified. Such an individual will 
develop hostile thoughts, experience intense anger and seek 
revenge against the perceived source of frustration (in this case the 
employer). This is due to the fact that unexpected or illegitimate 
frustration generates greater amount of negative affect than 
frustration that is expected or viewed as legitimate. 
ii. 
Provocation : This is another major cause of aggression. 
Direct provocation leads to anger. Research studies suggest that 
direct provocation from others, either physical or verbal, often play 
a powerful role in eliciting overt aggression.
Not every body reacts to provocation with aggression, 
whether we would react to provocation with aggression is 
influenced by many factors. One such factor is our attributions 
concerning provocation. For e.g., when we conclude that 
provocation from another person was intended, i.e., purposely 
performed, we become angry and engage in strenuous efforts to 
reciprocate. However, on the other hand if we conclude that 
provocation was unintended i.e., due to the result of accident or 
factors beyond other’s control, we are much less likely to loose our 
temper and behave aggressively. Thus, attributions concerning the 
causes behind the provocative actions of others play an important 
role in determining how aggressively we would react. 

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