Verbal Aggression In People- Essay, Research Paper

Verbal Aggression in People-

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.

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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 from 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.

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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.