This is a project that was completed and submitted for review the day before the events at Virginia Tech. It is focused on theory and situational forces on middle and high school adolescents since that is where the majority of school shooters have come from. In that respect it is less applicable to Cho but many will find that some of the underlying factors in this case and school shootings in general are more understandable in light of this paper. I highly recommend viewing the original and complete piece with pictures here. This was a team project and the other two members prefer to remain anonymous. It will be posted in three parts.
Once again, keep in mind that this was written before the events at Virginia Tech, but we think you will find it useful none the less.
Warning, some of the media links in this document contain adult language and graphic images.
Introduction
Even as youth violence was declining from disturbingly high rates in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, several instances of school shootings shocked and captured the world’s attention (Surgeon General, 2001). Many cast recriminations at the media for its portrayal and glorification of youth violence, especially Oliver Stone for his movie, “Natural Born Killers” (Warner Bros., 1994) and Stephen King for his book, Rage (Bachman, Richard, 1977). King went so far as to offer a mea culpa criticizing the influence his own book and the media in general may have had as well as having his book removed from publication because of its similarity to some of the actual killings (Vermont Library Conference, 1999). A dream sequence(Youtube: sequence starts at 6 minutes) with Leonardo DiCaprio in “Basketball Diaries” (New Line Cinema, 1995) was eerily re-enacted in a home movie Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made named “Hitmen for Hire”(Youtube), and then in real life in front of school security cameras, when they went on their rampage at Columbine High School. Gun Lobby groups came under attack for their seeming support of kids easy access to guns. School officials, teachers and even sheriff’s departments were called in to question over their handling of warning signs. Bullying was implicated as were outcast groups such as Goths and others. Zero tolerance policies for nearly every adolescent malady and quirk were instituted in schools nation wide.
Such was the general distress and fear that in struggling to come to terms with this phenomenon it seems that no one escaped accusation including the kids who were themselves afraid and at risk. Exploring some of the underlying reasons for these extreme instances of aggression can help alleviate the fear through understanding and offering real solutions. Social psychologists study what motivates people to behave the way they do. They focus on the person’s current social situation: which could include a person’s attitude, behavior and relationships to others, including their peers. Psychologists follow the line of reasoning that “people are malleable, flexible and adaptable. Change the social context and the individual will change.” (Social Psychology, 2006, Taylor, Pg 4) Although it has evolved over time, one of the oldest theories on aggression in the field of Social Psychology is the Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis and is of particular relevance to school shootings.
The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
In 1939 a group of Yale social scientists led by John Dollard wrote a book called Frustration and Aggression in which they unveiled their new Frustration/Aggression theory. According to the theory, “people are driven to attack others when they are frustrated: when they are unable to reach their goals, or they do not obtain the rewards they expect.” Dollard assumed that frustration would always result in aggression and that the greater the frustration, the greater the aggression against the source of frustration.” (The Logic of Violence, Muro-Ruiz, Diego, 2002) Two years later the group modified its statement of the theory to explain, “the absence of open aggression after a frustration as being due to inhibitions evoked by the threat of punishment.” (Frustration/Aggression Hypotheses: Examination and Reformulation, Berkowitz, 1989, Pg 59).
Leonard Berkowitz later added some amendments to the 1939 hypothesis. He observed that, “people engage in instrumental aggression, attacking others because they think this action will bring them some benefit other than the infliction of injury, not because they have been frustrated in the past, but because they think this action will bring them some other benefits (other than the infliction of injury).” Dollard assumed that that aggression was always aimed at doing harm, “which failed to make a distinction between instrumental aggression and hostile aggression. With hostile aggression the primary goal is to do harm, whereas instrumental aggression is oriented toward an objective such as gaining money, social status or territory.” (Frustration/Aggression Reformulation, Berkowitz, 1989, Pg 62)
Berkowitz also argues that “frustrations can give rise to aggressive inclinations because they are aversive.” (Frustration/Aggression Reformulation, Berkowitz, 1989, Pg 62) His proposal that frustrations as aversive events, evoke negative affect (a feeling a person would typically seek to lessen), and it is this negative feeling that generates the aggressive inclinations. “From this perspective, an unexpected interference is more apt to provoke an aggressive reaction than is an anticipated barrier to goal attainment because the interference is usually more unpleasant.” Berkowitz also contends in his present formulation of the Frustration/Aggression Hypothesis that “not all frustrations are equally bothersome, and not all insults generate the same displeasure. Someone can be very disappointed at not reaching an attractive and expected goal and regard another’s insult as just mildly unpleasant. It isn’t the exact nature of the aversive incident that is important but how intense the resulting negative affect is.” (Frustration/Aggression Reformulation, Berkowitz, Leonard, Pg. 68). Elliot Aronson clarifies the factors that accentuate frustration; “Frustration is increased when a goal is near and your progress toward it is interrupted. When the interruption is unexpected or when it seems illegitimate, the frustration is increased still further…” (Aronson, 1980, The Social Animal, pg 181).
One of the primary reasons is, “that frustrating situations make people angry and increase their tendency to act aggressively.” “When people are blocked from achieving a desired goal they feel angry and frustrated and are more likely to lash out.” (Social Psychology, 2006, Taylor, Pg 4) The effect of frustration is one explanation for the violent behavior we have seen all too often of late in some of our schools.
Frustration is considered the blocking of goal-directed behavior. “Frustration occurs each time a goal, no matter how small is not met.” (Wells, Miller, 1993, Adolescent Affective Aggression) Competition can be considered a frustration. “Competitive encounters are at least partly frustrating as the contestants block each others attempts to reach the disputed goal. Even though the competitors often frustrate each other legitimately, sometimes they also become somewhat hostile to each other and try to hurt each other.” “Many of the studies of the effects of competitive games suggest that competition is more likely to arouse aggressive tendencies than to provide a release of supposedly pent-up hostile urges.” (Berkowitz,Frustration/Aggression Reformulation, Pg.66). Kids are constantly being bombarded with frustrating circumstances, and generally have had very little experience in how to handle these situations.
“Aggression can be defined as any behavior directed toward another individual that is carried out with the immediate intent to cause harm. Accidental harm is not aggressive because it is not intended. Harm that is an incidental by-product of helpful action is not aggressive.” (Human Aggression, Anderson, Craig, pg 29) “A barrier keeping people from reaching a goal they had expected to reach can lead to open aggression. Perhaps the most important single cause of human aggression is interpersonal provocation. These provocations could include insults, slights, and other forms of verbal aggression, physical aggression and bullying.” (pg. 37). Elliot Aronson suggests that instituting a change in the “social atmosphere of the classroom might succeed in making the schools a safer place (reducing the possibility that students become so frustrated they go over the edge and commit acts of extreme violence). This may also provide the kind of social environment that would make school more pleasant, more compassionate and humane place for all the students.” Shouldn’t that be the goal? (Aronson, Nobody Left to Hate,Pg 13-14)
Adolescent pressures
Adolescence is a difficult time for many. Social and physical boundaries are in flux and in the best of situations are confusing if not difficult. For some kids with poor coping skills who lack support and may have been subjected to abuse or have cognitive problems it can be a devastating experience. In the cases of Kip Kinkel, Michael Carneal, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, it ended in catastrophe for entire communities when these kids expressed their aggression at school with firearms. Recent school shootings have been committed with small exception by adolescent boys. At this stage in life they often have testosterone (a hormone that is associated with aggression) up to eighteen times that of normal childhood levels. (Arnonson, 2000, Nobody Left to Hate, pg 65)
There is much controversy as to what causes such events but there are some common threads that are generally accepted as part of the problem. Beyond sociological problems, such as access to guns, there are clearly behavioral issues that if noticed and addressed can help school and police officials stop bad situations before they happen. Simply taking action when a child brings a weapon to school has made a difference but singling out aberrant behavior and “zero tolerance” programs have been controversial and have been criticized by students themselves for punishing what in some cases used to be considered common adolescent problems. (Katz, Jon, 1999) The major problem these students state is the fear and intimidation they experience that is constantly inflicted on them by other students. Many adults remembering their middle and high school years will agree.
Bullying, frustration and despair
“High school has always been dominated by cliques and these cliques are organized into a rough kind of hierarchy: athletes, cheerleaders, and social leaders near the top; the shy, inept or strange-acting kids near the bottom; and at the very bottom, the loners-those who don’t seem to have any friends at all.” (Aronson, 2000, Nobody Left to Hate, pg 77) Bullying, and other similar in-group/out-group behavior, is a potent problem that can not only make school years for kids difficult but can cause, along with other adolescent traumas and events, a profound frustration or despair. This frustration or despair can sometimes be a powerful trigger leading towards suicide, and in exceptional cases, can become instrumental in causing them to combine their aggression with firearms at school, with disastrous results. But there are some proven methods developed by Dr. Elliot Aronson and others that harness situational forces and change the social atmosphere of the classroom so that bullying and ostracization are minimized and even the emotional welfare and physical safety of students can be markedly improved.
The term “frustration” has a useful and simple definition from Leonard Berkowitz as “unfulfilled (positive) expectations” (Berkowitz, Leonard, 1978). Also to paraphrase him, “when our hopes are dashed”, frustration is experienced. Certainly among adolescents the desire to be popular or at least liked is a primary goal. Denying them this, especially through ostracism and humiliation is bound to cause deep frustration and produce a very negative affect. Looking at some extreme situations in the form of school mass shootings by students, beyond the myriad of problems that sometimes accompany troubled adolescents, is a frustration that is so profound that a clearer term for it is despair, a seemingly complete or overwhelming frustration.
It is fair to say that bullying attacks the victim’s self-esteem and other important needs such as social inclusion, especially bullying in the form of ostracism, which often follows when the bully is popular. Violent bullying beyond doing direct harm also teaches and primes the victim for violence as well. Ostracism alone is associated with more aggression (Twenge, J.M., Baumeister, R.F., Stucke, T.S., 2001). A study of school shootings in 2003 found that nearly all cases involved “an ongoing pattern of teasing, bullying, or ostracism.” (Leary,M.R.,Kowalsi,R.M.,Smith,L.,Phillips,S,2003) “Precisely where a student falls on the clique hierarchy determines his or her level of stress and degree of happiness.” (Aronson, 2000, Nobody Left to Hate, pg 80)
Suicidal ideation, usually accompanied by a profoundly negative affect, is often included in the colloquial use of the term “despair” and is directly linked to both bullies and their victims; “…both bullies and their victims express more suicidality than their non-involved peers”, especially in those with low social support (Rigby, K., Slee, P., 1999). Also, suicidal ideation is more common than previous violent behavior in individuals who engage in extreme forms of interpersonal violence (Lubell, Keri M., Vetter, James B., 2006) and as of 2002, 78% of school shooters studied by the Secret Service engaged in suicidal ideation or behavior prior to the event. (Vossekuil, B., Fein, R., Reddy, M., Borum, R., Modzeleski, W., 2002)
As Elliot Aronson so eloquently states, “There is no doubt in my mind that these violent acts were pathological. The perpetrators of these horrifying deeds were disturbed. Their behavior was beyond all reason. But if we chalk up these events simply to individual pathology and nothing else, then we are bound to miss something of vital importance.”(Aronson, 2000, Nobody Left to Hate, pg 13) Keeping this in mind while viewing several of the cases of school shootings it becomes clear that bullying and despair, or deep frustration, are among a handful of reasons that may cause particular unstable adolescents to turn to suicide or in rare cases, turn outward and engage in mass murder at school.
I will post part 2 tomorrow which will cover 3 cases of school shootings.
Original paper along with bibliography and other useful links here
Diary also cross-posted elsewhere.
